Incredibly Busy Day -- Twelve Stand-Alone Posts; A Dozen Posts Updated

Note: this was written a few days ago; I forget exactly when. But due to the peculiarities of the "blogger" application, the post is incorrectly dated April 5, 2013.

This has been an incredibly busy day and considering that I am traveling, it's quite a deal, for me.

And most of the 12 stand-alone posts have been very "newsy." The dozen posts do not include posting the IPs of the wells that came off the confidential over the long weekend.

A big "thank you" to the many readers who sent me articles to link. I still have at least two before I am caught up.

It was also a big day for the market in this sense: oil was down almost a $1.50 at one point today and it looks like it will close almost flat, maybe down a quarter. The Dow also came off its low, and I assume folks were able to take advantage of some bottom buying, or what it's called. The S & P still struggles -- only in terms of setting records, I suppose. I am not complaining.

On another note, this is a sermon worth your time. See if you can spot what I found most interesting.

The One-Minute Sermon
Actually a minute-forty-two.

So, a dozen stand-alone posts, and a few more yet to go, and it's only two-thirds of the way through the day. I will be posting until midnight. Stay tuned.

Jobs Was A Genius -- Apple Genius Musings (Sent In By A Reader)

Updates

A day or so after posting the original post (see way down below), I received a very nice note expanding on the theme of the "genius of Apple" or the "genius of Steve Jobs." At one time, the two were probably opposite sides of the same coin.

I asked the author of the piece if I could post it for archival purposes; my granddaughters will enjoy it some day. He agreed, but it will be posted anonymously.

[The piece was sent as a word document. There is some risk there will be errors as I bring it over to HTML, but hopefully will catch them.]

Enjoy. 

 

Apple Genius Musings 

April 7, 2013 

I think you might be right about the Genius tags. Saw your Jobs post from last night, like it.

Steve Jobs 

Genius.

Mickey Drexler

Flamboyant, successful merchant with magical touch at The Gap and J. Crew. Although at the end of his tenure at The Gap he had something like 20 - 30 plus consecutive months of declining same store sales. He was the right guy for Jobs to consult for retail guidance.

Andrea Jung

Accomplished, brilliant "Tiger Student" with a "Tiger Mom," though not in New York City. Glamorous, vibrant, great role model for the Avon ladies, and nice besides. Always been a fan -- love her.

Saw a snippet somewhere of a parody on Apple where Jobs and his execs were a bit in awe and in fear of her; I believe it. She asked Jobs, "Why do you have all this cash?" Response: "Cause that's what we do here in the valley."

Execs would brief the board, she would want to get into all the numbers which they wouldn't have, "well, then how about just giving us an overview" -- "ah, ah, I really don't have that put together." Guess they thought they were briefing Al Gore.

Don't pretend to know the issues she had at Avon, but still love her.

Tim Cook

Don't really know much about him other than a few articles I've read over the years. Read Jobs said Cook was the best hire he ever made, and perfect for Apple's needs. His forte is supply chain, so "master" of supply chain might be the best moniker for him.

Some people say Michael Dell is a genius for his "build-to-order" business model where he would need to invest in only 2 -3 days of inventory, which provided him an annualized 120 - 150 inventory turns, an unbelievable metric. This of course meant he was getting free use of cash for the 30 - 60 day terms that his vendors were providing Dell, as well as other benefits.

Eventually he found even this model was too expensive to operate in the US. Dell was also obtaining laptops built, I believe in Taiwan and then configuring them in the US, which resulted in double handling. Too late he moved operations off-shore and added distribution through retail channels as well.

Meanwhile Tim Cook had Foxconn manufacturing tons of Apple products in China, and even shipping some of them directly to end users in the US. He is eating Dell's lunch.

So maybe there is a case for the genius tag, but it is hard to compete with a flamboyant merchant and a creative, charismatic founder -- supply chain just doesn't have the same glitz, glitter or sizzle.

Hau Lee

Don't know whether you are familiar with Hau Lee. He came to the Stanford Business School from Hong Kong some 20 plus years ago, and is the founder and current director of the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum. He is acknowledged as the foremost supply chain guru around, a true genius, and nice as can be.

Besides all the academic type papers he produces, he has studied dozens of companies from the inside out. Early on he took a year's sabbatical and worked with HP resolving some significant issues, and has done engagements for bunches of other companies. I can't follow all the math in his technical papers, but he patents a lot of it, and puts it in applications around which he has co-founded a number of startups. He knows business, and applies common sense throughout everything he develops or proposes.

His demand planning, forecasting and replenishment math and logic, together with that of his multi-echelon inventory management were the basis for a San Francisco enterprise software company he co-founded called Evant, which was subsequently acquired by supply chain firm Manhattan Associates. He co-founded another San Francisco software company, DemandTec that uses his logic to define price points and product mix based on customer buying trends. DemandTec was recently acquired by IBM.

I am not sure why I am getting into all this, other than I guess Tim Cook's supply chain expertise has led me astray. I am intrigued by the supply chain concepts in the Bakken, and beyond; at all levels, in all industries and companies. It is not just getting the resources out of the ground and deciding whether to use rail or pipeline, but which play in the US or anywhere an E & P company commits to if any; gas versus heavy versus light oil versus coal versus....; all the transportation infrastructure decisions; where and whether to build refineries and for what; identifying markets; getting all the materials and supplies needed by the E & P's to them; everything all the companies and individuals need to handle the explosive growth of Williston and the other booming cities; whether to gobble up E & P's; and a great deal of this extends globally -- both in and out (also my favorite burger place, animal style please) -- with all its implications.

At any rate you are so knowledgeable and widely read that I am taking the liberty of attaching a great 2004 Harvard Business Review paper of Hau Lee's and a bio I copied from someplace. Don't feel obligated to read any of this -- I am certain you won't, feel obligated that is.

My final thought, which I could have come to a long time ago, is that if Tim Cook sees Apple through the transition from the genius founder over the next several years, then he may be due some consideration for the genius designation himself.

**********

Note: one can see a bio of Hua Lee here. 

Note: If one googles "the triple a supply chain" pdf the first hit should be of Hau Lee paper published in Harvard Business Review in October, 2004.

Original Post

I don't know if anyone recalls the article in Newsweek or Time magazine years ago featuring Apple and Steve Jobs. It was a several-page article, and there was a photo of Steve Jobs sitting cross-legged with a clam-shell contraption on his lap, and he called it magic. It wasn't connected to anything. No power cord. No internet cable. And he was years ahead of his time and calling it magic. It was hard to believe it was his toy, not "his" toy because he bought it at the store, but it was "his" toy because he made it at his shop (which by then was a technological marvel in its own right).

So, tonight, I'm at a place where I have no television, no internet, and I am desperate to see THE GAME.

I know I won't be able to watch it but I can at least follow the score if I get up to Starbucks.

Here I am. In Starbucks. I turn on the computer, check some mail, make sure the blog is up and running, and then I click on Yahoo!Sports expecting to find a score.

And there it is: NCAA LIVE!

It's incredible. Here I am, listening to the 10-hour video of "What is Love" on YouTube in the background, typing on the blog, and watching THE GAME live.

Jobs was simply a genius. What he invented. What he saw coming.

Is The Global Warming Story Over?

A Layman's Guide to Anthropogenic (Man-Made) Global Warming

Updates

April 13, 2013: I can only see this much without a subscription to Petroleum News, but one can probably find the rest of the story by googling if interested:

As the climate warms and the Arctic sea ice cover shrinks, especially in the summer and fall, new economic opportunities are arising in Arctic waters. Russia is opening up a sea route around its northern coast and through the Bering Strait; tourist cruise ships have started appearing in previously i....

April 7, 2013: Everybody's jumping on board! Now another group of scientists agree -- global warming stopped some years ago -- and they have an explanation. Is it just me, or does it seem like a lot of D+ students (like Algore) and non-science students (like Algore) all of a sudden started reading a few books on geography, biology, weather, science -- all the subjects they skipped in high school and college -- and are now fascinated with the subject -- and surprised to see that climate change is pretty normal, has been occurring ever since the earth got an atmosphere? If they had gone to Sunday School they would know who set the universal thermostat. Smile. It wasn't man. As much as they would like to think.

Original Post

I had planned three rambling posts for the weekend. I completed the first two, subject to tweaking and editing:

• heavy oil, Gulf coast refineries, and the failure of policy
• the jobs "miss" this past week

This is the third, on global warming. All three are common themes for the MillionDollarWay and all relate to the Bakken.

First, the irrefutable facts as they apply to global warming. If you cannot get past these irrefutable facts, there is no reason to read further. I won't list these irrefutable facts here; they are at the link.

It was purely coincidental that I had planned this post for this weekend. Forbes magazine has a similar article out this week, asking whether global warming was just a beautiful dream. Dream? More like a nightmare, being singularly responsible for another lost decade for the United States.

The lede:

But I’ve grown old waiting for the promised global warming. I was 35 when predictions of a looming ice age were supplanted by warmmongering. Now I’m 68, and there’s still no sign of warmer weather. It’s enough to make one doubt the “settled science” of the government-funded doom-sayers.

Remember 1979? That was the year of “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge, of “The Dukes of Hazard” on TV, and of “ Kramer vs. Kramer” on the silver screen. It was the year the Shah was forced out of Iran. It was before the web, before the personal computer, before the cell phone, before voicemail and answering machines. But not before the global warming campaign.

In January of 1979, a New York Times article was headlined: “Experts Tell How Antarctic Ice Could Cause Widespread Floods.” The abstract in the Times archives says: “If the West Antarctic ice sheet slips into the sea, as some glaciologists believe is possible, boats could be launched from the bottom steps of the Capitol in Washington and a third of Florida would be under water, a climate specialist said today.”

By 1981 (think “Chariots of Fire“), the drum beat had taken effect. Quoting from the American Institute of Physics website: “A 1981 survey found that more than a third of American adults claimed they had heard or read about the greenhouse effect.”

The writer says he is 68. I'm almost 62 so we are contemporaries, and it turns out, we have some of the same experiences and most likely a similar world view.

It's impossible to identify a specific point in time when an all-pervading myth came to an end, even in hindsight, but predicting that specific point in the future is even more problematic.

But it looks like 2013 may be the turning point, the cusp, the tipping point, the beginning of the end of the myth.

[Random note: the population of the Maldives is 320,000. That is half the population of North Dakota. It may be an important data point sometime in the future. The Maldives consists of 1,192 islands grouped in a double chain of 26 atolls. Maldives is the lowest country in the world, with a maximum natural ground level of only slightly less than eight fee, that according to wiki. At worse, the ocean levels might rise 23 inches by 2100, well below 8 feet. The Maldives have decided this is so serious they are eliminating or offsetting all of its greenhouse gases by 2020. Something suggests this is not the emergency Maldives suggests. They are waiting until 2020, although probably starting earlier. One can imagine the amount of greenhouse gases Maldives is responsible for.]

Some data points that make me think 2013 will be the year of the beginning of the end for the global warming myth.

First, the environmentalist himself: Bjorn Lomborg, a leading expert on global warming, recently noted that Germany spent $110 billion to delay global warming by 37 hours.

Then, there's the science: the British Met office and the lead NASA scientist both agree that global warming has ceased. The debate now centers around a) why; b) when did the earth stop warming; c) will it start warming again; d) is cooling a greater threat than warming; and, e) if so, do we need to start pumping out more CO2. I made up (e).

Another automobile manufacturer using battery technology as a spin-off of the global warming scare appears to be weeks, if not days, from declaring for bankruptcy protection. The delay is probably only to give time to the company to get its "ducks in order" before making the announcement.

If Fisker does declare bankruptcy it will only be the most recent in a list of almost 40 companies riding the global warming wave that have gone bankrupt, or nearly so. Ironically, that list began with another automotive manufacturer: Bright Automotive.

This winter, 2012 - 2013, was one of the longest and coldest. In the United States the winter is lasting well into spring. I just learned that Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota are bracing for another winter storm (it's April, spring time; Easter was last week) and southwestern North Dakota might see as much as eight (8) inches of snow. That's a lot of snow for North Dakota, but a heck of a  lot of snow for North Dakota in April. I won't bother looking for the link to the story that said the is was the second coldest March on record in Northern Ireland, stretching back to 1919. Great Britain, Europe, and Russia all had a tough winter this year.

Everything points to 2013 as being the year the global warming myth begins to end. It will be interesting to see how many more policy decisions will be made, based on a myth.

As for me, it will be interesting to look back in 2033 to see if 2013 was indeed the year.

P.S.

Just as I was finishing this post, a reader (thank you very much) sent me a link to a story in which Russian scientists are predicting that the earth is entering another cooling period. This was posted in Germany's #1 media outlet yesterday. For those who feel more comfortable reading English, here is the link to an English media outlet:

Yesterday Germany’s No. 1 daily, Bild online, carried the shock headline story: “Russian scientist sees next ice age approaching. Starting in 2014 it will start getting colder and colder +++ migration of people cannot be excluded."

Like me, the Russians and the Germans are starting to see stories on global warming from a historical context:

Other media outlets are reporting as well, see here, here, and here.

Stories in Germany about global cooling, hard winters, and ice ages have been popping up faster than dandelions in May lately. Global warming is beginning to look historical.

Bild starts by reporting that finally the snow and ice gripping Russia since October are beginning to thaw. “That’s why most Russians shake their heads skeptically when the topic of global warming pops up," Bild writes.

American politicians are always a day late and a dollar short, as we used to say. 

The important piece to this article is not whether the Russian scientists are correct or not. This is what is important. If Russian public policy is now based on this assertion, it changes completely how that country approaches fossil fuel. The playing field is not a level playing field.

Vern Whitting Photography in the Bakken; Red River Valley Flooding

Vern Whitten Photography is sharing two new portfolios:

• Waiting for spring in the Bakken
• Red River Valley flooding, selected photos, 1997 to present

Enjoy.

For folks unfamiliar with the geography of North Dakota, the Bakken is located nowhere the Red River Valley. The Bakken is about two hundred miles west of the Red River. There may be some flooding and sloppiness in the Bakken this spring, but it won't be due to the Red River overflowing its banks.

Three Rambling Posts Posted

Goal accomplished; three rambling posts posted:

• heavy oil, Gulf Coast refineries, and the failure of public policy (or lack thereof)
• the jobs miss
• global warming

I'll be off the net for awhile. Long walk to Whataburger.

Random Note on Natural Gas From One Well In North Dakota

For newbies and for others like me who are unable to get their arms around "natural gas."

I posted this earlier this week:

• 22808, 4,439, BEXP, Cheryl 17-20 4H, Banks, t2/13; cum 36K 2/13:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	2-2013	26	35709	34060	26746	69146	0	69146

So, "how much" is this much natural gas that was flared in one month?

An answer from a reader in southwestern North Dakota:

In 2011, we used all year long, a total of 81 Mcft of NG to heat our water and house. This one well in one month would last us for 853.65 years ..... or all the homes for one year, in the town in which we live, plus some of the downtown stores, population about 2,000. 

"The Miss" Hit The Fed in the Jawbone -- WSJ

Except for the Korean Missile Crisis, and that story seems to be getting little attention in south Texas, the biggest story of the week, without question, is "The Miss."

Week in and week out, I am surprised how analysts' forecasts are off the mark.

But "The Miss" this week was spectacular. I think there has been only one forecast that was as big a miss: Peggy Noonan projecting Mitt Romney to take the election in an editorial published the Saturday before the Tuesday election.

"The Miss" this week: the analysts' forecast for number of new jobs created in the US. The published, posted, official, forecast was for 200,000 jobs. That was not a good number, down from previous highs, but it was what it was. A forecast for 200,000. As Friday drew near(er) there were whispers that the number might come in as low as 150,000 but to the best of my knowledge no mainstream media outlet quoted a source for 150,000. Everyone was holding to 200,000.

In fact, some analysts' even held out hope for a number better than 200,000. Remember Chris?

"The tone in markets could change if we get a positive surprise, but the data we've seen leading up to this has people expecting fewer job gains than we've been seeing," said Chris Bertelsen. 

Yes, Chris said the data suggested fewer job gains than "we" had been seeing, but he was unable to say the unsayable; in fact, he was holding out hope for a "positive surprise."

The first clues came earlier in the week, on Wednesday and Thursday, that the numbers would not be good. The day before should have prepared everyone for the debacle that would be reported twenty-four hours later. The headline from an excellent, reliable source on Thursday:

Jobless Numbers: Spike To Four-Month High; 

Huge Spike; Up 28,000; Horrendous

 

That was Thursday, a full twenty-four heads ahead of the debacle, and yet no one lowered their forecasts.

That would be the end of the story except now we learn that Friday's numbers caught "the Fed" completely by surprise. We had a hint of that earlier in the week when at least one regional Fed president was either a) under the Geico rock; or, b) on a different planet. He said that the Fed, with continued good news on the economy, could start thinking of tightening. At least that's how I interpreted his comments.

I don't think my interpretation was far off. In today's WSJ, "Heard on the Street," this stunner:

Jobs Report Hits Fed in the Jawbone.

Justin Lahart writes:

The three Fed presidents were essentially laying the groundwork of preparing financial-market participants for the Fed's eventual withdrawal of support. The speeches naturally came with caveats galore, and Friday's jobs report just delivered a big one. Talk of the Fed tapering off asset purchases will probably taper off now.

And what if the March jobs weakness turns out to be just a blip? Then the Fed will face a tough choice: It can make a more abrupt move toward winding down its Treasury and mortgage purchases, and risk unsettling markets. Or it can delay in order to better prepare markets, moving later than it would prefer.

Regardless of what's really going on in the labor market, this wasn't the jobs report the Fed wanted.

The argument is whether this is a blip or a trend. Lahart suggests why it simply might be a blip.

But earlier in today's WSJ, there was another, more ominous explanation why this might not be a blip.

Sudeep Reddy writes that the payroll-tax rise, not the sequester, was the reason for the jobless report.

The timing certainly fits. If accurate, one of two things will happen, all things remaining equal:

• the payroll-tax rise will continue to impact consumers and continue to affect jobs, particularly in retail
• folks will get used to the payroll-tax rise, adjust, and jobs will come back, particularly in retail

Of course, things will not remain equal. The next blow to the consumer, particularly to the consumers who live paycheck to paycheck and pay in cash, will be the price of gasoline. In a month or so, we enter the driving season. With the driving season generally comes a rise in the price of gasoline. It is possible the price of gasoline will drop this summer. But the tea leaves do not leave me optimistic.

The price of oil plummeted this week, but still held above $90, and in fact, the price for WTI, I believe, rose above its lowest level of the day Friday and recovered above $93. That comes on top of a) a horrendous job report; and, b) a slight gasoline supply imbalance.

Slight gasoline supply imbalance? Slight? Gasoline inventories are at a 22-year high.

The U.S. Energy Department's weekly inventory release showed that crude stockpiles jumped to hit their highest level since 1990. However, the report further revealed that refined product inventories – gasoline and distillate – declined from their previous week levels. Meanwhile, refiners scaled up their utilization rates by 0.6%.

So, where has this rambling led us?  As I started out, "The Miss" this past week is the biggest story of the week. How the Fed did nnot seen this coming is beyond me. They must have a lot more data to analyze than the rest of us. Twenty-four hours before "The Miss" the writing seemed to be on the wall.

Again, hindsight is 20-20. But even the WSJ noted that "The Miss" hit the Fed in the jawbone.

For Archival Purposes Only; Perhaps Someday The Chapter Will Be Written Tying These Data Points Together

Some random data points that need to be connected; many of the data points are "my myths" -- I believe them to be true, but I'm not necessarily going to go back and cite sources; some data points are probably inaccurate, or somewhat inaccurate:

• it takes several years and lots of capital to convert a light-oil refinery to a heavy-oil refinery
• US gulf coast refineries were converted to heavy-oil refineries starting long before President Obama was elected president
• oil men have known for quite some time the huge deposits of heavy oil in Alberta, Canada
• oil men and, possibly, statesmen were not willing to let a Saddam family dynasty rule the world's largest oil reservoir
• a heavy oil source for the Gulf Coast refineries included Venezuela
• Mexican oil production had been falling precipitously
• Gulf of Mexico, deep drilling yields heavy oil 
• heavy oil will be needed by Gulf Coast refineries: three choices -- OPEC (Venezuela), Gulf of Mexico deep drilling (Mexico, US); Canada
• Gulf of Mexico deep drilling heavy oil mishaps are unavoidable
• Venezuela: OPEC, unreliable
• pipeline companies will not build (in fact, in some cases, I believe, regulatory agencies won't allow pipeline companies to lay a pipeline) if the pipeline companies don't have contracts up front for the oil
• it takes several years and lots of capital to build a transcontinental pipeline
• light oil is good for gasoline and diesel, but that's about all
• with some exceptions, the federal government will not allow US oil to be exported; refined products can be exported
• heavy oil and wet natural gas provides the feedstock for plastic and fertilizer, and probably much more; light oil alone is not enough; in fact, if push comes to shove, heavy oil and wet natural gas is probably more necessary than light oil
• until the fracking revolution, the US was running out of dry natural gas and was building terminals to import natural gas
• environmentalists were blocking new natural gas import terminals (especially in the northeast)
• fracking changed everything
• dating back to WWII, most European refineries are geared to making gasoline
• the #1 transportation fuel in Europe is now diesel, not gasoline
• there is a shortage of diesel in the oil patch
• a global recession has minimized the impact of a diesel shortage
• the US is a major supplier of diesel for Europe
• Europe will be idling at least ten (10) of their 104 refineries by 2020
• Saudi Arabia recently stated that they are cutting production in April because (European) refineries are asking for less oil; they say this happens every April
• along the Gulf Coast, free market capitalism had positioned the US very nicely for the future based on prevailing worldview prior to President Obama's world view
• renewable energy will not provide for US transportation needs in the near future; renewable energy will be a niche energy source for decades, maybe centuries (the math, to argue otherwise, simply doesn't work); 2013 appears to be a tipping point for wind, solar (but that takes us to a new chapter). This data point is irrelevant for the purpose of this discussion but has to be dealt with.

A good writer could put together an interesting story line connecting these data points. Unfortunately I am not a good writer. With enough time I might be able to put together something, but I don't have the time. That's why this will be archived for future reference.  Additional data points may be added; data points that are found to be wrong will be corrected. This is a work in progress. Or not.

Some data sources that will help connect the dots:

• An overview of the refining industry, SeekingAlpha, July 29, 2012
• Insufficient oil "infrastructure" entirely avoidable, CNS News, August 20, 2012
• Sour crude oil, wiki
• Heavy oil, wiki
• Fossil fuel will be the energy for decades, if not centuries

Saturday Morning Links

Active rigs: 187

WSJ Links

Section D (Off Duty): later

Section C (Review): 

Front page has a very, very interesting story, and perhaps a book review on Machiavelli for Moms: Maxims on the Effective Governance of Children, to be published April 9, Tuesday. 

At the end of her rope with four young kids, a mother turns to an unlikely advisor -- and learns how hardheaded rule can secure stability and happiness in the home.

• Husband: wanted another child, but received a tough ultimatum instead
• Katie: kept running away, until mom switched from merry to gentle coercion
• Teddy: had her eye on a new backpack, but too much liberality dissipates a ruler's power
• Trevor: never saw through the small lie that gave his parents a much-needed retreat
• Daniel: wasn't making the grade, until mom decided to divide and conquer
• Wife, author, and mother: needed advice on the effective performance of children

 A lot of great book reviews; maybe later.

Section B (Business & Finance):

• Heard on the street: jobs report hits Fed in the jawbone;

Section A:

• Job growth slows to a trickle; no link; story everywhere; the labor force chart is incredible (as in incredibly bad; the good news: it started well before Mr Obama; the bad news: it will never improve much; tectonic shifts

• Front page: Tiger Woods is #1 again, but golf hardly missed him

• The real culprit? The payroll-tax rise, not the sequester, appears to shoulder the blame for the US labor market job weakness

The retail sector shed 24,000 jobs in March, likely a reflection of consumers starting to rein in their spending as their paychecks shrink from higher payroll taxes. As part of the fiscal-cliff deal in January, Congress allowed the Social Security payroll tax to revert back to 6.2% from 4.2%.

Consumers with thinner wallets over time lead to retailers with fewer workers. Retail spending in January and February had remained resilient, as consumers cut back on their saving instead, but now the higher payroll taxes could be hitting retailers harder.
Democrats did little to preserve the payroll-tax cut during the fiscal-cliff standoff, despite pushing hard for it in prior years. Republicans generally opposed extending the tax break, which had benefited almost every American worker.

Week 14: March 31, 2013 -- April 6, 2013

Operations
Best Bakken wells of 2012, Mike Filloon
BEXP with three nice wells
BR, Hess each with a huge well
Oasis has a gusher
OXY USA abandons a wildcat far south Dunn County, south of Murphy Creek
Random examples of some monster wells in the Williston Basin
Top 10 producers in the Williston Basin, 2012
Random look at Case #20107: 22 wells on an existing 2560-acre spacing unit.

Increased density drilling
CLR's Atlanta wells; 14 wells in Baker field

Bakken 101
Overlapping 2560-acre spacing
Overlapping 2560-acre spacing units in the Bakken

Takeaway
The rail revolution: everything investors need to know
Harold Hamm to build Double H pipeline, Dore, North Dakota, to Cushing, Oklahoma
Crude-by-rail-barge project planned down south (Osceola, Arkansas)

Pricing
Recent record: Bakken selling for $2.50 premium to WTI at Clearbrook, MN
April 2, 2013, was the big jump in premium at Clearbrook, MN

Miscellaneous
Magnum Hunter sells Eagle Ford assets for $20,000/acre
US produced more oil than Saudi Arabia, second month in a row
GMXR files for bankruptcy protection
The three biggest energy stories of 2013 (2 of 3 involve the Bakken) -- The Motley Fool
The guy that went broke trying to corner the silver market, is now a Bakken billionaire
North Dakota #3 in wind power (2nd in oil, 1st in nukes)