The Comments Speak Volumes -- March 29, 2016

This story has been reported multiple places over the past few days. OilPrice is reporting that the oil majors replaced only 75% of the oil and gas that was produced in 2015:

The seven largest oil and gas companies only replaced about 75 percent of the reserves on average that they produced last year, the worst replacement rate in over a decade.

Perhaps the most eye-raising fact was that ExxonMobil, the world’s largest publically-traded oil company, was unable to replace 100 percent of the oil and gas it pulled from the ground. The oil supermajor replaced just 67 percent of the oil produced in 2015.

The story is a re-hash of what's been reported for quite some time now. What I find interesting is the "quality" of the comments.

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Peak Energy?

From Seeking Alpha:

• ConocoPhillips reportedly is planning to shut down its Lincolnshire gas pipeline and Theddlethorpe gas terminal in the North Sea, which would cut the U.K.'s gas capacity by ~10%
• Lincolnshire is one of the 15 largest gas pipeline networks in the U.K. section of the North Sea, and shuttering the operation would impact at least 10 oil fields that are dependent on the Lincolnshire infrastructure.
• COP says it is in talks with North Sea regulators about its plans.

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My 2011 Honda Civic -- Just Before The 2012 Debacle -- And I Love It 

Yahoo!Finance is reporting a great story on the fall and rise of the Honda Civic in the course of one model cycle.

Some data points from the article:

• The 2016 Honda Civic has won the North American car of the year award and a lot of other kudos.
• After years of success, the 2012 Honda Civic was an underwhelming dud. Honda had misjudged the market.

Background:

The fix came quickly. Within a year, Honda had tightened up the car’s performance, upgraded the interior and grafted friendlier styling onto the front and rear. Critics marveled at a revamp done in half the time, or less, than it normally takes. Honda didn’t say so at the time, but there was a reason: “Before we even launched, we knew we had zigged when we should have zagged,” Mendel explains. We actually launched the remake prior to the launch.” The 2013 Civic got back on the Consumer Reports recommended list, ending the embarrassing episode for Honda.

Around the time of that relaunch, Honda began drawing up the 2016 Civic, which debuted last year. The rebirth of the Civic now appears to be complete. In the U.S. News metarankings, which aggregate the results of dozens of reviews, the Civic is first in its category. “Excellent engineering,” raved Autoblog. “The new Civic has set itself apart,” said Kelley Blue Book. Critics especially like the handsome styling, a generous set of standard features, the upscale interior and tight, sporty handling.

I get calls on a regular basis from our local Honda dealer asking if I would be willing to trade "up." I'm sure this is common throughout the industry to get folks into the showroom to buy a new car, but there's no way I will trade in this 2011 Honda Civic, one of the sportiest cars I have ever driven.

Speaking of which. Grapevine, TX, where I live, has a huge Italian sports car presence. Huge. It's so "bad," that when I see a sports car coming toward me from the distance and it's not a Ferrari or Lamborghini, I say to myself, "oh, shoot, it's only a Corvette." The American Airlines pilots' car of choice is the Corvette. Everyone else who drive sports cars in the DFW area, it appears, drives Italian.

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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall 

The president says the #1 question he gets from foreign leaders around the globe:

"The No. 1 question I'm getting is, 'What is happening to America?'" he said at the Robin Toner Prize dinner, according to pool reports.

It's not hard to answer. The narcissist-in-chief needs to pull out his mirror.

Less than 297 days and counting. 

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And with that, I'm off the net for awhile; going biking.