US Oil Production Hits 43-Year High -- May 29, 2015

Huge housing promotion this weekend in Williston. The Dickinson Press is reporting:

An onslaught of housing is set to hit the booming Williston housing market with more than 2,126 units coming online this year. Amid that crush, the principal investors behind Eagle Crest Apartments are hoping to make not just an entrance, but a grand one.

For their opening ceremonies from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. CDT Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, the Paul Sawtell Quartet, a professional jazz ensemble being flown in from Seattle performs, and organizers are bringing in vintage automobiles and tractors from a couple of car clubs in Canada.

The development is at 3710 26th Street West.

 Hopefully, the Google map is incorrect:

I assume the location is at least approximately correct, but one wonders about the designation of 26th Street West running straight south from 32nd Avenue West. 

Eagle Crest includes 168 units in five buildings, 20 percent of which are affordable units for families with an income cap of about $35,000 for a family of four.
The low-income family units are already filled.

And the building continues:

The principals of this development will turn next to the Hawkeye Village project, Sessions said, a 160-acre development that includes 168 single-family dwellings as well as 57 duplexes.

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US Economy Shrinking

US economy shrinks in 1Q15. GDP revised from expectations in December as high as 2.9% growth for 1Q15, down to a minus 0.7%. Market Watch is reporting:

Businesses invested more in equipment than initially estimated, but spending on structures such as oil rigs fell precipitously. 

I guess if you remove the oil and gas statistics, the economy is doing very, very well. Nowhere to go but up from here. More at this early morning post.

It looks like the government is getting ready to "massage" the data; they say the economy is doing much better than what the numbers show. Reuters is reporting:

Economists, however, caution against reading too much into the slump in output. They argue the GDP figure for the first quarter was held down by a confluence of temporary factors, including a problem with the model the government uses to smooth the data for seasonal fluctuations.

Economists, including those at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, have cast doubts on the accuracy of GDP estimates for the first quarter, which have tended to show weakness over the last several years.

By this time next year, the Fed will have revised how they calculate GDP.  Just in time for the presidential election.

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Active rigs:

	5/29/2015	05/29/2014	05/29/2013	05/29/2012	05/29/2011
Active Rigs	81	187	183	218	172

RBN Energy: use of drones in the oil industry.

US oil production hits 43-year high. CNBC is reporting:

U.S. oil production surged to a 43-year high, despite a price war that resulted in a more than 50 percent reduction in active U.S. oil wells.

The Department of Energy reported a draw down in crude inventories of 2.8 million barrels for the week ended May 22. 

The DOE also reported that U.S. production rose to 9.566 million barrels per day, surpassing the previous peak of 9.422 million set in March. While no weekly data is available beyond 1983, the production number is the highest, if translated to a monthly basis, since May 1972.

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Fleeing California

Broadcom exits southern California. The Los Angeles Times is reporting:

Irvine chip maker Broadcom Corp. is the latest of many corporate headquarters to exit Southern California, leaving the business community puzzling over the causes and effects.

The technology stalwart — set to be sold for $37 billion in cash and stock to semiconductor rival Avago Technologies — launched in Santa Monica in 1991 and then moved to Orange County in 1995.

After Thursday's transaction, the company will be incorporated in Singapore, mostly for tax reasons, but its principal operating headquarters will be in San Jose. A significant presence will remain in Irvine.

Other defections:

Last year, Toyota Motor Corp. said it would move its sales and marketing headquarters to suburban Dallas from Torrance, and Occidental Petroleum Corp. moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to Houston; and Irvine-based Botox maker Allergan Inc, was taken over by Irish firm Actavis and its headquarters eventually relocated to Dublin.

Earlier departures included DaVita Inc., which operates kidney dialysis service centers and decided in 2009 to move from El Segundo to Denver. The next year, Northrop Grumman Corp. said it would jump ship from Los Angeles to Falls Church, VA.

The LA Times says it's just part of "big business."

Yup. And big business is leaving California. 

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Amtrak Update

We usually see this Amtrak story about every 18 months. Nothing new to see here. The Dickinson Press is reporting. Actually it's a Reuters report re-posted in TDP. The story: the Empire Builder loses money. Washington (DC) debates shutting it down. Won't happen.