Active Rigs Back Up To 190 In North Dakota; Black Friday For Wal-Mart -- November 21, 2014

IP results for wells coming off confidential list today have been posted. See this link. Several "high-IP" wells. Even Baytex has a couple of nice wells today.

Active rigs:

	11/21/2014	11/21/2013	11/21/2012	11/21/2011	11/21/2010
Active Rigs	190	184	181	202	159

 RBN Energy: Ethane rejection.

On Thursday, November 20, the ratio of ethane to natural gas hit its lowest point since 2005 – ethane only 64% of natural gas on a BTU basis.

According to OPIS, the price of ethane in Mont Belvieu was 19.25 cents/gallon while natural gas at Henry Hub was $4.49/MMbtu.

At this level it makes economic sense to reject as much ethane as possible.

All the rest of the ethane that gets produced needs to find a use, a purpose, a home. Demand for ethane as a feedstock for the petrochemical industry will rise considerably as new ethane cracking capacity comes online, mostly in the 2017-19 period.

Even so, ethane rejection is likely to remain commonplace for the foreseeable future. But what about ethane exports, not just to Canada but to Western Europe, Asia and other overseas markets? Today we update developments on the ethane export front.

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From a post back in June, 2012:

China works hard to cool off an over-heating economy, but its bigger challenge: keeping its young men employed. China has a one-child rule and Chinese prefer men. The Chinese population is skewed toward young men. Who all want iPhones. And iPhones require money, which, generally, requires a job.

The Chinese cannot afford to let their economy slow, and we saw that with today's Chinese "rate cut." I know nothing about economics when it comes to monetary policy vs fiscal policy but "rate cut" always seems to be a good thing. So, when you see the Chinese trying to slow their economy, and the drop in the stock market, remain calm, take a deep breath. 

[Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.]

The Chinese effort to cool an overheating economy is always short term.

I've posted many times that the Chinese cannot afford to let their economy slow down. A gazillion unemployed men with nothing to do. Not a pretty picture. And the Chinese have a lot of US dollars with which to stimulate the economy.

Overnight, it was announced that China unexpectedly cut interest rates, just before our own US holidays. Result: US stock market surges.

Yahoo!Finance headline from two days ago: Warren Buffett is the world's greatest investor, but Doug Kass is still short Berkshire. Memo to Doug: BRK-B is surging.

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China Is Going Green

China is going green. POTUS got the handshake. According to Bloomberg this is what China needs to go green (warning: please be seated when reading the next paragraph):

China, which does nothing in small doses, will need about 1,000 nuclear reactors, 500,000 wind turbines or 50,000 solar farms as it takes up the fight against climate change.

One thousand nuclear reactors. LOL. And POTUS believes them .

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Busy, Busy Day

 

I'll be off the net for most of the morning, maybe afternoon. I will be at the school with our younger granddaughter for "fitness Friday." Then, later for sushi with my wife. Then two back-to-back soccer games tonight. Blogging will be hit and miss.

But before I go, a look at the market (it looks like THE speech last night was pretty a non-event in the big scheme of things).

Right now, the Dow is up 144 points. The list of new "highs" today is going to be quite stunning. Right now, trading at new highs: BRK-B, AAPL, UNP.

This is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here. Make no travel plans based on what you read here. I post quickly and frequently; typographical and factual errors are likely. If this information is important to you, go to the source.