Thursday, May 22, 2014 -- The Governor Of North Dakota Says Days Of Going Easy On Flaring "Are Over"

Active rigs:

	5/22/2014	05/22/2013	05/22/2012	05/22/2011	05/22/2010
Active Rigs	189	185	213	179	116

RBN Energy: a must-read, feel-good article on US crude oil production.

Last week US crude oil production reached 8.4 MMb/d – its highest level since October 1986 – up 50 percent since the start of 2011. The engines of growth are Texas and North Dakota and within those states, horizontal drilling in tight oil shale are generating the most exciting results. And while production is soaring, proved reserves are increasing even faster – laying the groundwork for continued output. Today we look at past, current and future US crude production growth.

The Wall Street Journal

Mr Obama is really, really angry with the VA. I assume he will be golfing this weekend. He needs to cool off. Things are so bad the Phoenix VA director's bonus was rescinded. Wow. You mean he/she was up for a bonus! Anyway, enough of this, but if VA Secretary Eric Shinseki is not part of the foursome this weekend, the tea leaves suggest his tenure at the VA could be coming to an end. The VA admits to 23 deaths directly related to "delay in care." That's 23 more deaths than deaths related to CBR derailments in the US. By the way, back in 2008, Mr Obama said the VA would lead the way for medical reform in the US -- based on the ObamaCare rollout appears he was right on the mark. Blame Bush.

A rabbi, a Boy Scout leader, and two police officers walk into a bar ... and they aren't there to play bridge...

California oil deposit is far smaller than predicted -- previously posted.

Crude oil jumps on large decline in supplies. My wife thinks crude oil jumped because of "speculators." I posted the summary yesterday.

From "Overheard on the street":

Something is missing.

Every year, the satellite-TV operator has filed its proxy in late March and held its shareholder meeting in early May. Every year, that is, until this one. May is mostly over, and Dish hasn't filed its proxy or set a date for its annual meeting.

Dish says schedule conflicts have kept it from setting a meeting date. That rings a bit hollow, given the company's past regularity. Another possible explanation: Dish could be working on some announcement that would require a shareholder vote, and so may be delaying to present the issue at the meeting.

Granted, shareholder opinions don't matter much at Dish, which is controlled by Chairman Charlie Ergen. But the meeting is one of the few places to hear him discuss his vision for the company. And the silence has raised a few eyebrows among analysts and investors. Meanwhile, Dish filed an amended version of its annual financial filing on April 29 as required if a proxy hasn't been filed within 120 days of the end of the fiscal year.

Proxies may typically be run of the mill. Dish's delay suggests this year's could be quite the page turner.

The Los Angeles Times

Existing home sales rise for first time this year. That cinches it; the recovery is here. Existing home sales climbed 1.3% from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.65 million, the National Assn. of Realtors reported Thursday. That was the first gain this year, though it missed expectations slightly.

Mother's mental health is focus in brutal slaying of her three little girls. Yeah, that would be a good place to start. Mental health.

Boston Marathon bombers may have had help in Boston attack. Duh. Great headline, but the article has (almost) no new information.

I assume the folks over at The Los Angeles Times were opening bottles of champagne when the report was released, but other than activist environmentalists, they were about the only ones celebrating. Others, say The Times, are "bristling" at "new federal findings that dramatically slashed the estimated amount of oil able to be pulled out of the Monterey Shale, a vast stretch of Central and Southern California that is estimated to contain two-thirds of the nation's deep-rock oil deposits."

The USC study originally forecast that tapping the Monterey could generate 2.8 million additional jobs in the state by 2020. California now employs about 800,000 workers in the oil and gas industry and in fields such as hospitality that support energy workers, according to the American Petroleum Institute.

If the new federal estimates are accurate, Rose predicted that only 110,000 jobs may be created instead.

Oil industry executives said the report backed up what they had been seeing on the ground: They just weren't finding the oil they had been expecting to find. And many big rigs already had been stilled as anti-fracking sentiment grew.

And so it goes.

The Dickinson Press

It's called Barons Vista. It's a Singapore-based LLC. It is proposing a multi-million dollar "lifestyle development," 282-acre, sprawling residential and retail complex west of Dickinson. The city is moving cautiously, approving the next step, summed up in this quote from the community development director:

“The rezoning for that development and subsequent planning for that is not on the agenda,” he said. “It’s just to allow the ability that, OK, urban services could be provided.”

Whatever that means.

Meanwhile, the governor says he's had it with flaring in North Dakota, and he's not going to take it any more. He says the days of "going easy on the oil companies and flaring" are over.

Effective June 1, all applications for a permit to drill must come with a gas capture plan, including plans for hooking up to a gas line. The new rules are largely adapted from recommendations made in January by a North Dakota Petroleum Council task force on flaring.

In his own remarks Wednesday, Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms said that for the rest of 2014, getting gas capture plans in place is “going to be a huge focus for us.”

Helms’ department also sent a letter to operators reminding them of the penalties for not following the new regulations. Sent May 9, the letter reminded operators that failure to abide by the new rules could result in penalties, including restrictions on production.