CLR Announces JV WIth A Subsidiary Of A Fortune Global 100 South Korean Company -- October 27, 2014; Open Borders, Open Arms, Open Roam ... Open Season

From the press release:

Continental Resources, Inc. announced today it has formed a joint venture with a wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary of SK E&S Co. Ltd o jointly develop a significant portion of Continental's Northwest Cana Woodford natural gas assets, primarily in Blaine and Dewey counties, Oklahoma. SK E&S is a subsidiary of SK Group, one of the largest conglomerates in South Korea and part of SK Holdings, a Fortune Global 100 company. 

Continental sold a 49.9% interest in approximately 44,000 net acres in the highly prospective Northwest Cana area of the Anadarko Woodford Shale play, including interests in 37 producing wells, for total consideration of approximately $360 million. Continental received $90 million at closing, and SK has committed to pay an additional $270 million to carry 50% of Continental's remaining share of future drilling and completion costs. Continental anticipates no change in its 2014 and 2015 capital expenditures, its production mix of crude oil and natural gas, or its overall production targets as a result of this agreement.

RBN Energy: must-read update on CBR and the Bakken. It's another great article with lots of data. The conclusion:

What does this mean for the future of Bakken crude-by-rail? As we have seen before, it takes time for producers to react to market price changes and so we don’t see an overnight exodus away from the railroads in North Dakota. But the longer that rail economics remain underwater the more barrels will move to pipelines.

The recent spate of new pipeline project announcements out of the Bakken reflects shipper interest in moving away from rail when they can. Trouble is that there are no pipelines yet from North Dakota (or anywhere else) to the East or West Coasts, so incremental pipeline barrels out of the Bakken are going to end up at Cushing or the Gulf Coast – where they will compete with a flood of light crude from the Texas Permian and Eagle Ford basins – putting further downward pressure on the LLS premium over WTI – reducing the pipeline netbacks.

But in a downward pricing market, the lower cost of pipelines trumps pricier railroads. That means those Bakken producers that continue to supply the East and West Coasts will have to eat higher transport costs to compete with Brent and ANS. And as crude prices fall, you can be sure that producers are paying close attention to getting the best netbacks available to sustain their new drilling investment.

Active rigs:

	10/27/2014	10/27/2013	10/27/2012	10/27/2011	10/27/2010
Active Rigs	194	182	186	200	150

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Open Borders ... Open Arms ... Open Roam

It's funny how things evolve. As far as I know, about the only "disease" that requires health care workers to don HAZMAT suits, and for those coming back from the HOT ZONE, the national policy seems to be open borders, open arms, and now open roam. LOL.

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Un-Tracking 

I have loyalty cards for the two drugstores I shop and for the three grocery stores I shop. They all collect data on what I buy and two of the stores (one drugstore and one grocery store) send me targeted coupons.  I have no problem with that. Most of the time, the e-mail is immediately "trashed" but if I'm going shopping, I will at least check the coupons. 

CVS and Rite Aid have announced they won't accept Apple Pay (and I believe Wal-Mart never intended to accept Apple Pay). The rumors are that by using Apple Pay the retailers lose the ability to track their customers. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Target (I don't use their Red Card any more) has said it will accept Apple Pay -- I don't know if they are on-line with Apple Pay yet. McDonald's is.

This reminds me of two previous epic technology battles: Sony Beta-Max vs VHS; and, Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD. 

On another note, I doubt anyone can find a more aggressive mail-order marketer than Omaha Steaks. One would think that their customers would get furious with all the mailings and telephone calls. The funny thing: I don't mind them at all. I would be furious if any other retailer did this, but I don't mind at all. I don't know why. To some extent, it's interesting to see how good the deals get the longer one goes without ordering. At some point, the deals become irresistible. It appears they don't actually track one's specific tastes in meat selections, but they sure do know you as a customer. There are days I am tempted to buy a small medium-sized freezer for just Omaha Steaks for the man-cave.

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Open Season

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but it's important to note that the "Open Borders ... Open Arms ... Open Roam ..." policies appear to be emanating from the East Coast. In Texas, if the governor has his way, he may add "Open Season."