The U.S. drilling-rig count, which recorded its 26th straight weekly decline this week, is close to bottoming out ahead of a recovery in the second half of the year, mainly in the Permian and Eagle Ford shale plays in Texas, analysts said.
Oil prices are expected to hold roughly at current levels over the next three to six months after OPEC agreed on Friday to stick by its policy of unconstrained output for another six months, but did not raise its output ceiling.
That implied stability is expected to encourage drilling, especially in cost-efficient U.S. shale basins.More:
"Most additions (this year) will be focused on the Permian, the No. 1 play right now ... No. 2 is going be the Eagle Ford," said Gabriele Sorbara, an analyst at Topeka Capital Markets.The Bakken:
Analysts said that if oil prices drop to the low $50s, costlier shale plays such as the Bakken in North Dakota and the Niobrara, straddling Wyoming and Colorado, could experience a further drop in activity.
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Hawaii's Experience With ObamaCare
The Huffington Post is reporting:
Hawaii's health insurance exchange announced on Friday that it will be shutting down, and its nearly 40,000 enrollees will be transitioned to the federal Obamacare marketplace, Healthcare.gov.
The private, nonprofit Hawaii Health Connector, which has been embattled from its inception, has not generated “sufficient revenues to sustain operations,” according to the office of Hawaii Gov. David Ige.
The state invested $130 million in the Connector, but the exchange has been plagued by low enrollment numbers and technological issues, making it noncompliant with the federal requirements outlined in the Affordable Care Act.
According to Hawaii Health Connector CEO Jeff Kissel, Hawaii's health exchange will become a state-run exchange that uses HealthCare.gov, which is similar to the setup in Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon.I know that Oregon's state-run site failed also; I don't know the history of Nevada's or New Mexico's state run systems, but Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, and Hawaii all have something in common.
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