EOG's West Clark Wells In Clarks Creek

EOG's West Clark wells in Clarks Creek (see also EOG's Clarks Creek wells in the same oil field).

• 31403, 1,447, EOG, West Clark 117-0136H, Clarks Creek, 36 stages, 27.65 million lbs t5/16; cum 308K 2/19;
• 31388, PNC,
• 31387, PNC,
• 31386, PNC,
• 31385, PNC,
• 31384, PNC,
• 31383, PNC, 
• 31382, PNC, 
• 31381, PNC,
• 31380, PNC,
• 31379, PNC,
• 31378, PNC,
• 31377, PNC,
• 31376, PNC,
• 31375, PNC,
• 31374, conf,
• 31257, PNC,
• 31256, PNC,
• 31255, PNC,
• 31254, PNC,
• 31253, loc, permit renewed May 15, 2020; EOG, West Clrk 126-0136H, lot 4 1-151-95; Clarks Creek; 960-acre drilling unit; Three Forks B3; see this note;
• 31252, PNC,
• 31251, PNC,
• 31250, PNC,
• 31249, TA/127, EOG, West Clark 105-0136H,
• 31248, 1,272, EOG, West Clark 104-0136H, Clarks Creek, 36 stages, 21.029 million lbs; t5/16; cum 200K 3/20;
• 31247, 1,613, EOG, West Clark 103-0136H, Clarks Creek, 37 stages, 21.15 million lbs; t5/16; cum 198K 3/20;
• 31246, PNC,
• 29679 - loc, EOG, West Clark 06-01M; Clarks Creek,

• 20329, 1,203, West Clark 4-2425H, Clarks Creek, 34 stages, 9.12 million lbs, t5/13; cum 372K 3/20; (18 days in January, 2015)
• 20330, 142, West Clark 3-2413H, Clarks Creek, t6/13; cum 321K 3/20; (16 days in January, 2015); (24 days in January, 2015)
• 20331, 1,251, EOG, West Clark 101-2425H, Clarks Creek, t4/13; cum 291K 3/20;
• 20332, 647, EOG, West Clark 100-2413H, Clarks Creek, t9/12; cum 240K 3/20; (24 days in January, 2015)
• 20333, 449, EOG, West Clark 2-2425H, Clarks Creek, t9/12; cum 283K 3/20; (24 days in January, 2015)
• 20334, IA/1,324, EOG, West Clark 1-2413H, Clarks Creek, t10/12; cum 228K 9/19;(24 days in January, 2015); remains off line 3/20;
  
• 22962, 1,093, EOG, West Clark 5-2425H, Clarks Creek, t12/12; cum 339K 3/20; (24 days in January, 2015)
• 22963, TA/1,908, EOG, West Clark 102-2413H, Clarks Creeks, t10/12; cum 164K 1/17; (24 days in January, 2015)

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

Another great song from the 1960's influenced by the war and the Beatles:

Take The Last Train To Clarksville, The Monkees

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

22962, 1,093, EOG, West Clark 5-2425H, Clarks Creek, t12/12; cum 339K 3/20; spud June 30, 2012; TD July 24, 2012; middle Bakken dolomite; background gas as high as 8,85 units; 28 stages; 3.8 million lbs; all sand; went off line 6/19; back on line 9/19;

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

20331, see above, West Clark 101-2425H, Clark Creek:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
7-2013	7659	4629
6-2013	36693	23949
5-2013	27660	9999
4-2013	18437	1677

20330, see above, West Clark 3-2413H, Clark Creek:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
7-2013	27615	26909
6-2013	11978	12460
5-2013	607	316

20329, see above, West Clark 4-2425H, Clark Creek:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
7-2013	18789	14224
6-2013	22162	12574
5-2013	12949	4465

Can Hardly Wait For The Final Report; I Wonder If Algore Will Get A Pre-Print?

The Daily Mail is reporting:

Scientists working on the most authoritative study on climate change were urged to cover up the fact that the world’s temperature hasn’t risen for the last 15 years, it is claimed.

A leaked copy of a United Nations report, compiled by hundreds of scientists, shows politicians in Belgium, Germany, Hungary and the United States raised concerns about the final draft.

Published next week, it is expected to address the fact that 1998 was the hottest year on record and world temperatures have not yet exceeded it, which scientists have so far struggled to explain.

The report is the result of six years’ work by UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is seen as the world authority on the extent of climate change and what is causing it – on which governments including Britain’s base their green policies.

I'll believe it when I see it. 

The MDW has been posting the fact that the earth's temperature has not risen for the past 15 years for quite some time. Actually it is now closer to 17 years; they started working on the report about two years ago and since the then the evidence has become even more overwhelming, particularly the NASA photographs of the Arctic.

Twelve (12) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA; EOG With A Huge Clarks Creek Well

Active rigs: 182

Twelve (12) new permits --

• Operators: WPX (7), EOG (3), Hess, Fram Operating
• Fields: Norma (Renville), Tioga (Williams), Mandaree (Dunn), Parshall (Mountrail)
• Comments: WPX has seven permits for same section in Mandaree (11-149-93); they appear to be a 4-well pad; and a 3-well pad

Wells coming off the confidential list were posted earlier; see sidebar at the right.

There were 19 well name changes. Most of the well name changes appeared to be (at least somewhat) substantive, such as changing from Three Forks to middle Bakken (or vice versa) and/or being a bit clearer on the lower bench that was being targeted in the Three Forks. I generally see one or two name changes with each daily report; seeing a list of almost 20 catches one's attention.

Wells coming off the confidential list tomorrow:

• 20329, 1,203, EOG, West Clark 4-2425H, Clarks Creek, middle Bakken; 34 stages; 9 million lbs; sand; t5/13; cum 55K 7/13; gas as high as 8,796 units;
• 24260, drl, BR, Glacier 24-9TFH, Clear Creek, no production data,
• 25064, drl, Zargon, Zargon Mackobee Coulee 2HZ 2-16-158-85, Mackobee Coulee, a Madison well; horizontal; producing, 
• 25078, 75, Whiting, Davidson 24-29, Delhi, a Red River well, t5/13; cum 3K 7/13; doesn't appear to be much of a well, see first comment; a vertical well; vertical Red River wells are not fracked

Mackobee Coulee is an old Madison formation field, very active with vertical wells; about 20 miles northwest of Minot, near Carpio. Most of these old Madison wells were drilled back in 1975 and many (most?) are still actively producing.

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

20329, see above, EOG, West Clark 4-2425H, Clarks Creek:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
7-2013	18789	14224
6-2013	22162	12574
5-2013	12949	4465

Home Depot Moves Part-Time Workers Off Company Health Plan, Unto On-Line Exchanges; O'BamaCare Precludes Company From Providing Health Care Coverage To Part Time Employees -- Home Depot

Link here.

Home Depot Inc. plans to end health care coverage for about 20,000 part-time employees and will direct them to insurance exchanges.

Spokesman Stephen Holmes said the Affordable Care Act -- President Barack Obama's health care overhaul -- precludes the company from offering the limited liability plans that part-time workers are receiving.

At some point, we will reach a tipping point. I think we are almost there. Home Depot is just one more company to be added to the list that is cost-shifting health care. 

Off The Net For Awhile; Replies To Comments/Posting Comments Will Be Delayed

I just love these pipelines that don't cross international boundaries, and even better when they don't even cross state lines:

Plains All Amer and Enterprise Products announce agreement to expand Eagle Ford joint venture pipeline: Co and Enterprise Products Partners announced they have agreed to expand their Eagle Ford Joint Venture (JV) crude oil pipeline. The expansion will increase the pipeline's capacity to 470,000 barrels per day of light and medium crude oil grades to accommodate additional volumes expected from PAA's Cactus pipeline that is currently under construction. The Eagle Ford JV pipeline expansion is expected to cost approximately $120 million and is expected to be in service in the second quarter of 2015.

Dog Bites Man Story

Minnesota increases taxes.  An editorial in the PioneerPress is reporting:

It's been nearly four months since Minnesota legislators adjourned from their regular session in May, and reporters still are uncovering the impact of lawmakers work on "below-the-radar" taxes.

As new taxes continue to pile on, filing returns in Minnesota will be both more costly and complex after one-party control that left the state with $2.1 billion in tax increases to fuel new spending.

A report last week by the Pioneer Press' Bill Salisbury made note of more examples, including this one: If your employer pays tuition for you to take college courses, the federal government won't tax that benefit, but the state will.

Many of the state's new taxes got little exposure in the flurry of last-minute, end-of-session deal-making. The loss of tax breaks slipped through with little notice because most attention was focused on the DFL's income tax increases on the wealthiest Minnesotans and new business-to-business sales taxes, Salisbury reported. 

"Any time you make significant changes to the tax code, you're going to see ripple effects that go beyond the first wave of discussion," Mark Haveman, executive director of the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence, told us.

Oh, so much fun. 

MRO Continues To Contribute To North Dakota's Housing Fund; Now Up To $3.5 Million

The press release as posted at The Bismarck Tribune:

Houston-based Marathon Oil Corp. has contributed $500,000 to a North Dakota fund aimed at building affordable housing, primarily in the state's booming oil patch.

The North Dakota Housing Finance Agency's low-income housing development program gives individual and business donors a dollar-for-dollar tax credit, and they can designate their contributions for specific projects. The Legislature this year approved general fund spending of $20 million and $15.4 million in state income tax credits to subsidize construction of low-income dwellings.

Officials say the program's goal is to build at least 1,000 low-income units in North Dakota over the next two years.

Marathon's contribution this week brings to $3.5 million the amount the company has given to the fund since 2011.

Cleveland Clinic Threatens To Lay Off Thousands To Prepare For ObamaCare; Will Offer Early Retirment To Thousands

This was posted earlier from another source, but Bloomberg spells it out, exactly how bad this trainwreck is going to be.

The Cleveland Clinic, one of the world’s foremost medical and research centers, is cutting costs and trimming its $6 billion annual budget as patients and providers grapple with health care changes in the U.S.

The clinic plans to shave 5.5 percent from its yearly spending by tightening operations budgets for things like travel, filling vacancies only where necessary and combining services in areas where there are overlapping offerings, said spokeswoman Eileen Sheil. The clinic will offer early retirement to 3,000 employees and may cut jobs if it can’t otherwise reach $330 million in savings for 2014, she said.

The move is designed to help the clinic and its patients prepare for the Affordable Care Act, the $1.3 trillion overhaul passed by Congress in 2010 that’s intended to extend insurance coverage to the nation’s 50 million uninsured citizens. Online health insurance exchanges are slated to open in October, and the overhaul is expected to increase the number of people on Medicaid, the government’s insurance program for the poor.

“We’re seeing a rise in overall health care costs across the country, and the Cleveland Clinic is trying to be proactive,” Sheil said in a telephone interview. “We have to make health care more affordable to patients because the costs are going to fall more on them in the future.”

This is quite fascinating: this is the second time a major news organization refers to ObamaCare as the Affordable Care Act (focusing on the irony of it all) and clipping off the first half of the act's name: "Patient Protection." That went out the window a long time ago. 

This is also quite fascinating: all the strides that American workers have made in 100 years -- women's rights; equal pay for equal work; two-income families; union benefits; etc. could becoming undone by ObamaCare. I think folks are finally realizing this is much more than just health care that is being affected. It is the entire American work pattern: less hours; shifting/eliminating benefits; more part-time; less full-time; more outsourcing; more contracting; etc.

But within the healthcare industry: women make up the majority of employees (nurses, home health care). Some of the highest-paid two income families would be in the health sector, and now that, too, could be coming to an end.

The unions are going to have to run four times as fast just to keep the gains they have made in the service industries like healthcare. Wow, talk about the Red Queen effect. 

Even Warren Buffett now realizes his support for the program was misplaced. Oh, well, we all make mistakes.

(The interesting thing: I still think individual investors will do very well with ObamaCare; see earlier posts. I think Warren Buffett will do just fine. His companies will find a way to get around ObamaCare just as Walgreen Company has.)

MRO At UBS Energy Symposium -- Re-Fracking

Link at SeekingAlpha.

If you don't want to read everything below, the readers' Reader's Digest version regarding MRO and the Bakken

• big fields just get bigger
• more production, fewer rigs
• downspacing continues; will be expedited
• re-fracking (yup)
• recent 35,000 bopd guidance increased to 40,000 bopd guidance and heading toward 60,000 bopd

Highlights only as they relate to the Bakken, with possible exceptions, I suppose.

• significant acreage positions in North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Texas provide a large resource with significant upside. Our potential resource up 2.8 billion oil equivalent barrels provides a projected drilling inventory in excess of 10 years at current activity levels
• turning to the Bakken, where we have operated since 2006, we have a proven track record of growing not only our volumes, but our volumes outlook, a clear demonstration of the old adage that big fields just get bigger. This graph shows that our forward plan has improved every year since 2009. And in fact you will note that our 2013 plan had us producing around 35,000 oil equivalent barrels per day this year and we earlier in the year increased that guidance to approximately 40,000 oil equivalents per day
• ... from the Three Forks and other formations as well. The down-spacing and these deeper benches are leading to a growing resource inventory. We are conducting a pilot infill drilling program, which will help us define the optimal well-spacing aimed at maximizing the expected ultimate recoverable resource. We are focusing on high productivity areas for the pilots and will leveraging existing HBP or held-by-production wells to accelerate the execution of the pilot program
• in the Bakken, we have had continuous performance improvement in IPs and EURs since 2008. The improvements can be seen here in the three charts at the bottom of the slide, which illustrate improvements in these areas, 30-day average initial production rates per well, improved cumulative oil production per well, and improvement in the average 2P expected ultimate recoverable reserves per well. These significant improvements were driven by optimizing fluid volumes and hydraulic fracturing design by well plus innovative sleeve designs
• Similar to others that are there though we are looking at a couple of things that I think could impact our pace and activity level potentially in the future. One, you’ve already mentioned which is down-spacing and we continue to test down-spacing, but more specifically we are looking at high density pilots where we are combining the middle Bakken with the Three Forks from a common drill center and looking at not only the spacing between the laterals but the vertical spacing as well between the middle Bakken and the Three Forks. Then that work is really just getting started, but clearly could change or perhaps moderate our view on where we want to take activity in the future, so that’s one element, it’s the spacing question.

From Q&A:

• the second element is you are exactly right the fracturing technology if you just rewind to when we entered into the Bakken space which was 2006, 2007, we are now going back and doing some refracs on those earlier wells with the most modern best available technology from a fracturing standpoint and we are seeing significant uplift in terms of not only an enhancement in IP post-frac, but also enhancement in overall EUR. So bringing the best available technology because that’s the great thing about these resource plays is that we know that the technology is going to continue to move the bar and whether you are talking about the completion efficiency, or you are talking about the amount of recovery which today stands at a very low number, if you look at the oil in place in these wells all of that I think will continue to have us challenging where we want to ultimately take the Bakken resource. But based on the data we have today, we are very comfortable with our activity level. We feel like we are getting very good capital efficiency as shown from our drilling numbers and it’s the – it’s a growing resource. I mean you can see that resource is growing upwards to 60,000 barrels a day in the future and that’s something that we will continue to watch based on technology and the learning we get from continuing to drill

Oasis Leads Energy Companies With Top Fundamentals -- IBD

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here. 

IBD is reporting:

The shale boom in the U.S. has helped boost stocks in the energy sector from large integrated oil and gas companies to oilfield service providers to refiners.

Sanchez Energy, Oasis Petroleum, Rosetta Resources, and U.S. Silica are energy-related companies featured on IBD's Top Fundamentals Screen Of The Day.

The screen lists stocks with three-year EPS and sales growth rates of 25% or higher, trading at least 400,000 shares a day and within 30% of their 52-week highs.

More:

Oasis Petroleum is an independent driller that uses horizontal drilling techniques to get fuel out of the Bakken Shale field in the Dakotas and Canada. Oasis has a 140% three-year EPS growth rate and a 131% three-year sales growth rate.

On Sept. 5, the company announced it purchased four assets in the Williston Basin for $1.5 billion. The deal was for 492,000 acres with recent production of approximately 43,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Shares are up 44% in the year to date.

Thursday Morning Notes, News, Views, Links, Whatever; Dish Wins In Court Over ABC -- This Is Simply Huge

I'm way behind this morning.

WJS Links

Blackberry to reduce workforce by up to 40%. Wow.

Google may stop tracking with cookies. Could be a very interesting alternative that would be a serious game changer. I hope they do it.

Starbucks: leave your gun behind. Posted earlier.

Big insurers are skipping health exchanges. One can see where this is headed. Trainwreck.

Priceline stock becomes the first company listed in the S&P 500 to trade at $1,000 in the index's history.

This is huge: Dish Network won a legal victory Wednesday as a federal judge denied broadcaster ABC's request to shut down features of its "Hopper" digital-video recorder.

BMW is testing new ways to build electric cars. BMW is launching the first large-scale test of whether building cars out of carbon fiber and plastic instead of steel can overcome the obstacles to adoption of electric cars.

Health care costs will rise about 6x the rise in inflation: National health spending will jump 6.1% next year when key provisions of the federal health-overhaul law take effect, a slower growth pace than previously expected, federal number-crunchers projected Wednesday.

White House signals Ms Yellen (emphasis on the "Ms") will be Fed chief nominee.

Detroit residents will get their chance to tell the judge about their concerns with cuts in pension.

Op-ed: I never read Karl Rove's op-eds, but I agree with the headline of his op-ed today -- defunding ObamaCare is not the way to go. But the tea leaves suggest to me the Tea Party knows what it is doing. They are taking a page from John Kerry's playbook.

Los Angeles Times

I talked about this earlier. The US, which can't even get weekly unemployment reports right, was demanding that Syria, with a one week deadline, must account for its chemical weapons which it has been stockpiling for 50 years, and which grew during the US-Iraq scuffle. The US is now backing off. I didn't bother to read any more than the headline, so I don't know if a new deadline has yet been put in place.

Hmmmmmm....our granddaughters and I were discussing earthquakes this morning -- while watching Bill Nye the Science Guy on her laptop before heading to school... and now there's a report there were a flurry of <4 .0="" angeles="" downtown="" earlier="" earthquakes="" east="" los="" of="" p="" today.="">
Ooohhh -- Ms Hillary Rodham Clinton will accept an honor from my alma mater, USC, in November. Whoo-ah! Maybe an honorary doctorate degree in political science. I assume Benghazi won't be mentioned. That, of course, forever ruined her chances for a Nobel Peace Prize. Or not.

Scientists discover a legless lizard near LAX. In other news, police report a man with broken kneecaps in Chicago.

The National Books Awards announces it 2013 fiction long list. 

The Boston Globe

Massachusetts has a new computer for tabulating unemployment insurance claims: it came in over budget and two years later. Unemployment remains at 7.2% in this state. Otherwise it's all sports and politics.

The New York Times

Top story above the fold, with a photo: Iraq becoming undone; more sectarian violence; worse than "before," whatever "before" was.

A must-read story: mystery solved over identity of author of "slave's biography." An incredible story. 

In 2002, a novel thought to be the first written by an African-American woman became a best seller, praised for its dramatic depiction of Southern life in the mid-1850s through the observant eyes of a refined and literate house servant. 

But one part of the story remained a tantalizing secret: the author’s identity.

That literary mystery may have been solved by a professor of English in South Carolina, who said this week that after years of research, he has discovered the novelist’s name: Hannah Bond, a slave on a North Carolina plantation owned by John Hill Wheeler, is the actual writer of “The Bondwoman’s Narrative,” the book signed by Hannah Crafts.

Beyond simply identifying the author, the professor’s research offers insight into one of the central mysteries of the novel, believed to be semi-autobiographical: how a house slave with limited access to education and books was heavily influenced by the great literature of her time, like “Bleak House” and “Jane Eyre,” and how she managed to pull off a daring escape from servitude, disguised as a man. 

I will have to read the book. Thank you NY Times. 

Just Too Much News; It's Not All That Uncommon To Hear Voices -- NBC

There's just too much news to report so just a lot of quick links. Most of the local links come from Don. The "political" / economic links come from Drudge.

The Dickinson Press reports the new retailers coming to new Dickinson mall:

The developer of the Five Diamond retail center in west Dickinson announced Wednesday that the area planned for development will include a slew of retailers, including Cash Wise Food and Cash Wise Liquor, JoAnn Fabrics, Petco and Dollar Tree, in addition to a new 10-screen movie theater that had already been announced.

Developer Ron Raddon of Utah presented a preliminary plat application to the Dickinson Planning and Zoning Commission at its regular meeting Wednesday at City Hall. The plat was approved unanimously.

Generally Debbie Downer includes a fracking note in all articles, but I didn't see anything about fracking in this article. 

The Dickinson Press is reporting that Dunn County is struggling with definition of "temporary" as in "temporary housing." No action taken on temporary housing but will be discussed again in October.

Bloomberg is reporting progress in "equal pay for equal work." In no other area is pay more equal for the sexes than in waiting tables. LOL. All things being equal, if a woman is not getting more in tips than a man waiting tables, there is something incredibly wrong:

Unemployment data appear to reflect big advances for women. The jobless rate in August for females 20 years and older was 6.3 percent, the lowest since December 2008, compared with 7.1 percent for men. As recently as January, the rate was 7.3 percent for both genders, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The downside is that the gains have been largely in lower-paying industries such as waitresses, in-home health care, food preparation and housekeeping. About 60 percent of the increase in employment for women from 2009 to 2012 was in jobs that pay less than $10.10 an hour, compared with 20 percent for men, according to a study by the National Women’s Law Center using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Sales of guns soar in gun-free Washington, D.C. areas, after Navy Yard shootings. Unarmed Americans would like to be able to defend themselves when attacked by paranoid schizophrenics who pass background checks and keep their "secret clearances."  By the way, did you all see that NBC report that "hearing voices is not all that unusual"? The headline says it all. Of course it's not all that unusual for NBC talking heads to hear voices. That's because they are all wearing little ear plugs that send talking points to them from their producers. Helloooo! NBC: we're talking about folks who hear voices and don't wear headphones. We're talking about folks who get radio transmissions through their teeth. Hellooooo! We're talking about folks who hear voices telling them to kill innocent men, women, and children. So, here is what NBC is reporting:

Such hallucinations are the hallmark of psychiatric disorders; about 75 percent of those diagnosed with schizophrenia experience voices that they can't explain. They’re also common in up to half of cases of bipolar disorder and in about 40 percent of post-traumatic stress disorder cases, psychiatrists say.

But they're not always critical, shaming voices that urge people to commit violence. In fact, many people with no disorder also report hearing voices -- and they’re often neutral, even innocuous, said Lieberman, who’s also a professor and chairman of psychiatry department at Columbia University.

Thank goodness for that. I'm glad to know that my hearing voices is not unusual. If I had the time, I would tell you a funny story related to hearing voices: a telephone call I received while manning the clinic at an Air Force base. Maybe I will tell the story at a later date. It's quite a story. 

Does anybody remember the "hammer"? Tom Delay's conviction was overturned by a Texas court. I wonder if he blamed his bullying on commands he was getting from outer space?

Around The Horn

Active rigs: up to 182. 

There is still a lot of news to report, but I am too excited after yesterday's market action, especially the effect it must have had on those shorting the market, to wait. So, here we go.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here. 


Oil is really holding its own. Up almost $3.00 yesterday, it's only down 17 cent today. I would assume a lot of companies showing green on a day that the market is down slightly is due to shorts covering.

See comments after Halcon.

KOG up over 1%; new high ($11.55).

Oasis, also, a new high, but not up quite as much percentage-wise as KOG.

HK is up over 1%. I used to follow KOG as the bellwether for the Bakken (I personally don't own any KOG), but now, for the short term, HK is a better Bakken indicator in my mind.

CVX, COP, XOM: all up slightly; COP could hit a new high.

EOG did hit a new high.

CHK: flat, but it has had quite a run.

SD: actually up, surprisingly, over 2% gain.

AMZG flat.

TPLM: a new high. Sweet. Up over 2%.

UNP up almost a percent on a day that the market is trading a bit lower. Speaks well for the economy.

I don't follow BNSF (BRK) much any more; BRK follows the market in general.

ENB, EEP: both up strong today. Enbridge announced today it will sell 8 million preferred shares at $25/share (US dollar).

EPD: up almost 2%. 

SRE flat but more red than green.

TransCanada: wow, up a percent.

CLR: trades at a new high.

WLL: trades at a new high.

Jobless Claims Spike 15,000 -- But Less Than Expected -- And As Bogus As Ever -- Labor Department

... but less than expected. LOL. That's only because the numbers are now estimated by political hacks.

For the second week in a row I won't link this to the site where I track these numbers. After last week's mockery, these numbers are so incredibly unbelievable, it's not even worth tracking. A year from now, folks will be asking whether we have to start adding asterisks to the data during President O'Bama's presidency, just as an asterisk is added to Roger Maris' home run record (61 in '61) because the season was extended from 154 to 162 games. Or the asterisks that have been added to the baseball data during the steroid era. I don't think they added an asterisk to Lance Armstrong's racing years; they simply removed his name.

So, anyway, what was I saying? I left for a moment to talk to a guy who rode to Starbucks on his Specialized mountain bike, different color, but almost identical to mine. His has disc brakes; and the 29" rim. Mine does not have disc brakes.

Oh, yes, the initial unemployment claims report. After talking about bikes, it puts everything into perspective. The jobless numbers, week-to-week, is nothing but white noise. I used to enjoy tracking the numbers, but I've lost the enthusiasm now that I've seen how much they can be massaged.

The US is asking for Syria to account for all its chemical weapons it has accumulated since WWII, and to do this in a war zone, while there is shooting going on. The US can't even get its weekly unemployment numbers right. Look at what Reuters is reporting:

Jobless claims in the U.S. rose less than forecast last week as two states began working through a backlog of applications that were caused by computer-system changeovers.

Applications for unemployment benefits climbed by 15,000 to 309,000 in the week ended Sept. 14 from a revised 294,000 in the prior period, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 53 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an increase to 330,000.

A Labor Department spokesman said it could be a week or two before the state employment agencies are able to catch up on applications. 

I can't make this stuff up: it could be a week or two before the state employment agencies are able to catch up on applications and we're expecting Syria to account for 50 years of chemical weapons in one week. Give me a break.

Oh, and a lot of those chemical weapons were probably brought in from Iraq after Colin Powell said Iraq was hiding their weapons of mass destruction. Don't even get me started on the one individual that has most disappointed me.

But you know, that's a great excuse for Syria: they can say accounting for their chemical weapons will be delayed because they are switching over to Microsoft computers bought by Russia.

Anyway, closer to home: more Americans than ever see the hypocrisy -- exactly what I've been posting (preaching?) for the past few years: Americans views on US economy drop to one-year low.  And I'm sure one's view on the economy is directly related to the job one has (or doesn't have) and the rewards of that job.

Thursday Morning News, Views, Links -- Part II; Fertilizer, Insecticides, Animal Waste Huge Problem In Boulder Floods But Debbie Downer Able To Find New York Reuters Story On Concern With Fracking In Flood Area

More job cut announcements:

• Blackberry to cut 40% of their staff. One word: ouch!
• Wells Fargo to cut 1,800 more jobs:

... the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, is eliminating about 1,800 more jobs in its home-loan production business as rising mortgage rates curtail borrowers’ demand for refinancing.

The reductions are in addition to 3,000 earlier this quarter, Tom Goyda, a spokesman for the San Francisco-based bank, said in an interview yesterday. Those included 2,300 announced Aug. 21 and smaller cuts prior to that, Goyda said.

Add these recent announcements to previous announcements in the past six months, and one understands better why the Fed did not begin tapering.

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

Leave it to Debbie Downer to find a "fracking" story in the Boulder floods:

Contaminated water spilling from flooded oil and gas drilling sites in Colorado is refocusing attention on the environmental risks surrounding America's fracking boom.
Floods that have devastated north-central Colorado, killing eight people and displacing thousands, have also dislodged storage tanks that hold drilling wastewater left over from the production process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

While the impact of leaks is yet to be assessed, environmental groups, which oppose fracking, are expressing concerns about the risk of adding drilling fluids to other toxins potentially loosed by the floods.

Fertilizer and pesticides running from vast tracts of farmland may pose a bigger threat.

Glad to see Debbie Downer keeps up on these things.  At least Reuters is honest enough to mention the bigger threat. I'm surprised Debbie didn't delete that paragraph.

Waiting To See What The AEWs Have To Say

Rigzone/AP is reporting:

The state of Alaska wants ConocoPhillips to reopen its mothballed Kenai Peninsula liquefied natural gas plant to provide an incentive for petroleum companies to explore and invest in Cook Inlet.

In a Sept. 5 letter to ConocoPhillips President Trond-Erik Johansen, acting Natural Resources Commissioner Joe Balash requested that the company apply for a three-year federal LNG export license for the plant at Nikiski, about 70 miles southwest of Anchorage.

ConocoPhillips in March announced it would not extend its natural gas export license beyond March 31 but said it would consider a new license if the needs of local gas markets were met and sufficient natural gas was on hand to export.
Balash said contracts are in place to support local utility needs through 2018. Concerns exist, he said, for future exploration.

ConocoPhillips is probably waiting to see what activist environmental wackos have to say. 

That Didn't Take Long

Back on August 27, 2013, I noted that Greenpeace entered Russia's Arctic illegally. I knew that was not going to end well. Russia does not leave their guns at home, apparently.

Rigzone is reporting:

Greenpeace International reported Wednesday that two of its activists have been arrested after climbing aboard a Gazprom oil platform in the Russian Arctic.

The environmental group also claimed that disproportionate force was used by Russian Coast Guard during its action against the Prirazlomnoye platform in the Pechora Sea, where five inflatable boats were launched from Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise vessel early Wednesday. Crew members of the Arctic Sunrise said a total of 11 warning shots were fired across the ship and that the Russian Coast Guard threatened to fire at the ship itself if it does not leave the area immediately.

The captain of the Arctic Sunrise has also refused permission for the Russian Coast Guard to board its vessel, Greenpeace said. The two arrested activists are in the custody of the Russian Coastguard, it added.

As far as I'm concerned, use all the force they want. It's not as if Greenpeace doesn't know what they are doing. Their shenanigans could very well result in loss of life in the unforgiving Arctic.

OXY Joins Chevron In Moving Staff From California To Texas

Do you remember those stories about Chevron moving staff to Texas, but keeping their headquarters in San Ramon, CA?

Rigzone/Reuters is reporting that OXY is doing the same thing:

Occidental Petroleum Corp may still be headquartered in Los Angeles, as it has been since being founded nearly a century ago, but its center of gravity is shifting to Houston, capital of the U.S. energy industry.

While the fourth-largest U.S. oil company would not disclose the number of employees based in either city, a LinkedIn search reveals 286 people who list Oxy as their current employer in Los Angeles, compared with 1,491 in Houston.

Occidental's Texas presence is growing larger still. A search of 287 U.S. jobs listed by the company on www.oxy.com found 65 in Houston - ranging from senior engineers to software administrators. Most of the rest were at field operations in California and elsewhere in Texas.

As for Los Angeles, there was a single opening last month, for a security officer, and now there is one for an accountant.

And so it goes. 

Thursday Morning News, Views, And Links

It's hard to believe that after the huge run-up we had yesterday, the futures are still green: up about 30 points for the Dow and up about 60 cents for NYMEX crude oil.

My hunch is a lot of shorts were scrambling to come up with money yesterday. And that might continue today.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on anything you read here or anything you think you may have read here.

Active rigs: 180 (steady)

RBN Energy: pricing of residual fuel oil along the Gulf Coast

This is a note from a reader who flew into Williston for the first time in a year; his developments are in other parts of the Bakken:

When we arrived the Williston airport there were 11 jets on the ground with a Gulfstream departing.  Gulfstreams (larger) and Citation X's indicate serious business.

We traveled south to Alexander.  There is construction every where. We met a land man that was doing development in Scottsdale 10 years ago. I asked him how the speculation was compared to Phoenix ten years ago.

He said worse.

We are only in the second inning in the Bakken. 

Williston International Airport

Embraer Phenom Executive Jet

Growing up in Williston all I recall was Marburger's crop spraying service. I also remember the stories about cloud seeding back in the late 1950's (I suppose) to try to make it rain. It must have worked; we've had wetter weather ever since. LOL.  I always regret that I did not take a bigger interest in aviation when I was growing up. I certainly had the opportunity. 

More later. Now, it's time to read "The Diary of a Spider" with the younger granddaughter and then walk the two to school. They like to get to school early to have more time to socialize with their friends. And then I will be off to Starbucks. They have asked us to leave our guns at home.

Don't Take Your Guns To Town, Johnny Cash