Tuesday Morning Links, Views, And News -- Part I

Active rigs: 185

Wells coming off the confidential list have been posted. KOG has a nice well. 

RBN Energy: handling the expanding production from the Uinta.

Houston is booming due to the energy revolution: "build, baby, build." Rigzone is reporting:

With Texas one of the few bright spots in the U.S. economy, the skyline of swaggering Houston is where the action is as builders and global oil companies, from Phillips 66 to Exxon Mobil Corp, look past previous busts and spend billions on gleaming new buildings.

The U.S. shale oil and gas revolution - which has already changed industries from railroads to pipelines and refineries - is helping drive the voracious appetite for office space needed for the expanding workforce in the world's energy capital.

Demand is so hot that Houston is one of the few places where banks - including Wells Fargo & Co, which is seen as one of the more conservative big banks - will loan money for a new building without demanding developers first have a tenant.

The entire United States could be booming if we had had the right leadership. And with the Feds ready to announce new fracking rules, even where things are going well, will slow down. But I digress, of course.

Greenpeace illegally enters the Russian Arctic to protest drilling. Rigzone/Reuters is reporting:

The Arctic Sunrise entered the Northern Sea Route early Saturday morning to protest adjacent to the park. Rosneft and ExxonMobil plan to jointly explore the Vostochno-Prinovozemelsky-2 concession, which includes 11,119 acres (4,500 hectares) in the Russian Arctic National Park. Greenpeace said the plans to drill in the park directly contradict Russian environmental law.

The environmental group reported Aug. 21 that the Russian government had denied the Arctic Sunrise entry to the Kara Sea. Greenpeace said the ship met full requirements for entering Russian waters and said the refusal of entry was a “clear attempt” by the Russian government to stifle oil industry criticism.

As the ship approached the Northern Sea Route, Greenpeace called on the Northern Sea Route Administration to reassess the unjustified refusal of entry. The decision was not reversed, but the vessel entered the Kara Sea.

 Wow, I'm glad the US is not drilling in the Arctic.

Another essay from The Oil Drum mentions the increase in drilling that Saudi Arabia has announced. I reported same story back back on April 7, 2013.

The news that Saudi Arabia is planning to employ 200 drilling rigs next year (up from 20 back in 2005) suggests that there is a recognition that future reserves may not measure up to the planned volumes needed. Plans now include exploration of the shale deposits in the country, looking primarily for natural gas. There are estimates that this resource could run as high as 600 trillion cubic ft. Current plans are to drill seven exploratory wells in the Red Sea, off Tabuk.