Friday, July 18, 2014 -- Recap Of Oil Storage In US;

GE's profit surges, up 13% -- due to focus on oil and gas industry. 

Active rigs:

	7/18/2014	07/18/2013	07/18/2012	07/18/2011	07/18/2010
Active Rigs	196	189	208	180	132

RBN Energy: Gulf coast crude oil storage capacity.

While doing the storage days calculation for PADD III we went ahead and did a comparison with other EIA reporting regions.

The East Coast – PADD I – historically fed almost entirely by water – had 18 storage days in April 2014 and an average of 19 days since 2011, suggesting that floating storage plays a critical role in that region – although that will need to change as PADD I refineries are fed increasingly from inland by rail.

The storage days number for PADD II – the Midwest – that is landlocked and therefore fed almost exclusively by pipeline - is 38 days in April 2014 and 35 days on average.

Like the Midwest, PADD IV (the Rocky Mountains) is also landlocked but refineries are smaller and supplies can leave the region on major pipelines in case of oversupply. Storage days in PADD IV were 30 in April 2014 and 27 on average since 2011.

PADD V (West Coast) has traditionally been largely supplied by waterborne crude from Alaska and foreign imports except for domestic California production. PADD V storage days are therefore lower because of the floating storage buffer – 24 days in April 2014 and 25 days on average since 2011. Like the East Coast, more supplies delivered from North Dakota and Western Canada by rail are reducing waterborne dependence on the West Coast.  

Finally the storage days number for the US as a whole is 35 days in April 2014 and 32 days on average. So the Gulf Coast region as a whole with 32 storage days of capacity is on a par with the US average of 32 days, lower than the Midwest and higher than the East or West Coast.

Analyst's view of the May, 2014, North Dakota Bakken production data:

• https://rbcnew.bluematrix.com/docs/pdf/0a5ffeab-cdde-46f6-830f-9c9d400bd304.pdf?

Perhaps the most important nugget from that presentation had to do with flaring: New regulations require operators to limit flaring to 24% by October 2014. During May 2014, 31% of the 1.2 Bcf/d of natural gas production was flared. This is down from 37% flared from Jan-Apr 2014 and we expect most operators to meet the limits.

A huge "thank you" to "anon 1" for the link.

  

The Wall Street Journal

Surface-to-air missile hit Malaysia Airlines plane. "Tragedy" escalates tensions over Ukraine. So, it's just a tragedy and, I guess, we move on. The US says that the missile that brought down the plane would have been a sophisticated missile; that begs the question -- who fired it? And why?

Israel launches Gaza ground invasion, including tanks.

Microsoft to cut up to 14% of its workforce. There will be a lot written about MSFT's decision to buy Nokia a year ago.

Housing starts sink 9.3% -- now, they're blaming the rain. Who'll stop the rain?

Who'll Stop the Rain, Creedence Clearwater Revival
Economists dim growth views for US for 2014. Oh, well. Easy come, easy go.

Lawmakers clash over President Obama's OPEN BORDERS/OPEN ARMS policy.

Quick: the IRS e-mails that were lost. How many days worth of e-mails were lost? Answer: two-years worth of e-mails. Sort of compares to that 18-minute gap in the RMN tape. LOL. What are they going to do? Impeach him? LOL.

Google revenue beats estimates; 2Q14 revenue growth of 22%.

IBM's revenue remains soft; it's becoming a bit clear why the company is hitching its wagon to Apple.

US natural gas prices at seven-month low. Europe, for the most part, continues to ban fracking.

Heard on the street: Microsoft's tough call yet to come on phones. Microsoft has taken the ax to the Nokia business it bought last year -- but the hard work still lies ahead.

Microsoft announced layoffs of up to 18,000 workers Thursday morning, the software giant's biggest job cuts ever. About 12,500 of these are coming from the handset operations that are mostly comprised of the Nokia device business acquired last year under Mr. Nadella's predecessor as chief executive, Steve Ballmer.

That purchase added about 25,000 workers to the company's payroll.

Mr. Nadella reportedly was against the idea of the Nokia acquisition before he was for it.

Whatever the boardroom politics then, it is a business he is now saddled with. Reducing the workforce of the unit by half is a bold move and will earn support from investors.

But the long-term trajectory of the Windows handset business remains unclear—and could call into question having more than 12,000 employees still dedicated to the cause.

The Los Angeles Times

Malaysia defends flight path of downed jet.

Eighty (80) percent of California is now in extreme drought. For perspective start with the Mulholland bio over at wiki; and the California Water Wars. Long article on mandatory water restrictions, but nothing said about golf courses. In another article, the restrictions: can water all they want, but only between sunset and sunrise. I assume because golfers generally golf during sunlight hours, this is not particularly restrictive. I could be wrong.
 

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How's That Again?

Hamas launches thousands of rockets indiscriminately over Israeli cities. Israel declares unilateral ceasefire; Hamas responds to the ceasefire with indiscriminate rocket launches on Israel. Israel defends itself. President Obama blames Israel for not protecting civilians I can't make this stuff up.

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How's That Again? Again

The Chicago SunTimes reports that "global warming threatens Chicago tourism":

An unusually long winter like the one endured in 2014 showed that more severe storms and weather in the winter also hurt business bottom lines. The long, extreme cold further into the spring causes a drop in sales for group tour business and private events in the early part of the season as people are not yet ready to commit to outdoors activities. A colder Lake Michigan has resulted in fog blocking visibility for sightseeing.

And from IceAgeNow:

Feels like October in Oklahoma, Iowa, Alabama, Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Mississippi, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Kansas, even Manitoba. Have you seen much about this in the mainstream media?