News You May Have Missed -- Just Catching Up -- Nothing Important -- For The Archives

The Wall Street Journal is reporting:

According to the data, Texas saw the largest influx of well-heeled households moving into the state last year, consistent with move trends overall. South Carolina and Florida also posted net gains.

On the flip side, Illinois and Pennsylvania saw more high-value households move out of state than in, according to the data. California saw the biggest net loss of heavy-weight moves.

Last year, California had a net loss of 49,259 people to other states, according to the U.S. Census. California markets also have seen some of the strongest year-over-year price growth in the U.S., says Ellen Haberle, economist at real-estate brokerage Redfin.

"For the average buyer, it's not that California was affordable to start with—it's just getting even harder," she says.

Texas had the highest net gain in terms of domestic migration—113,528 more people moved into the state than out last year, census data show. Job opportunities are home-buyers' top reason for relocating to Texas, according to a Redfin survey last month of 1,909 customers and website users.

It's not just the numbers of folks leaving California; it's the demographics of those leaving -- the higher income/higher taxed.

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Shale (really) is different -- BP. Rigzone is reporting: 

BP has belatedly recognised there is not a good cultural fit between shale buccaneers and the petroleum engineers and MBAs in the rest of the organisation.

Interestingly, ExxonMobil seems to have known this from the start, and maintained its XTO shale unit as a separate business with a separate headquarters after buying it in 2010. 

XTO operates as a separate entity in North Dakota, though it is a wholly-owned subsidiary of XOM.

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We've discussed the Kashagan numerous times. It's in the news again. Rigzone is reporting:

Kazakhstan is suing foreign oil majors developing its huge Kashagan oilfield in the Caspian Sea, a tactic similar to those that secured the government large stakes in two of the three multinational energy projects on its territory.

Repeated delays at the 13-year-old project, targeted to produce as much oil as OPEC member Angola from a reserve almost as big as Brazil's, have infuriated the Kazakh government. The consortium, led by Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Eni as well as Kazakh state oil firm KazMunaiGas, may face Kazakhstan seizing a bigger stake in Kashagan or refusing to reimburse a big chunk of the $50 billion spent on bringing it onstream.

The latter option is written into the Kashagan contracts. Production at Kashagan, the world's biggest oil discovery in 35 years, began in September but was stopped just weeks later after gas was found to be leaking from its pipelines.

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FlexGen brings portable power to remote drilling sites. Rigzone is reporting:

FlexGen Power Systems is a branch of U.S.-based military power supply provider Earl Energy, and its FlexGen Solid State Generator, while new to the oil and gas sector, has been in use by the military worldwide, including Afghanistan and Iraq for several years, Steven Jones, FlexGen’s director of communications told Rigzone.

The company was started by former military personnel who knew first-hand what the shortcomings of typical generators were out in the field and decided a new approach was called for, Jones explained. While the power systems were developed by the military, the company realized there were other applications, such as the oil and gas industry, where the power systems could offer significant advantages over existing products.