$40 Is The New $70 -- US Shale; Looks Like Rush Limbaugh Was Suckered -- February 28, 2016

US Shale To OPEC: $40 Is The New $70 -- Reuters:

For leading U.S. shale oil producers, $40 is the new $70.

Less than a year ago major shale firms were saying they needed oil above $60 a barrel to produce more; now some say they will settle for far less in deciding whether to crank up output after the worst oil price crash in a generation.

Their latest comments highlight the industry's remarkable resilience, but also serve as a warning to rivals and traders: a retreat in U.S. oil production that would help ease global oversupply and let prices recover may prove shorter than some may have expected.

Continental Resources Inc, led by billionaire wildcatter Harold Hamm, is prepared to increase capital spending if U.S. crude reaches the low- to mid-$40s range, allowing it to boost 2017 production by more than 10 percent, chief financial official John Hart said last week.

Rival Whiting Petroleum Corp, the biggest producer in North Dakota's Bakken formation, will stop fracking new wells by the end of March, but would "consider completing some of these wells" if oil reached $40 to $45 a barrel, Chairman and CEO Jim Volker told analysts. Less than a year ago, when the company was still in spending mode, Volker said it might deploy more rigs if U.S. crude hit $70.

While the comments were couched with caution, they serve as a reminder of how a dramatic decline in costs and rapid efficiency gains have turned U.S. shale, initially seen by rivals as a marginal, high cost sector, into a major player - and a thorn in the side of big OPEC producers.

Saudi looks to "stabilize" market -- Reuters:

Brent crude futures edged higher on Monday, adding to strong gains last week, on rising hopes that the market has bottomed out and as OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia said it would work with other producers to limit oil market volatility.

Putin summons top Russian oil men -- Reuters:

President Vladimir Putin has called for a meeting with top managers of Russia's leading oil producers on Tuesday, which is is expected to be dominated by low oil prices and taxation.

From the EIA today:

Iraq was the second-leading contributor to the growth in global oil supply in 2015, behind only the United States.

Crude oil production in Iraq, including fields in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, averaged 4.0 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2015, almost 700,000 b/d above the 2014 level.

Iraq is the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and accounted for about 75% of total OPEC production growth in 2015. Iraq's oil consumption decreased slightly in 2015, and as a result, all of the crude oil production increase was exported to international markets. --- EIA [I doubt Iraq will comply with any freeze, even if they agree to a freeze as suggested by Saudi Arabia.]

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So Much For ObamaCare In Massachusetts

The 800-pound gorilla is not mentioned (again):

The union representing 10,000 Stop & Shop workers in Massachusetts voted unanimously to authorize a strike if Local 1445 of the United Food and Commercial Workers can’t reach a contract agreement with the company.

Leaders of Local 1445 have not set a timetable for calling a strike. Stop & Shop, owned by the Dutch company Koninklijke Ahold N.V, wants to cut pensions, increase health care costs, and give new employees fewer benefits, according to the union. The wages being offered are also inadequate, the union said. 

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Suckered

Updates

February 29, 2016: on the Monday show today, Limbaugh says this was taken out of context; not accurate; that he has never given in one bit on amnesty. He does admit that Rubio has "this gang of 8 / amnesty problem" but until now I don't recall Limbaugh being this forthright on Rubio. Gradually walking it back?
 

Original Post

From The New York Times:

A few weeks after Senator Marco Rubio joined a bipartisan push for an immigration overhaul in 2013, he arrived alongside Senator Chuck Schumer at the executive dining room of News Corporation’s Manhattan headquarters for dinner.

Their mission was to persuade Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the media empire, and Roger Ailes, the chairman and chief executive of its Fox News division, to keep the network’s on-air personalities from savaging the legislation and give it a fighting chance at survival.

Mr. Murdoch, an advocate of immigration reform, and Mr. Ailes, his top lieutenant and the most powerful man in conservative television, agreed at the January 17, 2013, meeting to give the senators some breathing room.

But the media executives, highly attuned to the intensifying anger in the Republican grass roots, warned that the senators also needed to make their case to Rush Limbaugh, the king of conservative talk radio, who held enormous sway with the party’s largely anti-immigrant base.

So the senators supporting the legislation turned to Mr. Rubio, the Florida Republican, to reach out to Mr. Limbaugh.

How did it turn out?

On January 29, 2013, the same day Mr. Obama highlighted immigration in Las Vegas, Mr. Limbaugh had Mr. Rubio on as a guest to talk about immigration and called him “admirable and noteworthy” during a warm conversation about the bipartisan immigration plan.

“I know for you border security is the first and last — if that doesn’t happen, none of the rest does, right?” Mr. Limbaugh lobbed.

“Well, not just that,” swung Mr. Rubio. “That alone is not enough.”

The conversation concluded with Mr. Rubio saying: “Thank you for the opportunity, Rush. I appreciate it.”

“You bet,” Mr. Limbaugh said.

And they say Trump isn't a Republican. LOL.