Keystone XL 62 - 36 Senate; Existing Home Sales Plummet In December; Odds And Ends On A Thursday -- January 29, 2015

Sales of existing homes in December: unexpectedly fell by the most in 12 months

• housing industry's recovery is "uneven"
• but the story is even worse than the headline: the 3.7% drop in December (way more than expected) followed a meager 0.6% gain the prior month -- smaller than initially estimated
• but it's even worse: analysts forecast a slight gain (0.5%) versus the huge decline
• by region: northeast, a drop of 7.5%; the west, a decline of 4.6%; in the midwest, a 2.8% decline; and in the south, a 2.6% drop
• resales make up 90 percent of the housing market

US home ownership falls to 20-year low.  Just under 64%.

Senate votes on Keystone XL, passes 62 - 36; now headed for the president's veto.

COP and OXY each cut spending by 30%. Some data points:

• COP previously said they would cut CAPEX by 20%; now up to 31%
• OXY will cut CAPEX by 33%; noted a $1.6 billion profit in 2013; an almost-$6 billion loss in 2014

Kinder Morgan's Freedom Pipeline project gaining more interest

• would move Texas crude oil from Texas to California
• would convert a natural gas pipeline to move crude and condensate
• a $2 billion project; 740-mile line; would require more than 200 miles of new pipeline
• would reformulate Texas crude at front end so it would more nearly match Alaska North Slope crude
• project would also ship ultra-light crude which could then be exported from California
• includes a topping unit in Wink, Texas where Texas oil / condensate would be reformulated

Random update of status of US exporting ultra-light condensate (same link)

• KMI did not say if they had permit approval to export ULC from California
• "at least" four other companies have such permits; a fifty is moving ahead with exports -- not waiting for approval, arguing "minimal processing" meets the letter of the law

Big Oil cuts $20 billion in five (5) hours to preserve dividends (the story is mostly about Shell)

• Shell, the first to report earnings, will defer / cancel about 40 projects worldwide
• OXY cut 33%
• COP raised cuts to 31%
• more than 30,000 layoffs have been announced across the oil industry

Shell still plans to drill the Arctic this summer
concern if they don't do it this year, ice expansion could preclude drilling in the future (I made that part up)