Marmon Oil Field Has Been Updated; For A Small State, A Big Footprint; Statoil And Wind Energy?

A reader sent me this short note:

I found this well, #25793, very interesting for the Marmon field. It has Excellent production vs those to the east (#19547, #19103, #21159, #21158, and #20604). There is talk of better wells with improvements in drilling and fracking over time vs operator technique.  HRC is busy in the field and probably doing more stages.

I thought that interesting so I updated the field. It is going to be a very, very active field.

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North Dakota Vignette

North Dakota leads the nation in several agricultural products, is a leading wind energy producer, is #1 in honey production, and has the largest continuous oil reservoir in the lower 48. And the state remains a leader in coal production: 

The Bismarck Tribune is reporting:

Lignite production in North Dakota last year up slightly but still below the long-term average.

The Lignite Energy Council says the state's four large lignite mines produced 27.7 million tons of coal in 2013. That's up from 27.5 million tons from 2012.

The group says production has been near 30 million tons since 1988, making North Dakota one of the 10 major coal-producing states in the nation.

Most of the coal is used to produce electricity which is about 20 times cheaper than wind generated electricity.

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Statoil and Wind

A reader sent this most interesting article. Seacostonline is reporting:

A 12-megawatt offshore wind project a few miles off Maine's coast could transform the state into a leader of the infant industry, supporters say. But first, developers must overcome their first major hurdle: getting the green light from a panel of state regulators this week.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission is poised to vote Tuesday on whether to grant initial approval for a state contract to the University of Maine and its partner companies, called Maine Aqua Ventus, to build a two-turbine pilot project off the coast of Monhegan Island.

That may or may be interesting to readers of the blog, but look at this, from the very next paragraph i that linked article. Who would have ever guess?

The vote will come nearly a year after the PUC gave the first nod to Norwegian company Statoil for its own offshore wind project, which was spiked following maneuvering by Republican Gov. Paul LePage's administration. Now those who've long urged the state to capitalize on its generous wind resources are keeping a close eye on the PUC's decision this week.

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Solar Energy Faltering

Speaking of renewable energy, this was a very, very interesting headline story in The LA Times today: after a building boom, solar energy's prospects aren't as sunny. Regular readers are well aware of this; all one has to do is a google search: solar energy bankruptcies. Do the google search. I think you will be surprised. I was. But I'm posting the story because it was the headline story in a major magazine that may be more outrageous than The New York Times. From the linked article:

Five years after the Obama administration's renewable energy initiative touched off a building boom of large-scale solar power plants across the desert Southwest, the pace of development has slowed to a crawl, with a number of companies going out of business and major projects canceled for lack of financing.

Of the 365 federal solar applications since 2009, just 20 plants are on track to be built. Only three large-scale solar facilities have gone online, two in California and one in Nevada. The first auction of public land for solar developers, an event once highly anticipated by federal planners, failed to draw a single bid last fall.

Several factors are responsible, industry analysts say. The tight economy has made financing difficult to obtain, and the federal government has not said whether it will continue to offer tax credits of the size that brought a rush of interest in large-scale solar five years ago.

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The ObamaCare Trainwreck

The Washington Post is reporting:

When millions of health-insurance plans were canceled last fall, the Obama administration tried to be reassuring, saying the terminations affected only the small minority of Americans who bought individual policies.

But according to industry analysts, insurers and state regulators, the disruption will be far greater, potentially affecting millions of people who receive insurance through small employers by the end of 2014.

While some cancellation notices already have gone out, insurers say the bulk of the letters will be sent in October, 2014, shortly before the next open-enrollment period begins. The timing — right before the midterm elections — could be difficult for Democrats who are already fending off Republican attacks about the Affordable Care Act and its troubled rollout.

Some of the small-business cancellations are occurring because the policies don’t meet the law’s basic coverage requirements. But many are related only indirectly to the law; insurers are trying to move customers to new plans designed to offset the financial and administrative risks associated with the health-care overhaul.

As part of that, they are consolidating their plan offerings to maximize profits and streamline how they manage them.

Don't worry; this is not going to happen in an election year. The president will issue an executive order preventing this from happening. As noted several times, the health insurers will simply be "pass-through" entities for ObamaCare.

See also, twitchy/just Karl: http://twitchy.com/2014/01/13/lotta-denial-out-there-chuck-todd-gets-much-needed-dose-of-obamacare-reality/