Friday, June 13, 2014 -- President Obama Visits North Dakota

Iraq: US considering options. President Obama to visit North Dakota. Chuck Hagel at an undisclosed location. John Kerry speaking on global warming somewhere. So much for sanctions: it appears President Obama is looking to get support from Iran in countering Iraqi insurgency. I don't think Mr Obama had his heart set on sanctions all that much to begin with. The linked article suggests the relationship between the US and Iran has been warming for the past year -- first time that's been reported. The spin is amazing. Baghdad is going to love having Iran fill the vacuum left by the US.

Active rigs:

	6/13/2014	06/13/2013	06/13/2012	06/13/2011	06/13/2009
Active Rigs	185	185	211	169	37

RBN Energy: a discussion of the "quality" of US crude oil -- condensate, light oil, heavy oil.

The Wall Street Journal

Iraq "girds" to protect capital Baghdad. 

Militants aim to redraw map of the Middle East. "This entire system is disintegrating like a house of cards that starts to collapse," Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said. A militant Islamist group that has carved out control of a swath of Syria has moved into Iraq, conquering cities and threatening the Iraqi government the U.S. helped create and support with billions of dollars in aid and thousands of American lives. The group—known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham—isn't a threat only to Iraq and Syria. It seeks to impose its vision of a single radical Islamist state stretching from the Mediterranean coast of Syria through modern Iraq, the region of the Islamic Caliphates established in the seventh and eighth centuries.

Sluggish retail sales cloud hopes for breakout growth.

US Supreme Court ruled that certain money inherited from IRAs can be taken by creditors to cover the debts of people in bankruptcy proceedings.

Kiev says Russian tanks entered the Ukraine.

OPEC dismisses oil-supply concern.

The Los Angeles Times

Governor, legislators reach funding deal on bullet train

Bergdahl apparently moves to head of list for medical care; arrives at Brooke Army Medical Center without going through central appointment system

Back in the USA, Linda Ronstadt, Chuck Berry