Thursday Morning Links, News, And Views, Part II -- XOM and Chevron Missing Out On US Oil Boom

Active rigs: 179 (back down to post-boom low)

Wells coming off confidential list have been posted. 

WSJ Links

XOM and Chevron missing out on US oil boom.

Exxon and Chevron are tapping less oil and gas than they did even three years ago. As Exxon reports earnings Thursday and Chevron follows Friday, their quarterly results are expected to show that production growth remains elusive.

Last year alone, Exxon's oil and gas production fell 6% from 2011, to 4.2 million barrels a day. Chevron's production fell 2.4%, to 2.6 million barrels a day.

Big Oil's shrinking output contrasts with global oil production, which has risen 12% over the last decade, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Oil prices have climbed far faster, tripling since 2003 to over $100 a barrel. That gives energy companies more incentive to drill, and it boosts their cash flow so they can afford to spend more.

But the big companies are finding that the pools of oil they have access to are shrinking—or are technologically more complicated to tap.

For oil, "anytime price goes up and supply doesn't really follow, it's getting damn hard to get it out of the ground," said Dan Pickering, co-president of investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.

Google to provide free wi-fi for Starbucks. Sweet:

Google Inc. unseated AT&T Inc. as the supplier of free Wi-Fi service at more than 7,000 Starbucks Corp. coffee shops in the U.S., moving the search giant deeper into the business of connecting people to the Internet.

Google is partnering with Level 3 Communications Inc., an Internet middleman, to offer the service. Starbucks says it will be about 10 times faster than the existing T1 connections.

AT&T said it had offered to upgrade its own service to the same speed. Instead, the carrier will supply Starbucks stores with other business services while customers reach the Web through Google and Level 3.

The new service will be available in some stores beginning next week and will be rolled out to all of them within 18 months.

Starbucks didn't detail Google's role, though it suggested Google could bring more to the table with media offerings like YouTube and Google Play. The two companies will "co-develop the next generation Starbucks Digital Network," Starbucks digital chief Adam Brotman said.

This is nice. I have never been happy with the way ATT often made it a challenge to access wi-fi at Starbucks. McDonald's is among the easiest.

Could this be one of the reasons the market is surging: the delay in ObamaCare? Small businesses are eyeing expansion, taking advantage of delay in ObamaCare:
Nearly a quarter, or 24.4%, of small-business owners affected by the delay said they will invest in equipment or facilities with money that would otherwise have gone into complying with the health-care law, according to July's Wall Street Journal/Vistage Small Business CEO Survey. An additional 16% of small companies plan to hire new employees, 15% expect to provide raises or other benefits for their workers and 3% are planning to lower prices to gain a competitive edge.

Tea leaves: Summers wins; Keystone loses.

As I posted yesterday: GDP looks rosier with new math.

The government this week took a new view of the U.S. economy and found some additional growth.

The Commerce Department on Wednesday released a comprehensive overhaul of gross-domestic-product data going back to 1929, revising the figures to include new measures and data it says give a better picture of the U.S. economy.

One of the biggest changes is how the agency measures what it calls the "knowledge economy" through investments in research and development and entertainment and the arts. Previously, that spending was included as intermediate components during the production of other goods or services, but now such investments will be measured as fixed assets and reflect their continuing contributions.

Smoke and mirrors. "Knowledge economy." Sort of like paying your children $1.00 for each A they bring home on a report card.

What's Mr Hagel up to these days?

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday laid out options for implementing the Pentagon's share of broad spending cuts known as the sequester, including shrinking the Army from 490,000 under current targets to a force as small as 380,000—far below even its modern low point at the end of the Clinton administration.  

Under one option outlined by Mr. Hagel, the Navy stands to lose two aircraft carriers; the Marine Corps could cut between 8,000 and 33,000 people; and the Air Force would give up bombers and transport aircraft.

The most serious cuts to the Army and other military services would come only if the sequester remains in place. But even if Congress reverses the spending cuts, the Pentagon plans to cut as many as 50,000 Army soldiers and 90 to 120 tactical aircraft, as well as older C-130 cargo planes. Officials said the Air Force reductions would fall heaviest on A-10s, planes designed as tank-killers, and older F-16 fighter jets.

I didn't even know we still had A-10s in the inventory. Wow. Yes, there's a bit of fat that can still be cut. D.R.O.N.E.S.