Friday, May 23, 2014 -- WTI Solidly Over $104 Going Into Three-Day Weekend

Active rigs:

	5/23/2014	05/23/2013	05/23/2012	05/23/2011	05/23/2010
Active Rigs	188	185	211	179	116

RBN Energy: Questar to put back in service an old pipeline from Four Corners to Long Beach, CA.

A recent proposal from Questar could bring part of a pipeline that once shipped crude to Long Beach from Four Corners in the 1950’s back into service. Questar plans to convert the western segment of its Southern Trails pipeline to crude and rename it the Inland California Express. The pipeline origin would be a rail load terminal in Central California from where crude would flow to Long Beach refineries with over 1 MMb/d capacity. The Questar proposal will likely attract support from shippers in the Rockies as well as Western Canada but still be a stretch for crude loaded onto railcars in the Permian. Today we review the proposal.

Recall that last year we evaluated the failed Kinder Morgan Freedom Pipeline proposal that would have run from West Texas to California. That project reinforced a commonly held belief that it is a financial and engineering stretch to build crude pipelines over the Rockies and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges that separate the eastern US from the West Coast. But that has not always been the case.

Over 50 years ago in 1957, Shell Oil led a consortium that developed the 700 mile Four Corners pipeline running from close to the borders of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado, transporting midcontinent crude to refineries in Long Beach, CA.

The Four Corners pipeline was purchased by ARCO (Atlantic Richfield – now part of BP) in the 1970’s, renamed as the ARCO 190 pipeline and its direction was reversed to ship the company’s Alaska North Slope (ANS) crude, (delivered to Long Beach in tankers from Valdez, AK), east across the US to the Texas Gulf Coast.

But in 1982 the Transpanama Pipeline was opened across the Panamanian Isthmus to ship ANS to the Gulf Coast and by the late 1990’s, ANS crude production volumes were in decline. In 1998 ARCO sold the pipeline to interstate natural gas shipper Questar Pipeline Company who wanted to repurpose the line to ship natural gas westbound.

The Wall Street Journal

Existing-home sales rise -- for the first time this year -- up 1.3% in April.

Explosive oil trains shrouded in secrecy! Secrecy of CBR causes concern.

Emergency responders in Cincinnati know that trains full of crude oil have been rumbling through their city; they can see mile-long chains of black tank cars clacking across bridges over the Ohio River.

But they don't know enough to feel prepared for the kinds of fiery accidents that have occurred over the last 10 months after oil-train derailments.

How many of the 100 trains that pass through residential neighborhoods and warehouse districts daily are carrying oil, for example? And when crude is carried, is it the kind that federal investigators have linked to explosions?

"We have no idea when trains are moving through and when they aren't," said Thomas Lakamp, special operations chief for the Cincinnati Fire Department. "The railroads aren't required to report to us."

A first step toward limited disclosure takes effect next month.

An emergency order from the U.S. Transportation Department in June will start requiring railroads to alert states about oil trains originating in North Dakota. But the rules, which follow accidents involving oil from North Dakota's Bakken Shale in such unlikely locations as Lynchburg, VA, and Aliceville, AL, already are coming under criticism. Some critics say the new rules are inadequate, while others worry that any disclosures will increase the likelihood of sabotage.

Most recalled GM car? Chevy Malibu.

Planting corn at warp speed: farmers are investing in more-sophisticated machinery to rapidly sow crops in narrow windows of favorable weather.

Sears loss widens on weak sales. The demise of the big box store continues. Is Sears even a big box store any more? Heard on the street: Sears catalog of worry isn't getting thinner. Sear's latest results show little sign of its long-term decline abating.

Best Buy sees continues sales declines. The demise of the big box store continues.

The Los Angeles Times

Global warming? What global warming? Scientists discover Tinkerbell wasp and see-through snail among ten (10) new species.

Long Beach beats out Los Angeles to host Formula E electric car race: pit stops will be measure in half-hour segments for re-charging.

Only in California: drought has an upside -- record-low rainfall means cleaner beach water.

Postage stamp honoring slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk unveiled. Got Milk?

Op-ed: Disneyland, the happiest, most crowded, most fleecing park on Earth.

The Dickinson Press

Harold Hamm sees 2-million bopd potential. Fargo Forum also has a video link:
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/435553/

Sean Hannity at Bakken conference in Bismarck. I haven't listened to Hannity in ages. I haven't watched him on television in years, but on the "thumbnail" at the link it looks like he's lost a lot of weight. Ill?