Update On British North Sea Oil -- Puts The Bakken In Perspective

Reuters via Rigzone provides a four-page internet story of the status of British North Sea Oil.

An excerpt:

Production from UK waters fell by about 40 percent between 2010 and 2013 to the lowest level since the 1970s, according to industry group Oil and Gas UK. Exploration has also tapered off, with consultancy Deloitte reporting last month that only 47 test wells were drilled last year - the lowest level since 2003.

That is bad news for a cash-strapped government which in fiscal 2012-13 still relied on the oil industry for over 15 percent of all corporate taxes. It's not that North Sea oil is running out. An interim report from the government's review - chaired by industry veteran Ian Wood - estimated as much as 24 billion barrels of oil could still be produced, worth about $2.6 trillion at current prices.

But the oil is getting harder and more expensive to recover. And many of the firms with the skills to do so complain they can't get access to the infrastructure they need because it is owned by major oil companies that are focused elsewhere in the world and see little benefit from helping competitors.

High costs, including wages and taxes, are also making oil firms think twice about the North Sea.

In November, for example, Chevron cast doubt over its Rosebank project in the region, estimated to have cost $8 billion, saying it did not currently offer "economic value". There is also political uncertainty, with BP warning this month that the industry could face extra costs if Scotland votes for independence in a referendum in September.

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

A Note to the Granddaughters

I won't have time to get to the WSJ until later today, or tomorrow, because of a busy schedule with the granddaughters today.

I did have time to read the "Review" section of today's WSJ with coffee and toast this morning; no Starbucks.

There wasn't much in "Review" to get me excited but then this: a book review of Careless People, a 399-page book by Sarah Churchwell. I'm having trouble figuring out exactly what the book is about, but it appears to be the study of the novel in the early 20's, when F. Scott Fitzgerald was writing, re-writing The Great Gatsby (1925). I went through my Fitzgerald phase some years ago, reading several biographies of Fitzgerald and separate biographies of Zelda. I think the only novel I read of his was Gatsby.

Coincidentally, I got the Blu-Ray DVD of the 2013 movie, The Great Gatsby, starring DiCaprio and McGuire for my wife for Valentine's Day. I loved it. My wife thought the two party scenes at the beginning were too much; she could have done without all that, she says. It slowed the development of the story. In a sense, there are two stories: the first half which is the jazz age; the second half, which is the love story.

I was reminded of the new movie when, through the blog, I stumbled on Lana Del Rey, who provides some of the soundtrack for the movie. Surprisingly, I did not pay attention to her music while watching the movie; I was mesmerized by the spectacle, I guess. By the way, I thought the first half of the movie was a sequel to Baz Lurhmann's Moulin Rouge.

It's a movie I could watch several more times. It is on the top shelf now, along with Casablanca, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and Mulholland Drive. The second shelf down contains Top Gun and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Again, the Blu-Ray version has hours of extra material, and that's one reason I try very hard to only buy Blu-Ray DVDs.

I got out my Fitzgerald "library" and will spend some time this next week looking at that again. I am always interested how directors, actors, screenwriters interpret a book and the characters. I will read The Great Gatsby in a completely different light, as they say.

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