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Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Alexander, North Dakota, Heart Of The Bakken, To Double Size Of Its K-12 School -- October 8, 2014

The Dickinson Press is reporting:
A $17.1 million bond levy to double the size of the Alexander, ND, K-12 school was approved by a vote of 72 in favor with just 11 opposed.
School Superintendent Leslie Bieber said the 88 percent approval far exceeds the supermajority needed to pass a bond levy and the board will proceed with bidding the project and breaking ground this spring.
The school in far western McKenzie County continues to swell with new oil boom families and is up to 189 this year, compared to 53 five years ago, and is expected to reach 360 in another three years.
Alexander is on the curve, midway between Williston and Watford City. 

Problems Keep Compounding For Statoil Over In The North Sea -- October 8, 2014

Rigzone is reporting:
Several key oil and gas developments in Norway will cost much more than earlier expected and fields with approved development plans are now seen 10 percent more expensive than originally planned, the oil and energy ministry said on Wednesday.
Costs in Norway's offshore oil sector, already one of the most expensive in the world, have soared in recent years, weighing on the budget which provides generous tax breaks during the development phase. The government has already said it would reduce tax breaks for new developments and the oil ministry launched an investigation into why costs soar.
Italian energy company Eni's Goliat field - Norway's first Arctic oil development - will cost 46.7 billion crowns ($7.21 billion), above the firm's 45 billion estimate in May and 49 percent more compared to the development plan approved in 2009.
Operator Eni has a stake of 65 percent in the field, while its partner Statoil holds the remaining 35 percent
Puts the Bakken into perspective. I suppose.

Condensates -- October 8, 2014

Condensates. From Bakken.com
U.S. export regulators may wait for such a definition before they issue any more rulings on exports of “processed” condensate, the attendees said. The first two rulings rattled the industry earlier this year.
The term refers broadly to any type of oil that “condenses” into a liquid after being freed from high-pressure wells, where it often lurks in gas form, or separated from gas.
But once it becomes a liquid, there is no agreed way to tell condensate from ordinary crude. Most state regulators do not even measure it; those that do, only measure gas-related condensate, not that from the hydraulically fractured oil wells.
Most industry insiders expect the definition to revolve around API gravity, a standard measure of density with higher readings produced by lighter grades. Condensate is the lightest of the light.
Refiner Phillips 66 and midstream giant Plains All American  have said condensate is oil with an API gravity of 45 or above. Meanwhile, Marathon Petroleum Corp’s top executive said in a recent interview he believed condensate should have an API gravity of 60 and above.
Without a universal standard, production data vary wildly. The EIA’s own figures suggest that anywhere from 8 percent to 16 percent of U.S. crude oil production is condensate – a difference of more than half a million barrels a day.
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A Note to the Granddaughters

This "project' is part of the permanent collection at the Ft Worth Museum of Modern Art. It is currently being shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. I was unaware of the most recent (2014) portrait; perhaps the photographs are at more than one museum. Something to check out.

Whoever Thought We Would See This Headline ....

.... BloombergBusinessweek is reporting: US crude oil exports will soon break the record, last set in 1957.

The USSR launched Sputnik 1 in October, 1957. Since then the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, Nixon goes to China, the blue dress, a couple of wars in the Mideast, and now US crude oil exports will set a new record:
U.S. oil exports are set to surpass a record held since 1957 as traders find ways around a four-decade ban on supplies leaving the country.
The U.S. sent 401,000 barrels a day abroad in July, 54,000 shy of the record set in March 1957, according to data compiled by the Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department’s statistical unit. While Canada accounted for 93 percent of the shipments, Italy, Singapore and Switzerland also took oil from U.S. ports. Coupled with Alaskan supplies bound for Asia, total U.S. exports will reach 1 million barrels a day by the middle of 2015, according to Citigroup Inc.
Shipments abroad have quadrupled from a year ago as U.S. drillers pull record volumes of crude and natural gas out of shale formations across the middle of the country using hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. Exemptions to a federal ban on crude exports allow for deliveries to Canada and permits some shipments from Alaska and California. The Commerce Department also issued rulings this year allowing processed condensate, an ultra-light crude, to be sent overseas.
Much, much more at the linked article.

Helping to set that record, The New York Times is reporting:
The Singapore-flagged tanker BW Zambesi set sail with little fanfare from the port of Galveston, TX, on July 30, loaded with crude oil destined for South Korea. But though it left inauspiciously, the ship’s launch was another critical turning point in what has been a half-decade of tectonic change for the American oil industry.
The 400,000 barrels the tanker carried represented the first unrestricted export of American oil to a country outside of North America in nearly four decades. The Obama administration insisted there was no change in energy trade policy, perhaps concerned about the reaction from environmentalists and liberal members of Congress with midterm elections coming. But many energy experts viewed the launch as the curtain raiser for the United States’ inevitable emergence as a major world oil exporter, an improbable return to a status that helped make the country a great power in the first half of the 20th century.
And again, much, much more at the linked article. I have mentioned many, many times, this is exactly how it will be done: there will be no big announcement, no change in policy, but it will happen.

See also this post on condensates

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When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going
A Note For The Granddaughters

From PBS:
For the men leading the Panama Canal project in 1904, challenges of building the canal were exacerbated by the infectious diseases that ran rampant in the hot, wet Panamanian climate. By 1906, more than 85% of the canal workers had been hospitalized. The threat of yellow fever created panic and made the site undesirable and feared by employees. Malaria was no better -- someone who fell ill usually required a stay in the hospital, and recovery did not ensure immunity. During the course of canal construction, tens of thousands of workers fell ill with yellow fever or malaria.
Yellow fever's gruesome symptoms and high death rate were so horrifying to American canal workers that even a whisper of an outbreak sent boatloads of men fleeing. Early symptoms of yellow fever were headaches, fever, and muscle pain. As the disease progressed, however, the patient experienced jaundice, thirst, and a dark black vomit caused by internal hemorrhaging. Ultimately, the disease could lead to kidney failure, delirium, seizures, coma, and often death.
Patients with malaria also experienced chills, headaches, fever, aching, fatigue, and nausea. In the worst cases, malaria caused kidney failure and potentially even coma or death. Unlike survivors of yellow fever, however, malaria survivors were not immune to recurrences of the disease. Malaria's lower fatality rate and frequent reappearance resulted in frequent and expensive hospital stays.
At the time, doctors disagreed on how to stop either yellow fever or malaria; mosquitoes had not yet been accepted as the primary transmitters. Hospitals treated patients with high doses of whiskey, eggnog, or by rubbing a solution of kerosene and oil on the skin. There were mustard baths and ice baths. Quinine, made from the bark of a cinchona tree, was taken as a fever reducer and painkiller, although the bitter-tasting liquid often caused deafness as a side effect. The most common treatment was simply to keep the patient quiet and comfortable, and hope that they survived.
Ebola, too, will be conquered. And when it is, it will again be the Americans that do it.

As a reminder:
France began work on the Panama Canal in 1881, but [gave up] because of engineering problems and high mortality due to disease. The United States took over the project in 1904, and took a decade to complete the canal, which was officially opened on August 15, 1914.
Dr Gorgas retired in 1918 at the mandatory retirement age of 64; he died two years later, in 1920.
For his work he did not receive a Nobel Prize, but this week three scientests were awarded a Nobel Prize for "inventing" the blue light-emitting diode.

No Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded in 1914 (the year the Panama Canal was completed). No Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded in 1915. Or 1916. Or 1917. Or 1918. But the scientists who invented the blue light-emitting diode have theirs. At least of one them was said to have been quite surprised.

When Ebola is conquered, and it will be, President Obama should share in the Nobel Prize for Medicine for that feat. That will be one he has earned.

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The Impossible Takes A Bit Longer

I'm reminded of Dr Gorgas, the Panama Canal, and the recent article about US military personnel being sent to Ebola ("Ebola" is the large geographical area in west Africa with undefined borders, much like Kurdistan in the Mideast). It's possible a Special Forces team went in first, but if so, it was the US Air Force that brought them in.

I have some incredible memories of flying multiple missions with different C-130 crews into west Africa many, many years ago. It is probably their granddaughters and grandsons now piloting some of the same C-130's or larger and newer cargo planes into the heart of darkness.

And somewhere, in some cockpit, some co-pilot has hung up a cardboard mobile with these words on it from a black Sharpie:  “The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer.”

********************************
Source: Bartleby.
 
QUOTATION: With willing hearts and skillful hands, the difficult we do at once; the impossible takes a bit longer.

ATTRIBUTION: Author unknown.

Inscription on the memorial to the Seabees (U.S. Naval Construction Batallions), between Memorial Bridge and Arlington Cemetery:
 “The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer.”
—Motto of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, according to The Home Book of American Quotations, ed. Bruce Bohle, which says that other branches of the service also used this slogan. Newsweek, March 8, 1943, attributes this “cocky slogan” to the Army Air Forces.

A higher comparative:
“The impossible we do at once; the miraculous takes a little longer,”
was said to be the motto of the Army Service Forces.—The New York Times, November 4, 1945. This echoes a remark attributed to Charles-Alexandre de Calonne, Louis XVI’s minister of finance. Marie Antoinette asked him something in a tone that brooked no refusal, adding that perhaps it would be difficult. He replied, “If it is only difficult, it is done; if it is impossible, we shall see.”—J. F. Michaud, Biographie Universelle.

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Hurricanes

And the US is the only country that regularly flies into tropical cyclones, the name given to the class of storms that include hurricanes and typhoons. Just saying.

Fourteen (14) New Permits In North Dakota; Eighteen (18) Producing Wells Completed; KOG Reports Several Huge New Wells; Newfield To Report A Huge Well Thursday -- October 8, 2014

Active rigs:


10/8/201410/08/201310/08/201210/08/201110/08/2010
Active Rigs192184193194156


Wells coming off the confidential list today were posted earlier; see sidebar at the right.

Fourteen (14) new permits --
  • Operators: MRO (5), EOG (3), WPX (3), CLR, QEP, Hess,
  • Fields: Bailey (Dunn), Parshall (Mountrail), Van Hook (McLean), Ranch Creek (McKenzie), Spotted Horn (McKenzie), Tioga (Williams),
  • Comments:
Eighteen (18) producing wells completed:
  • 23891, 388, Slawson, MacCougar 4-30-19TFH, Big Bend, t9/14; cum 6K 8/14;
  • 25173, 1,218, WPX, Morsette 35-26HZ, Spotted Horn, t9/14; cum --
  • 25174, 2,246, WPX, Morsette 35-26HD, Spotted Horn, t9/14; cum --
  • 25175, 1,159, WPX, Morsette 35-26HX, Spotted Horn, t9/14; cum --
  • 25331, 566, Whiting, Viola Pennington 11-3H, Sanish, t9/14; cum --
  • 26136, 1,041, SM Energy, Elery 1-13H, Poe, t6/14; cum 27K 8/14;
  • 26266, 2,476, Petro-Hunt, Van Hise Trust 153-95-28D-21-5H, t9/14; cum --
  • 26604, 434, Slawson, MacCougar 3-30-19H, Big Bend, t8/14; cum 5K 8/14;
  • 26792, 1,295, Hess, BB-Belquist-150-95-1110H-6, Blue Buttes, t9/14; cum 10K 8/14;
  • 27062, 2,112, BR, Norman 21-4TFH 3SH, Johnson Corner, 4 sections, t9/14; cum --
  • 27072, 1,924, BR, Norman 11-4MBH, Johnson Corner, 4 sections, t9/14; cum 9K 8/14;
  • 27406, 1,988, KOG, Koala 4-4-6-4H3, Poe, t9/14; cum --
  • 27754, 1,536, BR, CCU Olympian 44-35TFH, Corral Creek,t9/14; cum --
  • 27910, 790, Hess, LK-M Elisabeth-LW-147-97-1522H-1, Little Knife, t9/14; cum 7K 8/14;
  • 27933, 2,649, KOG, P Wood 154-98-15-23-35-15H3A, Truax, t8/14; cum --
  • 27934, 2,006, KOG, P Wood 154-98-15-23-35-15HA, Truax, t8/14; cum 6K 8/14;
  • 27935, 2,168, KOG, P Wood 154-98-15-23-35-15H3, Truax, t8/14; cum 8K 8/14;
  • 27936, 1,862, KOG, P Wood 154-98-15-23-35-15H, Truax, t8/14; cum 11K 8/14;
Wells coming off the confidential list Thursday:
  • 26636, 407, OXY USA, Emil Veverka 3-17-20H-143-95, Murphy Creek, t4/14; cum 52K 8/14;
  • 26939, drl, Hess, SC-Norma-154-98-0706H-2, Truax, no production data,
  • 27506, 1,250, Newfield, Craig Skaar 150-99-15-22-5H, South Tobacco Garden, t6/14; cum 448/14;
  • 27562, 993, CLR, Rolfsrud 2-11H, Elidah, t/14; cum 15K 8/14;
  • 27724, conf, SM Energy, Almos Farms 1B-26HS, West Ambrose, no production data,
  • 27727, 257, Hunt, Scorio 159-101-11-2H-1, Zahl, t7/14; cum 9K 8/14;
  • 27872, A, CLR, Daniel 2-33H, Stoneview, 4 sections, no IP, no test date;
  • 28008, 5, Enduro, MMU 32-24-H1, Mohall, t7/14; cum --, albeit almost nothing; 100 bbls in first three months
******************************

27506, see above, Newfield, Craig Skaar 150-99-15-22-5H, South Tobacco Garden, a very nice well,

DateOil RunsMCF Sold
8-20141048919292
7-20141421617532
6-20141903616290

Tough Times In The Bakken -- Yahoo!Finance -- October 8, 2014

Front page story over at Yahoo!Finance today -- "The Bakken Blues: Struggling in a City With 0.8% Unemployment."
It bills itself as a “boomtown” on the sign driving into the city, and it’s at the epicenter of the U.S. energy revolution. In the city of Williston, North Dakota, the unemployment rate is 0.8% percent, compared to 5.9% nationally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
And average income in this area, Williams County, was $78,390 a year in 2013 and more than $101,190 for those working in the oil and gas industry. (The national average was $46,440, according to the BLS's May 2013 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates.)
People end up here from all over, seeking better jobs than existed where they came from. Over the course of four days in the area, we also found that even in a region where RV parks seem as common a sight as oil rigs, golf courses and mansions have sprouted up, too.
We visited one 6,000 square foot house. It’s one of the first in a new development that has barely a neighbor. And homeowner Shayna Vedadi says she has received a few million-dollar offers to buy it.
So when it comes time to catch the bus out of town, why are some people lining up to leave? We met Brandon Broussard and Zachary Daly at the bus stop on their way back to Lafayette, Louisiana. They were leaving for good after their adventures in the North Dakota oil fields didn’t pan out as expected.
“We got paid a 40-hour set salary and we were working anywhere from 80 to 120 hours a week with no overtime,” complains Daly.
“I came up here for work and was promised a lot,” explains Broussard. “Now it’s time to go home.”
The two drill-pipe inspectors arrived here with jobs, but say the opportunity wasn’t what they expected. Plus, they say the cost of living was double that of back home.
I would have enjoyed hearing more about homeowner Shayna Vedadi and her 6,000-square-foot McMansion.

Earnings Season Kicks Off Today -- After Hours -- October 8, 2014

This is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

Reminder: Alcoa reports after the market closes today.

Also note that "Earnings Central" has been moved to the top at the sidebar at the right.

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World's Largest Economy -- China -- Based On Purchasing Power
China Surpasses US In Purchasing Power

The link is here. I remember, several years ago, suggesting this would happen. A reader told me this would never happen in my lifetime. Whatever.

Earnings - 3Q14


All 3Q14 earnings will be reported at this page; the link will be on the sidebar at the right, under "Earnings Central." When we start to see earnings reports for any quarter, the "Earnings Central" link is moved to the top of the sidebar until the earning season is over.

I don't have time to check/update earnings on all companies listed below. If you see one that I have missed, feel free to send it in (anonymous comment or by e-mail) and I will post it.

Much of this information is done in haste. I assume there are factual and typographical errors. It is for my personal use only. If this information is important to you, go to the source.

Comment:

Miscellaneous articles:
General update (dates subject to change)
  • AAPL -- Oct 20 -- wow, it's so much fun going back and reading all the negative comments about Apple. Freudenschade, I believe, is the word. Not the best word, but close enough. At $1.42 far exceeded estimates, and "guides strongly."
  • Alcoa:  -- Oct 8 -- expectations, 23 cents; actual, 31 cents. When I saw this, I mentioned to Don that this was very, very impressive. I'm glad to see others agree. Yahoo!Finance in the headline called it a "solid beat." The reason for Alcoa's numbers:
  • Alcoa, which is shifting its focus to manufacturing components and alloys, said it would deliver a record amount of aluminum sheet to automakers this quarter as car and truck manufacturers use more of the lightweight metal. Earnings in the company’s rolled-products segment, a supplier of aluminum sheets to car, airplane and packaging manufacturers, will more than double from a year earlier, the New York-based company said today in a slide presentation.
    Alcoa is benefiting from higher commercial-jet orders and a shift to aluminum components instead of steel among automakers such as Ford Motor Co., which plans to make its F-150 pickup truck with aluminum body panels.
    “Auto body sheet has a much higher margin than anything except aircraft,” Lloyd O’Carroll, a Richmond, Virginia-based Analyst at Northcoast Research Holdings LLC who recommends buying Alcoa shares, said in an interview. “I think 2015 is going to get a pretty big lift of usage on the F-150 and of course all of the margin benefit of that.”
  • Wells Fargo: 
  • B of A: a 9-cent loss; revised from an early 32-cent gain; 
  • NFLX: at 96 cents earnings exceeded expectations of 93 cents; new customer numbers fell short; stock feel 25% (from $448 to $339 after-hours/after earnings came out) 

EPS estimates in parentheses following the ticker symbol (according to Yahoo!Finance) -- typographical errors likely.

American Railcar Industries:

APA ($ ): Nov 6

AXAS ($0.15 ): meets forecasts; AP story here;

AMZG ($ ): 

Baytex ($ ): 

BAX ($1.31 ):  beats by five cents; transcript;

BCEI; after market close; 51 cents; misses; 46 cents;

BHI ($1.14): misses; $1.02, transcript;

BK ($0.61 ): Oct 17 

BKH:  Nov 3

Calfrac Well Services (CFW.TO), before market open; 41 cents; 51 cents; press release here; 

CHK ($0.33): AP; beats by 5 cents; 38 cents;

CLNE ( ): Oct 23

CLR ($0.81):
Continental Resources Inc, the largest oil producer in North Dakota's Bakken shale formation, said on Wednesday its quarterly profit soared due to a gain on derivatives and higher output. The company posted third-quarter net income of $533.5 million, or $1.44 per share, compared with $167.5 million, or 45 cents per share, in the year-ago period. 
CNI (Canadian National Railway) ($ ): 

CNP ($0.30): press release; beats by 3 cents;
 
COP ($1.20): beats by 10 - 12 cents; shares flat.

Crescent Point (CPG.TO); before market open: 42 cents; adjusted profit rises 10%;

CRR ($0.75 ):  beats by 8 cents; shares fall.

CVX ($ ): quarterly profit jumps 13%. From Reuters:
The company posted net income of $5.59 billion, or $2.95 per share, compared with $4.95 billion, or $2.57 per share, in the year-ago period.
Production fell nearly 1 percent to 2.57 million barrels of oil equivalent per day as new wells failed to offset declines at old wells.
DNR ($0.26 ): AP; meets/beats; 26 cents;
 
DVN ($1.24 ):   beats by 11 cents; output jumps 19 percent;

ECA ($ ):  

EEP ($ ):  Nov 3

ENB ($0.38): beats by 2 cents; press release;  

EOG ($ ): press release; $1.31;

EOX (Emerald) ($ ): Nov 3 

EPD ($0.37 ):   in-line; misses on revs; shares down a bit.

ERF ($ ):

ETP ($0.65): lackluster earnings; Natural gas pipeline operator Energy Transfer Partners LP reported third-quarter 2014 earnings of 44 cents per limited partner unit, lagging the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 66 cents.

GEOI (bought by Halcon [HK], below)

GMXR:

HAL ($1.10 ): Also blew away earnings estimates at $1.19; raises dividend. What's not to like?

HES ($ ): beats estimates; Bakken production surges; shares up:

Hess posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday as production jumped in North Dakota's Bakken shale formation.
Net income surged to $1 billion, or $3.31 per share, in the third quarter from $420 million, or $1.23 per share, in the year-ago period.
Excluding recent asset sales and other one-time items, the company posted profit of $1.24 per share.
HP ($ ): Nov 13

HK (Halcon; previously GEOI) ($0.06 ):  Halcon resources with a big miss, 3 cents vs 6 cents forecast. Press release.  Halcon operates 8 rigs acorss its holdings; Halcon will cut five rigs originally planned for 2015. Currently operating 3 rigs in the Bakken. Snapshot here.

Kinder Morgan - KMI ($.34 ): Oct 15
KMI’s board of directors announced an increase in the quarterly cash dividend to $0.44 per share ($1.76 annualized), up 7 percent from $0.41 per share ($1.64 annualized) for the same period last year, payable on Nov. 17, 2014, to shareholders of record as of Oct. 31, 2014. 
Kinder Morgan - KMP ($ ):  misses; 57 cents; ups dividend;

KOG ($0.20 ): 15 cents; misses;

Legacy/Bowood ($ ): 

LINE ($0.41 ): actual, 53 cents; press release;

MDU ($ ): transcript; misses by 4 cents; will spin off Fidelity;

MHR (Magnum Hunter) ($ ): 

MMR (McMoRan) ( ): 

MPC (Marathon Petroleum ($ ): Oct 30

MPO: see this post; beats by 18 cents;

MRO (Marathon Oil) ($ ): misses by 3 cents;

NBL: Oct 28

NBR ($ ): Oct 21

NFX ($ ): meets by one cent;

NGLS: Nov 4

NOG ($0.26 ): in-line; beats on revs;

NOV ($1.53 ): beats by 7 cents; shares fall;

PAA ($0.52): reported third-quarter 2014 adjusted earnings of 49 cents per unit, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 51 cents by 3.9%. 

OAS ( $ ):  huge miss; misses by 19 cents;

OKE ($ ): beats by a penny;

OKS ($ ): missed by 24 cents;

OTTR ($ ): Nov 3

OXY ($ ):  Oct 27

PAA ($0.52):  reported third-quarter 2014 adjusted earnings of 49 cents per unit, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 51 cents by 3.9%.

PSX ($ ): profit doubles; beats by 27 cents; costs slide;

Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD): $1.35; announces public offering of 5.75 million shares; beats by 10 cents;

QEP ($0.28):  the company reported earnings per share – adjusted for special items – of 41 cents, up 14% from the prior-year quarter level of 36 cents. The bottom line also beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 28 cents.

RRC (Range Resources): Oct 29

RIG ($ ): 

SD ($ ): Nov 5

SLB ($ ): beats by 3 cents; stock moves up nicely;

SM ($ ): beats by two cents;

SRE ($1.24 ): beats by 16 cents; profit rises 16%;

SRGY:

SSN:

STO (BEXP) ($ ):  

STR ($ ): beats by 4 cents;

Starbucks ($ ): Oct 30

T ($.65 ): Oct 22

Targa Resources (TRGP): press release;

TPLM ($ ):  

TransCanada (TRP.TO) ($ ): 

Ultra Petroleum (UPL) ($ ): 

UNP ($ ): Oct 23

USEG ($ ): 

VLO ($1.57): beats by 45 cents;

VOG: 

WDFC: beats by 13 cents; stock surges;

WFT ($ ): Oct 22

WHX:  

WHZ:

WLL ($ ): which is it?

Whiting Petroleum Corp posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday as production rose 33 percent at its North Dakota wells. Denver-based Whiting posted net income of $158 million, or $1.32 per share, compared with $204 million, or $1.71 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $1.24 per share. By that measure, analysts expected earnings of $1.21 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

WMB ($ ):  misses by 3 cents but confirms dividend-growth guidance of ~ 15% annually -- from the higher 3Q14 base -- through 2017 with planned dividends of ~ $1.96 in 2014, $2.46 in 2015, $2.82 in 2016, $3.25 in 2017. Shares surge over 3%.

WPX ($ ): Williams Cos profit soars; boosted by Access Midstream stake; shares up 2%

XOM ($1.71 ): quarterly profit rises 3%. From Reuters:

Profit in the third quarter rose to $8.07 billion, or $1.89 per share, from $7.87 billion, or $1.79 per share in the year-ago period.
Analysts, on average, expected a profit of $1.71 per share.
Oil and gas production fell 4.7 percent. Exxon said it remained on track for full-year output of 4 million barrels oil equivalent per day (boed).
XLNX ($0.56 ): beats by 7 cents; stock surges; transcript;

McKenzie County Passes A County Budget Of Almost $200 Million -- Wednesday -- October 8, 2014

Active rigs:


10/8/201410/08/201310/08/201210/08/201110/08/2010
Active Rigs190184193194156

RBN Energy: Part IV -- Eagle Ford condensate.
Just four years ago (October 2010) the Eagle Ford Basin was producing less than 100 Mb/d of crude oil. Now production is over 1.5 MMb/d and in the interim a network of gathering, pipeline and terminal infrastructure has sprung up to deliver crude and condensate to market via Houston and Corpus Christi.
The quality challenge of handling up to 45 percent condensate has changed in the last year from one of “dealing with” unwanted super-light crude into a midstream scramble to build condensate splitters and now export facilities. Today we continue our survey of changing Eagle Ford infrastructure by looking at Harvest, Martin, Trafigura and Buckeye.
This is Part 4 in our series updating analysis of Eagle Ford infrastructure.
In Part 1 (see Condensate City – Finding a Home For Eagle Ford Crude) we described a five-fold increase in Eagle Ford crude oil production over the past three years to 1.5 MMb/d. We explained that unlike other basins such as the Bakken in North Dakota, takeaway capacity has not been a big challenge for Eagle Ford producers. Instead the varying quality and in particular the high percentage of condensate in liquids output (about 45 percent) has caused headaches for producers and refiners alike. We also noted that two main pipeline routes to market have developed from the Eagle Ford – south to the Port of Corpus Christi and East to Houston area refineries.
In Part 2 we described the growth and continuing expansion of the crude takeaway systems developed by Magellan Midstream Partners and Kinder Morgan.
In Part 3 we reviewed the expanding takeaway infrastructure developed by Plains All American Pipeline (Plains) and Enterprise Product Partners (Enterprise). This time we look at relatively smaller infrastructure build out by Harvest Pipeline, Martin Midstream, Energy Transfer Partners and Trafigura.
The Dickinson Press is reporting:
McKenzie County commissioners have approved a whopping budget of $188.8 million, a 93 percent increase over 2014, as North Dakota’s largest oil producing county tries to keep up with booming growth.
Canadian train derailment: this is incredibly unimportant in the big scheme of things, but for the archives, CBC is reporting a major train derailment near Wadena, Saskatchewan. Wadena, Saskatchewan, is about 275 miles due north of Williston; or about 100 miles northeast of Regina. The train was 100 cars long; 60 cars were empty; forty were carrying freight; two tank cars carrying crude oil condensate exploded; no injuries. Twenty-six (26) cars derailed: six of them contained hazardous materials, including four that had either hydrochloric acid or caustic soda. The other two had petroleum distillates, CN said. These were the two that exploded. The origin of the train was west of the Bakken.

How Far Will The "Correction" Go? -- October 8 , 2014

This is not an investment site so this article does not particularly interest me but it was submitted by Richard Zeits to Seeking Alpha.

This is the link to the article: http://seekingalpha.com/article/2547705-oil-and-gas-stocks-how-far-are-we-in-this-correction?ifp=0.

Many Seeking Alpha articles are taken down, archived, and available only through subscriptions.