Active Rigs, Permits To Date, Projected Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA; North Dakota Close To Setting New Records In Oil -- Canola Oil; Same With Soybeans -- April 8, 2014

Three data points to think about.

Active rigs:

	4/8/2014	04/08/2013	04/08/2012	04/08/2011	04/08/2010
Active Rigs	191	185	208	173	103

Permits issued to date (and corresponding date) in each of the three past years (oil and gas only):

• 2014: 749
• 2013: 664
• 2012: 553

Projected number of permits for the calendar year at this point in time (oil and gas only):

• 2014: 2,790
• 2013: 2,473
• 2012: 2,060

2012 was the last year of the Bakken boom, "they" say.

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North Dakota Agriculture: Soybean and Canola Acres Nearing New Records

KXNET is reporting:

It's feels like spring and farmers are getting ready to head to the field and break some records. 

Soybean acres are estimated to be at an all time high at 5.6 million acres...which would put North Dakota in the top 5 producing states in the nation, stealing Indiana's number 4 position. 

Canola acres are also expected to be near an all time record high in the state. Farmers are expected to dedicate 1.27 million acres to the crop.

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Meanwhile, Over At Apple

MacRumors is reporting:

Apple's iPhone continues to grow in popularity with U.S. teenagers, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster's latest semiannual teen survey, which asked 7,500 teens about their device preferences. 61 percent of teens now own an iPhone, compared to 55 percent from a survey conducted in October 2013 and 40 percent in the fall of 2012.

67 percent of teens expect their next phone to be an iPhone, up slightly from October's survey. When it comes to tablets, 60 percent of teens own one, up from 56 percent in the fall. 66 percent of those own an iPad (55% full-sized, 11% mini), which is down slightly from 68 percent, with ownership shifting further towards the mini. 18 percent of teens who don't own a tablet expect to buy one in the next sixth months and of those prospective buyers, 66 percent plan to choose an iPad. 

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Any Investor News In The Bakken? Elsewhere?

KOG was up almost 5% today. Pay attention to John Paulson's small cap picks. The story lists five; here are two:

Third on the list is Oasis Petroleum Inc., with Paulson's 7.4 million shares worth approximately $348 million. He increased his stake in the $4.4 billion market cap independent oil and natural gas E&P (exploration and production) company more than seven-fold during the fourth quarter. Other shareholders include Vince Maddi and Shawn Brennan of SIR Capital Management, Paul Jasinkiewicz of Jasinkiewicz Capital Management and Anthony Giammalva of Sound Energy Partners.

Paulson's fifth largest small cap holding is Kodiak Oil and Gas Corp., in which he owns 26.0 million shares worth approximately $291 million. He is the largest shareholder of the $3.4 billion market cap company, which is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, exploitation, development and production of crude oil and natural gas in the Rocky Mountain region. Other hedge fund managers that own the stock include Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group, Israel Englander of Millennium Management and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson of Adage Capital Management.

CLR was up almost 5% today. Contributor over at SeekingAlpha: nothing regular readers didn't already know.

WLL was up about 3% today. Some insider selling at WLL. Insignificant. Must have been a slow news day. Probably needed to raise some cash to pay personal federal taxes. 

CHK was pretty flat today. Not much value in CHK spinoff -- Motley Fool:

A few weeks back, the company submitted documents to spin off the oilfield services division in order to reduce corporate debt by $1 billion and allow the independent firm to better attract non-Chesapeake clients. The division primarily operates a land-based drilling fleet and hydraulic fracturing fleets that might compare favorably to combination of Helmerich & Payne and C&J Energy Services. While those two companies are trading at 52-week highs, one shouldn't expect similar peak pricing for the spinoff.

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