Statoil's Beaux-tiful Wells In The Banks Oil Field

Updates

A 4-well pad in section 7-152-98:

• 23990, 3,657, Grayson Mill/Equinor/Statoil/BEXP, Beaux 18-19 2TFH, Banks, t8/13; cum 374K 11/19; cum 426K 6/22;
  
• 23991, 4,071, Grayson Mill/Equinor/Statoil/BEXP, Johnston 7-6 2TFH, Banks, t8/13; cum 402K 11/19; cum 441K 6/22;
  
• 23992, 5,417, Grayson Mill/Equinor/Statoil, Beaux 18-19 7H, Banks, t8/13; cum 444K 11/19; erratic; went IA 12/16; back on line 8/17; big jump 11/17; see this post; cum 479K 6/22;
  
• 23993, 3,888, Grayson Mill/Equinor/Statoil/BEXP, Johnston 7-6 7H, Banks, t10/13; cum 492K 11/19; erratic production profile; inactive; back on status 2/17; see this post; cum 523K 6/22; production update here;
  

Original Post

A reader sent this comment (posted elsewhere) just as I was posting this note:

I'm not a big fan of IP numbers, but the Statoil Beaux wells are noteworthy. The 4H with the IP of 5,387 barrels of oil also had a gas volume of 9484 MCF. If you value the gas (methane and NGLs) at $6 per MCF and oil at $90 per barrel, the BOE would be 632 making the BOEPD for this well just over 6,000. These wells are just east of the Continental Resources high-density multi-zone drilling units, the Wahpeton wells. It is a very interesting area.

The newer wells coming on-line:

• 23387, 5,387, Equinor/Statoil/BEXP Beaux 18-19 4H, Banks, t6/13; cum 285K 11/19; F;
• 23385, 5,070, Equinor/Statoil/BEXP Beaux 18-19 6H, Banks, t6/13; cum 318K 11/19; 7 days to drill the lateral; 30 stages, 3.6 million lbs sand/ceramic; F;
• 23388, 3,375, Equinor/Statoil, Beau 18-19 3TFH, Banks,  Three Forks, 32 stages; 3.9 million lbs sand/ceramics; t6/13; cum 324K 11/19; F;
• 23386, 3,823, Equinor/Statoil/BEXP, Beaux 18-19 5TFH, Banks, t6/13; cum 222K 11/19; F;

See this post, July 11, 2013. 

Also this (these wells are all updated above):

A 4-well pad in section 7-152-98:

• 23990, 3,657, Equinor/Statoil, Beaux 18-19 2TFH, Banks, t8/13; see above;
• 23991, 4,071, Equinor/Statoil/BEXP, Johnston 7-6 2TFH, Banks, see above;
• 23992, 5,417, Equinor/Statoil, Beaux 18-19 7H, Banks, t8/13; see above;
• 23993, 3,888, Equinor/Statoil/BEXP, Johnston 7-6 7H, Banks, t10/13; see above

The Banks oil field.

The first Beaux well:

• 20715, 2,412, Equinor/Statoil/BEXP, Beaux 18-19 1H, Banks, middle Bakken, 17 stages, 1.6 million lbs; t11/12; cum 157K 11/19; went inactive multiple occasions; active again; not on a pump according to NDIC as of 11/18; noted to be on a pump, 5/19;
  
  
  

  Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
  BAKKEN	5-2019	31	1058	1072	3985	2255	2123	8
  BAKKEN	4-2019	30	1077	1087	2992	2180	2060	0
  BAKKEN	3-2019	31	1338	1386	2366	2556	2432	0
  BAKKEN	2-2019	28	1223	1229	1981	2392	2278	2
  BAKKEN	1-2019	19	876	852	2647	1451	1383	0
  BAKKEN	12-2018	22	1151	1073	2772	1785	1618	79

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	5-2013	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	4-2013	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	3-2013	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	2-2013	17	3384	4034	1046	5839	5839	0
BAKKEN	1-2013	31	7556	7001	2102	12869	12869	0
BAKKEN	12-2012	31	11366	11528	4101	21789	21789	0
BAKKEN	11-2012	13	11762	10648	4101	24292	4132	20160

California Gasoline Drops To Four-Month Low: Crude Oil Production in California Hits An Eight-Year High

Bloomberg is reporting:

Spot gasoline in Los Angeles tumbled to the lowest level in four months as production in the state jumped to a eight-year seasonal high.

California-blend gasoline, or Carbob, production jumped 5.3 percent in the week ended July 12 to 7 million barrels, the most for the period since 2005, according to data compiled by the California Energy Commission. Valero Energy Corp.’s Wilmington refinery returned its fluid catalytic cracker and alkylation unit to full rates this week after repairs.

Spot Carbob in Los Angeles declined 6 cents versus gasoline futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange to a discount of 12 cents a gallon, according to data compiled by Bloomberg at 3:49 p.m. New York time. That’s the lowest level since March 20. 

This is a very surprising story.  I have mentioned before -- probably last summer -- a lot of old wells that used to have pumpers sitting on them but not moving, are now pumping and have been since last summer. In addition, I'm noticing a lot of work-over rigs along the coast (onshore) during my short visit to the Golden Gate state.

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A Note To The Granddaughters

I'm re-reading Arthur I. Miller's Deciphering the Cosmic Number: The Strange Friendship of Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung. As I mentioned earlier, or at least I think I mentioned earlier, sometimes one's mind has to be prepared to enjoy a certain type of book. That's what happened here.

And the book that prepared me for this: Louisa Gilder's Age of Entanglement.

I'm starting to put together a list of books on physics that one might enjoy after one or two (or three) years of college chemistry, organic chemistry, and a bit of physics. It's hard to believe: I took a lot of chemistry courses, and a lot of biology courses, in high school, college, and graduate school, but only one physics course, and that was as a senior in high school. I learned very little in that class. Most of the physics I learned, it turns out, was in 11th grade chemistry was Mr Ceglowski, one of the best teachers I ever had.

It's interesting: when I read of Wolfgang Pauli's brawls in Hamburg pubs in the red-light district, it puts the Zimmerman-Martin case into perspective.

I Started a Joke, The Bee Gees   I Started a Joke/The First Of May, The Bee Gees

A Couple Of Other Featured Bloggers Have Posted

Note sidebar at the right: both the "Coyote Blog" and "Sven's Bakken Blog" have updates today. "Meanwhile, back at the ranch .... posts often.

I really enjoy the way the "blogger" tracks favorite blog sites.

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

On a completely different note:

Kreni,  Severina and Leo

I'm still working on translating the lyrics, but I think they are arguing about fracking and wind power; he wants more wind turbines; she just wants to frack.

Eight (8) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA; Statoil May Have A New IP Record; Oasis Drills A Dry Bakken Well (Cottonwood Oil Field)

Active rigs: 189

Eight (8) new permits --

• Operators: Zenergy (5), Whiting (2), Cornerstone
• Fields: Clayton (Burke), Zenith (Stark), Eightmile (McKenzie)
• Comments:

Wells coming off confidential list were reported earlier; see sidebar.

Twelve (12) producing wells completed:

• 22336, 752, CLR, Columbia 2-5H, Dollar Joe, t6/13; cum --
• 22337, 349, CLR, Columbia 3-5H, Dollar Joe, t6/13; cum --
• 22887, 374, Hess, LK-Wing 146-97-2215H-5,  Little Knife, t6/13; cum --
• 23387, 5,387, Statoil, Beaux 18-19 4H, Banks, t6/13; cum --
• 23983, 2,542, Statoil, Topaz 20-17 2TFH, Banks, t6/13; cum --
• 24097, 681, Liberty Resources, Dobias 152-103-32-29-1H, Glass Bluff, t7/13; cum --
• 24131, 1,536, XTO, FBIR Walterpackswolf 31X-12H, Heart Butte, t7/13; cum --
• 24132, 1,385, XTO, FBIR Walterpackswolf 31X-12H, Heart Butte, t7/13; cum --
• 24409, 1,339, Hess, BB-Budahn A 150-95-0403H-4, Blue Buttes, t6/13; ;cum --
• 24736, 267, Whiting, Meiers 34-25TFH, Robinson Lake, t7/13; cum --
• 25198, 2,691, Whiting, Littlefield 21-31H, Sanish, t6/13; cum --
• 25218, 932, Hansen 21-20TFH, Sanish, t 7/13; cum --

Statoil's Beaux well may be a new record. I track record IPs at "FAQs," question #9.

Oasis drilled a dry well; the well file does not have any drilling data yet:

• 25307, DRY, Oasis, Cottle 5892 21-30X, Cottonwood;

The Cottonwood is not a particularly good field, and the northern half appears to be very poor, compared to the southern half of the Cottonwood.

A New Poll

 Updates

Later, 5:33 pm PDT: BusinessInsider also notes that "yuppies are now flocking to Detroit," cheapest city in America to live.

Original Post

Now that a judge has ruled it was unconstitutional for Detroit to declare bankruptcy, efforts will be made to look for alternatives.

In today's LA Times, the print edition, the chief executive of the Detroit Regional Chamber, Sandy Baruah, said things are looking better for Detroit. This is usually the first step in garnering a bailout from the federal government, in essence simply asking for a little more time.

"For the past three years, Baruah has seen signs of life shooting up around him: his office building in downtown Detroit has gone from half-empty to full. The walk to Comerica Park, three-quarters of a mile away, is filled with new businesses, new restaurants, and new faces."

So, if things are getting better in Detroit, perhaps the city deserves just a bit more time to pay off its bills.

One way to do that would be for the US government to issue "bailout bonds for the city of Detroitj ("BoB for Detroit) with a 100% guaranteed "no-loss-of-capital" clause and a guaranteed rate of return five points higher than inflation or the prime lending rate, whichever is higher, for a term of 20 years.

So, the new poll: would you favor the Bank of North Dakota investing in government-backed bonds to help Detroit in a time of need?

McCarthyism: Will The Keystone XL Be Approved?

The Oil & Gas Journal reports:

The US Senate confirmed the nomination of Gina McCarthy as administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency by 59 to 40 votes. The July 18 action came after Republicans withdrew objections that had blocked the vote for months as part of a compromise with Democrats who threatened a filibuster overhaul attempt over prolonged nomination confirmation delays.

They nevertheless signaled they will continue to scrutinize EPA’s actions because they believe it has exceeded its authority. “For instance, in an attempt to smear the idea of hydraulic fracturing, EPA has carried out a campaign against that process in an attempt to justify unnecessary federal regulations that would usurp the successful and traditional regulation of that process,” David Vitter (La.), the Environment and Public Works Committee’s ranking minority member, said before the vote.

Vitter also cited problems with the federal Renewable Fuel Standard. “As renewable fuel mandates increase each year while demand for transportation fuels decreases, refiners are forced to blend more biofuels into a gasoline and diesel pool that is shrinking,” he said. “We are hitting a blend wall. It is a mounting crisis. It is right before us. EPA is managing—or I should say mismanaging—this existing program.”

So, we'll see. I'm not holding my breath.

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A Note To The Granddaughters

Whenever we are in San Pedro (south Los Angeles), we always visit the Marine Mammal Care Center collocated with the International Bird Rescue Research Center. The MMCC is always open to the public, but because rescued birds are much more fragile, more easily stressed by humans, the IBRRC is "never" open to the public. In a rare event, hosted by several organizations, KNX 1070 radio broadcast from the IBRRC this morning (and afternoon) and visitors were given an opportunity to tour the facility. It was truly incredible.

The center rescues birds all along the coast but the pelicans are their number one (in terms of numbers) rescued birds. Naturally occurring seeping oil from the bottom of the ocean, man-made oil spills, and fish hooks appear to be the major problems for the pelicans.

And this is simply amazing: after much "trial and error," bird rescuers discovered that Dawn Dish soap is best solution to washing birds covered in oil.



When I was out at the IBRRC, I saw a lot of bottles of Dawn; it really was quite amazing.

I am overlooking the Pacific Ocean from the Marine Museum Library at Cabrillo beach and enjoy watching the pelicans join up to form V-formations as they fly along the coast. One will see two or three pelicans join up with another small group, and eventually one will see a V of 12 - 15 pelicans flying along the coast.

I did not realize it but the American white pelican nests and breeds predominantly in North Dakota, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. I always saw pelicans in North Dakota when I was growing up in Williston; I thought they were lost; I never knew their breeding grounds were there. The brown pelican is not seen in the interior of North America. In the graphic below, the solid polygons represent the number of nests (the larger the polygon, obviously, the more nests) and the arrows represent breeding grounds, again of the American white pelican:

From: Cormorants, Darters, and Pelicans Of The World, Paul A. Johnsgard, c. 1993, p. 378.

It would be sad to see these beautiful birds hurt by wind turbines in North Dakota. 

The TrainWreck Keeps Getting Worse

White House now admits you may NOT get to keep your doctor under O'BamaScare. This is really quite incredible. The Weekly Standard is reporting: HHS is very, very honest -- under O'BamaScare, you MAY be able to keep your doctor.

Meanwhile, premiums for individual health care policies will increase almost 80% in Indiana.  Cue up Connie Francis.

No Evidence Fracking Caused Contamination -- Federal Government -- Old Story?

Updates

July 19, 2013: I'm wrong. I thought this was an "old" story.  A reader sent me the following story; I posted it/linked it but thought we had seen it before. Maybe not. It's one of the top stories at Rigzone today: DOE determines that fracking did NOT cause any contamination in Pennsylvania water.  

PITTSBURGH - A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania drilling site, the Department of Energy told The Associated Press.

After a year of monitoring, the researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas trapped deep below the surface stayed thousands of feet below the shallower areas that supply drinking water, geologist Richard Hammack said.

Although the results are preliminary — the study is still ongoing — they are a boost to a natural gas industry that has fought complaints from environmental groups and property owners who call fracking dangerous.

Again, a huge "thank you" to the reader who first alerted me to this story.

Original Post

The most liberal of the mainstream news outlets (well, maybe MSNBC is more liberal, but then, I'm not sure I would refer to MSNBC as a news outlet, but I digress), CBS is reporting:

A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania drilling site, the Department of Energy told The Associated Press.

After a year of monitoring, the researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas trapped deep below the surface stayed thousands of feet below the shallower areas that supply drinking water, geologist Richard Hammack said.

Although the results are preliminary -- the study is still ongoing -- they are a boost to a natural gas industry that has fought complaints from environmental groups and property owners who call fracking dangerous.

Drilling fluids tagged with unique markers were injected more than 8,000 feet below the surface, but were not detected in a monitoring zone 3,000 feet higher. That means the potentially dangerous substances stayed about a mile away from drinking water supplies.
"This is good news," said Duke University scientist Rob Jackson, who was not involved with the study. He called it a "useful and important approach" to monitoring fracking, but cautioned that the single study doesn't prove that fracking can't pollute, since geology and industry practices vary widely in Pennsylvania and across the nation.

The boom in gas drilling has led to tens of thousands of new wells being drilled in recent years, many in the Marcellus Shale formation that lies under parts of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia. That's led to major economic benefits but also fears that the chemicals used in the drilling process could spread to water supplies.

The activist environmentalist who started the hysteria said "this is good news." I can't make this stuff up.

But it seems this is an old story. CBS doesn't provide any dates, and doesn't mention Dimock, at least not as far as I read. 

Oil's Fast And Furious Rise Will Hurt Consumers

Up $1.10 today?

Nearing the $110 psychological "barrier."

Can anyone say "Keystone XL"? As I've said many, many times, there is no connection between killing the Keystone XL and the price of oil, but try telling that to 47% of Americans.

An astute analyst has suggested that $110 oil will hurt consumers. 

Friday Morning Links, News, And Views; US "Dismayed" With Chinese Tariffs -- Just Remember Who Started The Tariff War

Active rigs: 190 (finally a change, up 1)

RBN Energy: the market for Canadian LNG; not a very optimistic report, but more to follow

Unemployment: rose in 28 states; that would be more than 50% of US states

Earnings: Schlumberger beat estimates; shares surge almost 4%; nice; SLB increases dividend:

A day before it's to release its latest quarterly results, Schlumberger has declared a fresh dividend. The company announced it will hand out a $0.3125 per share common stock distribution on October 11 to shareholders of record as of September 4. That maintains Schlumberger's dividend policy, as it has paid that amount in both of its preceding quarters. The most recent of the pair was disbursed last Friday. Prior to that, the firm paid $0.275 per share.

Wells coming off the confidential list have been posted. 

Oil nearing $110. Up $1.10 in early trading. An astute analyst has suggested the fast and furious rise in oil prices will hurt the consumer. Can anyone say "Keystone XL"?

Microsoft falls almost 10% in early trading; takes a $1 billion write-off for the Surface.

WSJ Links

Mansion: --

Arena: maybe later

Money & Investing:

Ahead of the tape: Schlumberger holds world of opportunity.

It is getting more challenging for global oil majors and national oil companies to tap complex fields, and Schlumberger is the firm they turn to for help. Bill Herbert of Simmons & Co. International rightly points out that even the majors are having to sell assets and borrow to cover bloated investment budgets. Even so, the imperative to keep drilling just to maintain current production levels won't disappear easily.

Schlumberger's model has proved its mettle over time. Since 2006, profit margins have averaged between two and five percentage points higher than the industry, according to RBC Capital Markets. Over the past decade, Schlumberger's free cash flow of $21.9 billion was almost five times the combined amount for Halliburton and Baker Hughes, according to S&P Capital IQ.

Natural gas prices jump as heat wave fuels demand.

Marketplace:

So, what's the matter with shale gas?  

Sometimes it seems as if the environmental movement has been left behind by the sheer speed of America's shale energy revolution. That may be because a resource—natural gas—that environmental groups once saw as part of the solution has become part of the problem, at least as they see it.

Shale gas and oil are widely viewed as one of the biggest forces to hit the U.S. economy in modern history. Total U.S. gas production has rocketed 33% since 2008 and oil 46%, driving down energy costs. The expanding shale industry supported 1.7 million jobs in 2012 and produced $62 billion in state and federal tax revenue, according to IHS/CERA, the energy consultancy.

"The new narrative about shale gas is about jobs, economic growth, global competitiveness, and a U.S. manufacturing renaissance," says Dan Yergin, the energy expert and author of "The Quest."

The public gets the narrative. A Pew Research poll found 48% of respondents favor increased use of hydraulic fracking of shale; 38% are opposed.

Where does this leave the environmental movement? Trying to change the conversation about shale gas.

Microsoft: another big miss. Tablet weighs on results. Even excluding the write-down of the tablet, Microsoft earnings of 66 cents was well below forecasts of 75 cents:

Microsoft took a $900 million charge on its high-profile Surface RT tablet, contributing to fourth-quarter results that sharply missed revenue and profit expectations.

The software giant also cited the effects of the soft personal-computer market in its quarterly report Thursday.

Excluding the Surface write-down, it posted earnings of 66 cents a share, well below Wall Street estimates of 75 cents, while revenue came in at $19.9 billion, compared with analyst expectations of $20.7 billion.

And no repercussions for Steve Ballmer? Steve Jobs would have been pummeled.

China fights back in solar panel war.

China on Thursday announced tariffs on imports of raw materials from the U.S. and South Korea used to make solar panels, in the latest volley in a global trade fight that has ensnared Beijing, Washington and the European Union.

China's Ministry of Commerce said Thursday it would enact preliminary tariffs on imports of solar-grade polysilicon after a yearlong probe into whether the raw material was sold at below-cost prices. The polysilicon tariffs could be as high as 57% for U.S. suppliers and as high as 48.7% for South Korean suppliers, according to the ministry.

U.S. officials said they were dismayed at the Chinese decision. "We are very disappointed at China's announcement of duties to be imposed on U.S. exports of polysilicon," said a spokeswoman for U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. The spokeswoman added that the U.S. will review China's order for any possible violations of World Trade Organization rules.

Oil boom heats up the rails (where have these guys been? under the Geico rock?)

Trains of black tanker cars full of crude oil aren't uncommon sights these days in Texas or North Dakota. Since the use of these cars to convey crude is so recent, the tank cars themselves look new and don't have the weathering or graffiti common on other freight cars. These trains rumble across the flat landscapes and can be found parked in sidings, waiting to pull into a loading station and be filled with oil.

Most tank cars that carry crude and other liquids on U.S. and Canadian rails aren't owned by a railroad or an oil company, but by specialized leasing companies. The leasing companies have quietly become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the current boom in oil production in the U.S. and Canada—thanks to soaring demand that is allowing them to extend the length of contracts and jack up prices.

General Electric Co.'s rail unit, Chicago-based GATX Corp., GMT and CIT Group's CIT rail arm, each of which owns fleets exceeding 100,000 rail cars, are the giants of the trade. They own thousands more cars than railways such as Norfolk Southern Corp., NSC Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC and Union Pacific Corp., according to data from Progressive Railroading, a trade publication. Other, smaller players include the leasing units of manufacturers Union Tank Car Co., Trinity Industries Inc., and Wells Fargo & Co. unit First Union Rail Corp. Union Tank and Canadian affiliate Procor Ltd. are part of Marmon Group, which is part of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

The Front Section:

The lead story, of course, was the Detroit bankruptcy. One city official "demands" a federal bailout. No link; story everywhere. 

Op-Ed:

O'BamaScare: Democrats are voting against provisions of the bill, dismantling it bit by bit.

Recently elected Senate Democrats have enthusiastically joined efforts to kill portions of the law, such as the medical-device tax, the better to suggest to angry constituents that they are "flexible" about "fixing" it.

Recent Democratic candidates are harsher. Elizabeth Colbert Busch, who ran in May's special House election in South Carolina, declared ObamaCare "extremely problematic, it is expensive, it is a $500 billion [higher] cost than we originally anticipated, it's cutting into Medicare benefits and it's having companies lay off their employees because they are worried about the cost of it."

She finished: "It needs an enormous fix." This was a call for repeal in everything but name.

Alison Lundergan Grimes, who recently declared against Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, declined to even voice support of the health law. At the event announcing her candidacy, the second question was about her support of ObamaCare. Her response was nearly incoherent: "I will tell you, regardless of the vote that is issued in this race, we cannot change who our president is. But we can change who we have in Washington representing Kentuckians." With that, she ended the event. 

And more: 

Democrats for three years have comforted themselves with the thought that 2014 would be the year they broke free of the ObamaCare night sweats. Their political washout in 2010, their failure to take back the House last year, all was the result of their having to defend a law that had yet to take effect. Once the law was up and running, Americans would wake up to its benefits. Or so they believed.

Instead, it is Democrats who are waking up—to a horror film. Every morning brings fresh news of terror: missing deadlines, programs running of money, premiums set to soar, flailing technical implementation. And this week Republicans nimbly forced them to choose between abandoning core provisions of the bill or renewing ownership of what may prove to be one of the biggest political liabilities in decades.

What makes this story line particularly horrifying for Democrats is that it is happening despite their best-laid plans. The architects of ObamaCare wrote its timeline with politics in mind. The law's most popular freebies—the bar on pre-existing conditions, parental coverage for children up to age 26—went into effect quickly to give the party some immediate credit. The law's more unpleasant provisions and trickier technical components were slated to begin ramping up in 2013—a non-election year. That way Democrats could get past any hiccups and start handing out subsidies in time for the next midterm election. Nobody counted on the hiccups turning into cardiac arrest.

My hunch: the "entire" bill will be delayed sometime in late 2013/early 2014 (before the mid-term elections) to allow time for "new" Congress to study the impact. 

A book worth reading re: flying the unfriendly skies -- 

Why, when the idea of flying seems so liberating, does the act itself feel like incarceration?

Most of us know the routine: the security ritual, complete with full-body scan and pat-down; the queuing up; the seat backs that crush your knees; the plastic trays (on international flights, at least) of less-than-appetizing food.

Recall how pilots occasionally used to stroll through the cabin. Now they stay locked behind steel-reinforced doors.

In his fact-packed and engaging critique of air travel, "Full Upright and Locked Position," Mark Gerchick cites a credible-sounding estimate that 15% of them carry firearms. "Flying today," he notes, "is a jarring contradiction—amazing and god-awful at the same time." 

Prison analogies abound in Mr. Gerchick's zippy rundown of the state of commercial air flight. The author, a former chief counsel for the Federal Aviation Administration, picks through his topic one problem area at a time, in chapters with titles like "The Hassle Factor," "The Margin" and "Fares, Fees, and Other Games."

The past decade has seen nostalgia grow for the supposed golden age of flying—the age of gourmet meals and friendly flight attendants—evident in television shows and films such as "Mad Men" and "Catch Me If You Can." But we might also recall with fondness what it was like to fly a mere 12 years ago, before the security lockdown that followed 9/11 and before the mid-2000s spike in fuel costs and the triumph of low-cost airlines.

These factors, according to Mr. Gerchick, are the "big three" that have reshaped air travel today. Some of the past decade's most extreme security measures—children frisked, nail clippers confiscated—have been rolled back, but the fuel panic that reached its peak in 2008 may have had more lasting effects. Fighting to stay afloat, airlines jettisoned everything from unpopular routes to hot meals and magazines. They also added the fuel surcharges that paved the way for other costly add-ons. Jam-packed flights, ubiquitous fees and "a tough new focus on profitability and the bottom line" are now the norm.

Jobs

From the radio while driving into "work":

• Unemployment rose in 28 states
• Unemployment decreased in 11 states
• No change: 11 states

Nothing at Yahoo!Finance yet.

The New York Times has several articles on jobs.

• Jobless rate in NYC rose to 8.4% from 8.3%.
• Labor force participation is not coming back in the United States.
• Jobless to keep rising in OECD.