Ramblings: The Center Of Gravity Has Shifted From The Mideast To The Midwest

I started blogging on the Bakken simply as a way to help me understand what the Bakken was all about. See "welcome/disclaimer." I owned no mineral rights, and although I enjoyed investing, the blog was never intended to have anything to do with investing.

After a few months of tracking the Bakken, it became obvious that one would not truly understand the Bakken without following the business side, which included following financial news, of the Bakken.

At the time I truly had no idea where the Bakken was headed. Within a year or two it was obvious that "the Bakken" was more than a geographical location. In addition to being a laboratory for testing new ideas in unconventional oil exploration and production, "the Bakken" has now come to mean, for me at least, anything that has to do with horizontal drilling and completion (generally fracking) in unconventional shale and oil deposits.

Some time ago, it became obvious to some of us, including CarpeDiem, that the center of gravity for energy had shifted from the Mideast to the Midwest.

If I had the time, I could ramble at length on this issue, but I will let this article from CNBC/Yahoo!News do it for me:

Developing a comprehensive plan to achieve U.S. energy independence is the "single biggest" way to boost the economy, FedEx Chairman and CEO Fred Smith told CNBC on Wednesday.

"Oil is at the center of everything we do," Smith said in a "Squawk Box" interview. "If we produce more in the U.S. and use less and develop alternatives ... you allow the United States within our economy a half a trillion dollars more in GDP."

Smith opened the OPEC Oil Embargo 40 summit, sponsored by Securing America's Future Energy, in Washington on Wednesday. He's the co-chair of the advocacy group's Energy Security Leadership Council of retired generals, admirals and CEOs of oil-using companies. 

The US will never develop a comprehensive energy independence plan. In fact, I don't even want the federal government involved at all in developing any plan.  It looks like we will become energy independent on the backs of the likes of Pioneer Natural Resources and Continental Resources.

Maybe we were lucky that the current administration did not know how much oil and natural gas the US had. The administration knew how much coal we had and we all know how that worked out.

There are many, many story lines here. The most important story line is that the energy revolution in the United States is just beginning.

I think I was among most folks who agreed that when the Bakken was discovered it would be the last "big" oil story.

Then, they discovered the Eagle Ford.

Then, they re-discovered the Permian.

This is not an investment site. The easy money has been made in the Bakken. But my advice to anyone investing: be diversified and follow the oil and gas industry very, very closely. It's never too late.

**************************

Just after posting the story above, I get this story:  German Power-Price Swings Threaten Growth Engine: Energy Markets --

The lack of clarity on Germany’s energy policy is creating the most volatile power prices in seven months, boosting costs for industry in Europe’s largest economy.

The 30-day historical volatility in the price of power for 2014 more than doubled in the past six weeks to the highest since March 4, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Prices are being whipsawed because Chancellor Angela Merkel, re-elected almost a month ago, has yet to give details on her pledge to amend the nation’s $750 billion solar and wind power program.

Price swings in Europe’s biggest power market, exacerbated by plunging fuel and carbon costs, are making it harder for industrial users to plan purchases. The volatility is boosting total costs and hindering investment in the $3.4 trillion economy.