Keystone Dragging Down The Democrats -- Kemp, Rigzone

Link here.

"Keystone" would be a fitting epitaph for Democratic lawmakers, who will lose their majority in the United States Senate in January 2015.

By voting against the Keystone bill on Tuesday, Senate Democrats have effectively ended the re-election hopes of Mary Landrieu, a member of their own caucus from the strongly pro-oil and pro-pipeline state of Louisiana who is locked in a run-off after failing to win an outright majority in the mid-term election earlier this month.

But the never-ending battle over the pipeline has inflicted much broader damage on the electability of congressional Democrats and the credibility of President Barack Obama.

Polls show majority support for the pipeline, especially among the white working class and union voters that used to be the bedrock of the Democratic Party but which it has increasingly lost to the Republicans in recent elections.

But opposing Keystone has become a key test for environmental campaign groups as well as hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer and much of the clean technology industry.

The pipeline has assumed a symbolic importance in the struggle between fossil fuels and renewables out of all proportion to its practical significance for either side.

 Also, this post.

Random Update Of Another XTO "High-IP" Well -- November 19, 2014

Random update:

• 27553, 3,645, XTO, Walton Federal 41X-19H, Bear Den, Three Forks first bench; 30 stages; 3.7 million lbs sand, t9/14; cum 27K 9/14;

XTO has had a string of good wells.

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A Note for the Granddaughters

Years ago, in another life, we saw "Whistler's Mother" at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. The Los Angeles Times is reporting:

James Abbott McNeill Whistler's iconic 1871 painting "Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1," better known as "Portrait of the Artist's Mother," is coming to Pasadena's Norton Simon Museum in March as part of an exchange with the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

The first-time collaboration between the museums will see three 19th century masterpieces from the Norton Simon traveling to the Musée d’Orsay, while three paintings from the Paris museum will visit Pasadena. 

The six paintings will be on display simultaneously March 27 to June 22. "We went back and forth about the kinds of pictures we wanted to show," said Carol Togneri, Norton Simon's chief curator, about discussions between Norton Simon President Walter W. Timoshuk and D'Orsay President Guy Cogeval.

"Both decided it was important to give the public a sense of what each museum had in its 19th century collection."

The other representatives from the D'Orsay are Édouard Manet’s "Emile Zola," 1868, and Paul Cézanne’s "The Card Players," circa 1892–96.

The Norton Simon will send Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s "The Pont des Arts, Paris," 1867–68; Vincent van Gogh’s "Portrait of a Peasant (Patience Escalier)," 1888; and Édouard Vuillard’s "First Fruits," 1899, to Paris.

Seventeen (17) New Permits; Fifteen (15) Producing Wells Completed; XTO With A String Of Great Wells; Possibly 4 Of 5 Wells To Go To DRL Status Thursday -- November 19, 2014

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

Wells coming off the confidential list Thursday:

• 26644, drl, MRO, Big Eagle USA 41-17TFH, Van Hook, no production data,
• 26811, drl, SHD, Luke 13-36H, Clarks Creek, no production data,
• 27006, drl, Statoil, Brown 30-19 6H, Alger, no production data, a reader says Statoil will use new procedures starting with the Brown wells;
• 27695, drl, CLR, Berlain 2-30H, Patent Gate, no production data,
• 27889, 1,992, BR, CCU Olympian 11-2MBH, Corral Creek, t9/14; cum 10K 9/14;

Active rigs:

	11/19/2014	11/19/2013	11/19/2012	11/19/2011	11/19/2010
Active Rigs	185	184	185	204	159

Seventeen (17) new permits --

• Operators: Hess (5), Oasis (4), XTO (3), CLR (3), Triangle (2)
• Fields: Blue Buttes (McKenzie), Cottonwood (Mountrail), Lost Bridge (Dunn), Elidah (McKenzie), Pronghorn (McKenzie
• Comments:

Fifteen (15) producing wells now completed:

• 23750, 1,461, CLR, Rochester 4-24H, North Tobacco Garden, t10/14; cum -- 
• 24757, 1,627, Statoil, Melissa 31-30 5TFH, East Fork, t10/14; cum --
• 26477, 1,031, CLR, Rochester 7-24H1, North Tobacco Garden, t11/14; cum --
• 26650, 1,075, XTO, Jan 14X-34F, Siverston, Three Forks first bench, a show of 5,927 gas units at 21,475', t10/14; cum --
• 26651, 2,932, XTO, Jan 14X-34E, Siverston, Three Forks first bench, a show of 3,191 gas units at 21,382', t10/14; cum --
• 26652, 2,086, XTO, Jan 14X-34B, Siverston, middle Bakken, a show of 5,559 gas units at 15,780',  t10/14; cum --
• 26653, 2,026, XTO, Jan 14X-34A, Siverston, middle Bakken, a show of 2,289 gas units at 15,369', t10/14; cum --
• 27340, A, CLR, Vachal 9-27H1, Alkali Creek, test date not provided;
• 27341, A, CLR, Vachal 9-27H2, Alkali Creek, test date not provided;
• 27469, 492, Petro-Hunt, Moody 159-94-15B-22-4H, North Tioga, t11/14; cum --
• 27470, 449, Petro-Hunt, Moody 159-94-15B-22-3H, North Tioga, t10/14; cum --
• 27471, 626, Petro-Hunt, Moody 159-94-15B-22-2H, North Tioga, t10/14; cum --
• 27925, 1,294, XTO, Willey 31X-3H, West Capa, t10/14; cum --
• 27981, 1,961, Statoil, Paulson 36-1 2H, Briar Creek, t10/14; cum --
• 28612, A, Whiting, Bartleson 13-18H, Sanish, no test date provided

One (1) permit was canceled:

• 29742, PNC, Oasis, State 5792 41-15 9T2, Mountrail, 

Wednesday -- November 19, 2014; Natural Gas Futures Soar; UBS Warns Ultra-High-Net-Worth Face "Risks"

From Yahoo!In-Play: McDonald's notches new session high of 97.18, vacillating between its 200 sma and last week's peak at 96.90/97.18. This is the third time out of the last four sessions it has probed its 200 sma. Its four month high from Sep is slightly above at 97.30. Another beneficiary of low gasoline prices? 

From Yahoo!In-Play: 10:11 am Natural gas futures soar, hits new HoD, now up 4.7% at $4.44/MMBtu (Dec contract). I can hardly wait to see the natural gas fill rate this week, and next week. One to three more days for this storm to be followed by another storm.

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.

Trading at new highs on a down day for the Dow: KMP, TGT, TXT, WMT.

IPs for wells coming off the confidential list today have been posted. This post. Fidelity reports a very nice well.

Active rigs:

	11/19/2014	11/19/2013	11/19/2012	11/19/2011	11/19/2010
Active Rigs	185	184	185	204	159

RBN Energy: takeaway capacity and "Plan B" for the Marcellus. The opening paragraph is quite incredible:

The economics of natural gas production in the dry Marcellus, the wet Marcellus and the Utica are so favorable—and the shale gas resource so bountiful—that the only real limit on how much the Marcellus/Utica plays can produce is the capacity of the pipeline network in the Northeast and neighboring regions to take gas to market.

And there’s the rub, because the region’s gas transmission infrastructure was designed decades ago to deliver large volumes of gas to the Northeast, not away from it. That’s why the midstream sector has made “a new plan, Stan,” and is now in now in the midst of a major reworking of the pipeline system—not just within and near the Marcellus/Utica but just about everywhere east of the Mississippi. 

The $30 billion re-plumbing effort and its effects on the gas market as a whole are the subject of RBN’s latest Drill-Down Report, “50 Ways to Leave The Marcellus” which is available today to Backstage Pass members. In today’s blog, we provide an overview.

Remember that NY Times article some years ago about the "economics won't work when it comes to natural gas"?

Under the Obama watch: Rich hoard cash as their wealth hits record high. CNBC is reporting:

The amount of individuals that hold more than $30 million in assets has climbed to a new record in 2014, according to a global survey on Wednesday, which also warned that a lack of diversification meant that this wealth is not protected from shocks to the financial system.

12,040 of these new ultra high net worth (UHNW) individuals were minted in the year ending June 2014, said the Wealth-X and UBS World Ultra Wealth Report released on Wednesday. This meant a 6 percent increase from last year which pushed the global population of these millionaires to a record 211,275.

With the annual gross domestic product of the U.S. closing in on the $17 trillion mark, according to the World Bank, this means that the ultra-rich now have almost twice the wealth of the world's largest economy (sic).

I assume some of these UHNW reside in the US. And, I assume the HNW numbers have increased by even a larger percentage here in the US.

But then this laughable punch line:

Nonetheless, Simon Smiles, chief investment officer at UBS Wealth Management, warned of the risks the wealthy few face.

I'll gladly take the risks if I'm moved into that list of 211,275.

No, I did not read the rest of the article, so I do not know what could possibly be the risks these 211,275 face.

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Global Warming 2014 - 2015

The unnamed 2014 autumn polar vortex: the headlines started appearing November 11, 2014:

• Minnesota shatters snow record from 1898 -- predicted by warmists -- global warming will result in more snow 
• Arctic blasts pummels USA -- unexplained; stuff happens 
• Only six (6) states not expecting snow in coming week (and one of them may be Hawaii) 
• Winter still a month away 
• Twelve (12) years since Dallas has had two consecutive days so cold  
• Wyoming wind chill warning: 35 below  
• Central Ontario snowfall could reach 20 inches  
• Cold to freeze East  
• Shattering snowfall records in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan -- predicted by warmists -- global warming will result in more snow 
• All 50 states brace for freezing temperatures -- November 13, 2014 
• Cold freeze moves east -- November 13, 2014 
• Denver cold shatters two records, including low temp record set in 1882 -- November 13, 2014 
• Coldest November in decades -- November 14, 2014 
• Michigan tow receives one month's snow -- in one day --November 14, 2014 
• Storm dumps four (4) feet of snow on Wisconsin town -- November 14, 2014 
• Ice on Lake Superior -- almost a month early -- November 16, 2014 
• Harsh cold to set records in south, freeze northeast -- November 16, 2014
• Snow on the ground in DFW area; 27 degrees -- November 17, 2014 
• 50% of nation covered in snow -- November 17, 2014 (this was on ABC Nightly News, also)
• Most snow this early in a decade -- November 17, 2014
• Four (4) feet of snow expected in upstate New York -- November 17, 2014
• Record cold in Boise, Idaha, Monday morning, possibly again Tuesday -- November 17, 2014
• Deep freeze blankets USA -- November 18, 2014
• Coldest November morning since 1976 -- November 18, 2014
• 1,360 records shattered in one week -- November 18, 2014
• "Global warming" activists huddle together together in Capitol -- November 18, 2014
• I-90 closed in Buffalo, NY; snow -- November 18, 2014
• Buffalo, upper NY state gets slammed -- November 18, 2014
• 74 inches of snow predicted overnight in Buffalo, NY -- November 18, 2014 
• Cuoma deploys organized militia (National Guard) -- November 18, 2014 
• 7 feet of snow in upstate New York -- November 19, 2014
• Natural gas futures soar -- November 19, 2014 
•  Snow stranded in NY; 100+ trapped; man trapped in 12-ft drift -- November 19, 2014
• Supersnow, stranded in NY -- November 19, 2014
• 8 feet and counting -- November 19, 2014
• Biggest power grid hits monthly record -- November 19, 2014 
• Cuomo calls for "NFL Snowday" -- November 20, 2014
• Forecast: three more feet! -- November 20, 2014

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At Least It's Hard To Catch

Reuters is tweeting:

World Health Organization says the Ebola outbreak in West Africa remains intense, with 533 new confirmed cases reported in the week ending Nov. 16.

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Very, Very Hard To Catch

This is incredibly exciting. Over at the Huffington Post:

Scientists working at CERN's Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland have discovered two never-before-seen subatomic particles, the nuclear research facility announced today.

Dubbed Xi_b'- and Xi_b*-, the particles are "heavyweight" particles known as baryons.

Like the proton, the new particles are made up of three quarks but are more than six times as massive.

Two more particles to add to the Standard Model (or as the CERN physicists said, "beyond the Standard Model."

I will mention this to the older granddaughter on our walk home from school later this afternoon.