Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Active rigs:

	6/17/2014	06/17/2013	06/17/2012	06/17/2011	06/17/2010
Active Rigs	188	184	214	173	129

RBN Energy: continues the discussion on natural gas supply and demand; fill rate this summer.

Are lower storage spreads in the futures curves telling the market that with all the new shale gas production coming online and setting records every other week, there is no need to be worried about storage anymore? That seems counter intuitive given the impact of this past winter in drawing down gas inventories so low by March. And don’t forget that by the time we get to 2020 we could have upwards of 6 Bcf/d of gas being exported from US liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals as well as countless new industrial plants on the Gulf Coast sucking up gas, not to mention new gas fired generation to replace retiring coal plants. That’s a lot of new demand. We at RBN are optimistic that production will meet these increased demands, but we doubt if that will be smooth sailing without adequate use of storage.  How that will play out with the current storage spreads is a big question.

The Wall Street Journal

The Iraqi uncivil war continues. By the way, speaking of which, the New York Times has an interesting story from a photographer who has been there, done that, wants to go back. This is a very, very good article: the current Iraq uncivil war was foretold as soon as the US left.

The long reach of the US government: the US Supreme Court handed Argentina a major setback in its long-running battle with a small group of determined creditors, heightening the risk the country will default for the second time in 13 years. The third time, they say, is the charm.

this was reported elsewhere yesterday, in a story from Sea Coast Online sent to me by a reader. Now it's a front section story in the WSJ: states and cities could be forced to report than $500 billion in additional liabilities for retiree benefits under ObamaCare.

Also reported yesterday, and now a front section WSJ article: IMF cuts growth forecast for the US. Sylvia Nassar/Keynes argues convincingly that instituting huge new taxes during a recession is a recipe for disaster. ObamaCare was a huge new tax. In her same book, it was argued that restricting the flow of capital restricted growth, again exactly what Dodd-Frank is doing.

Reported yesterday, and a front section story: Russia shuts off natural gas to the Ukraine.

This should move the US market: EU inflation falls; raises stimulus expectations.

The states get it: cut business taxes to spur growth.

GM recalls 3.4 million more cars. It's becoming a dog-bites-man story; no longer even in the front section of the newspaper, much less the front page.

 The Los Angeles Times

The Obama administration said they were, then they weren't, now they are, does it really matter? Headline story in the LA Times: US and Iran in talks on how to cooperate with regard to Iraq.