Companies In The News -- March 27, 2015; 5/6 Of Bakken Wells To DRL Status Or Shut-In When Coming Off Confidential List

Initial data for wells coming off the confidential list today have been posted. Five of six (5/6) wells coming off confidential status go to DRL status or are shut-in (inactive). That's one way to stop flaring. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, or relationship decisions or changes in travel plans based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

COP. From Seeking Alpha:

• ConocoPhillips says it has hired the Bank of Nova Scotia to advise on the sale of ~20% of its production in western Canada outside of the oil sands.
• Production from the properties in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan is mostly gas and totals ~35K boe/day.
• COP has operations across western Canada and the country’s Arctic region, including ~1.1M acres of land in the oil sands.

Chesapeake. Investopedia trying to sort out Chesapeake's announcements yesterday:

This past week, there were two interesting news items relating to Chesapeake Energy. First, earlier this week, the company announced that it was cutting another $500 million out of its 2015 capital budget. Then, around the same time as the capex cut announcement, it was revealed that activist investor Carl Icahn had boosted his stake in the company from 9.98% to 10.98%. While the disclosures are likely not related, both suggest the company is doing the right things to position itself to create value for investors over the long term.

Winstream, press release:

Windstream Holdings Inc. announced today the company's board of directors has given final approval, subject to certain terms and conditions, for the tax-free spinoff of select telecommunications network assets into Communications Sales & Leasing, Inc., which will become an independent publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT). In addition, the company's board of directors declared a prorated cash dividend subject to the closing of the spinoff.

Windstream expects to distribute approximately 80.1 percent of CS&L shares on April 24, 2015, to Windstream shareholders of record as of April 10, 2015.

Windstream will make a cash distribution equivalent to a prorated $.25 quarterly dividend to Windstream shareholders of record as of April 10, 2015. The company would expect to make the payment on April 24, 2015.

Following the spinoff, Windstream will continue to be listed on Nasdaq under the symbol "WIN," while CS&L expects to list its common stock on Nasdaq under the symbol "CSAL."

MarketWatch on Calumet:

Dakota Prairie Refinery ($100 million): A joint venture with MDU Resources that's slated to come onstream in the first quarter of 2015 and will process crude oil produced in the nearby Bakken Shale, ensuring access to inexpensive feedstock. The facility will have a nameplate capacity of 20,000 barrels per day.

Speaking of diesel refineries in the Bakken, I haven't heard a thing on the proposed Trenton refinery in a long time. Nor has there been any follow-up on the $150 million casino that was mentioned in a Williams County commission meeting some time ago.

***************************

News Embargo

It was reported some time ago that there was a news embargo on Ebola stories coming out of Ebolaland. Considering the lack of real news coming out of the Mideast despite the extent to which the Mideast is in free fall suggests there is a news embargo coming out of the Mideast also.

****************************

Reason #456,798 Why I Love To Blog

From the Fiscal Times:

Let’s get this straight. Benjamin Netanyahu, the elected head of government of a US ally, defies Obama on a policy that impacts Israel’s security, then apologizes for it, and yet is considered someone who lacks credibility.

However, when the head of state of a nation that has sponsored terrorism for decades openly says, “Death to America,” the Obama administration shrugs off the statement as mere domestic politics and considers him a credible partner for peace.

We are truly through the looking glass with this President.

It has become abundantly clear that Obama wants a deal for the sake of claiming a foreign policy achievement, no matter what the cost, and no matter what it does to our allies, especially Israel.

The situation is reminiscent of another confrontation between Western powers and an extremist dictatorship that professed its own destiny to rule the world, and where the dictator even wrote out his plans for world domination and practically begged everyone to read them.

Jay Leno's jaywalkers: Mein Kampf? A new on-line shopping site?

Reason #456,798 why I love to blog? I said the same thing yesterday: President Obama doesn't care at all about the details or the implication of an Iran deal. He simply wants it checked off as done, as part of his "bucket list." Somewhere on his way to Harvard University, he learned the importance of bullet accomplishments on a resume regardless of whether they were real accomplishments or whether they meant anything or whether they were actually helpful to leave his world a better place  than when he found it. It's all about inflating his legacy for Encyclopedia Brittanica and the wiki entry ten years from now.