Wednesday -- August 27, 2014; EPD Spl - its 2:1; CLR To Spl - it, 2:1

I missed this; a reader sent me the link. CLR will split 2:1:

Continental Resources, Inc. announced August 18, 2014, that its Board of Directors declared a two-for-one stock split of the Company's common stock to be issued in the form of a stock dividend. The additional shares will be distributed on September 10, 2014, to shareholders of record on September 3, 2014. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on anything you read here.

Wow, incredibly beautiful weather here in Williston today. Someone cut the fiber-optic cable bringing the internet to the city library -- happened late Monday afternoon, I believe. Wi-fi working but library internet is not working. And so it goes in the Bakken. My blogging might be short today.

Active rigs:

	8/27/2014	08/27/2013	08/27/2012	08/27/2011	08/27/2010
Active Rigs	195	186	190	200	140

RBN Energy:  Continuing series on Canadian LNG export facilities.

Heightened worldwide competition among LNG exporters is forcing a reality check on projects. LNG buyers, most of them in the Asia/Pacific region, are pressing for prices that more closely track natural gas value at the source—plus the known or calculable costs of liquefaction and shipping. Projects whose capital costs put their LNG pricing out of the money will not find the buyers they need to make their projects a “go.” The 16 or more LNG export projects under development in Western Canada are going through a winnowing process of sorts right now, largely because all are greenfield efforts and all but the smallest projects require new, expensive pipeline capacity to move their gas to port.  Today in the third blog in our series on Western Canadian LNG exports, we examine the remaining field of contenders, including some floating or barge-based proposals that may gain an edge.

Western Canada needs new markets for both its shale and conventional gas, the Asia/Pacific region needs more LNG, and at least two dozen companies—many of them in joint ventures—are developing export projects in northern British Columbia (BC) to marry those needs. Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) has approved export licenses for nine LNG export projects in BC that, if all built, would demand a total of up to 16 Bcf/d of Western Canadian natural gas. Still more projects are planned. But the biggest LNG export booster of them all, BC’s provincial government, sees only a few projects with a combined gas through-put of 3.5 Bcf/d (to produce up to 25 million metric tons/year, or MMTA, of LNG) will be online by 2023. So the real questions are, can BC LNG projects compete with projects on the US Gulf and West coasts and, if so, which BC projects are most likely to get off the ground?

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For Investors Only

Trading at new highs today: EEQ, EPD, PBR, RAIL, WPX.

The Wall Street Journal

Hamas blinks: unconditional, open-ended cease-fire.

Tim Horton's: everyone's worried about the tax deal; they're missing the story. [Hint: this has nothing to do with ObamaCare; Burger King isn't going away in the US. The story isn't about "inversion/taxes" either. The "tax angle" is simply icing on the cake. This is a much bigger story than the sum of the parts.]

S&P closes above 2,000 for first time.

Something a lot of folks did not think the Chinese could do: China is awash in grain crops.

Heard on the Street: More than most businesses, utilities really do have to spend money to make money. Regulators let them earn a return on all the money spent on new wires, power plants and other equipment.

The Los Angeles Times

California approves $330 million/year in film, TV tax credits.

F-15 crashes in remote mountain region in Virginia; signs of pilot not see; hopefully ejected.

East Porterville, Central Valley, California -- the wells are dry.

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Split?

I've not seen this in an energy company in quite some time. EPD announces 2:1 split. Enterprise Products Partners says its board approved a two-for-one split of EPD's common units; the additional units will be distributed Aug. 21 to holders of record as of the close on Aug. 14.

It's not as dramatic as this actually. I believe the pre-split share price was about $78. But I could be wrong. I don't follow this one too closely. Actually I don't follow anything closely enough. [Actually, I think the graph is wrong; it should be just the opposite: $80 prior to the split; $40 after the split. But I may be wrong on that, also. Don't trust anything I say regarding the market. LOL.]

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Time For Some Music

This was hard to find, but found it (it looks like everyone and his brother covers this song) -- one of the songs on today's Williston area NPR:

Pop a Top, Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants

I actually think I like it much better than Alan Jackson's cover, although it sounds like it was recorded in an echo chamber or a really big empty beer hall. Probably the latter.