Norwegian Oil Production Highest In 5 Years; Consumer Prices Unchanged Month-Over-Month; Decline In Fuel Costs, Airlines, Etc., Offset Costs For Medical Care Which Showed Biggest Increase Since February; Chariots On Fire; 32 Active Rigs In North Dakota -- August 16, 2016

Active rigs:

	8/16/2016	08/16/2015	08/16/2014	08/16/2013	08/16/2012
Active Rigs	32	74	194	182	200

RBN Energy: Marcellus / Utica takeaway capacity to the southeast. The series continues.

Venezuela update. From Reuters / Rigzone:

Venezuela, which holds the world's largest crude reserves, is on track to suffer its steepest annual oil output drop in 14 years as it suffers the effects of an economic crisis and years of under investment and mismanagement, according to data seen by Reuters and interviews with company sources and workers.

The state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), is struggling to stem a production decline that has accelerated this year as a result of payment delays to suppliers, lack of investment in equipment, and poor planning in the country's vast oil fields.

In the 12 months to June, Venezuela's crude output fell 9 percent to 2.36 million barrels per day (bpd), while the Organization of Petroleum Exploration Countries (OPEC) has boosted its output by 4 percent, according to the group's official figures.
Venezuela's oil minister and PDVSA president, Eulogio Del Pino, last month confirmed a 220,000-barrel-per-day production decline -- around 8 percent -- so far this year compared with 2015.

Norway. July oil production highest level in five years. Why? Because many fields are producing "above prognosis." Oil output was 10% above July, 2015, and about 18% higher than the previous month. Norway produces about 1.7 million bopd, up 300,000 bopd in the past couple of months.

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The Market

Closing: market down 53 points. NYSE --

• new highs: 86, Enerplus,
• new lows: 3 (somewhat surprised)

Mid-day trading: Market down 65 points. Chariots on fire: Tesla cooperating with French authorities investigating car fire. 

Opening. Some profit taking. Market down 40 points.

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Health Costs Surge In July
And 2017 ObamaCare Premiums Are Yet To Be Set

 
US consumer prices unchanged in July as fuel costs ease. In the small print -- which could have been in the headline -- costs for medical care showed biggest increase since February.

It was the first time in five months the consumer-price index failed to advance and followed a 0.2 percent gain in June, Labor Department figures showed Tuesday in Washington. Excluding food and energy, prices rose 0.1 percent, less than projected. 

Inflation continues to tread below the Fed’s goal as U.S. companies remain challenged by frugal consumers and competition from cheaper goods made overseas. With price pressures elusive, central bankers will be less willing to raise borrowing costs.

This has nothing to do with "frugal" consumers. They are tapped out with rent increases, medical expenses and healthcare premiums. And monthly telecom bills.

The biggest slump in hotel room rates in eight years and the largest drop in airline fares since July 2015, offset continued rent increases, which had been propping up core consumer prices. Medical care costs rose 0.5 percent, the biggest gain since February.

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Aetna Pulling Out Of ObamaCare Has Legs

Now, over at USA Today: Aetna's exit deals blow to ObamaCare, patients.

The insurer blamed heavy losses for the move. In doing so, the company suggested that too many sick people are buying plans, not enough healthy people are paying premiums to make up for it and the government isn't making policy changes to fix it.

But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says that it has implemented new regulations to make the exchanges more appealing to insurers. For example, HHS says new rules make it more difficult for Americans to abuse the system by buying insurance when they need it and dropping it when they don't, which is illegal and extremely unprofitable for insurers.

"They did respond to some degree," but insurers are "not satisfied" with the moves, said Marianne Udow-Phillips, director of the Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation at the University of Michigan, in an interview.

One more step toward "the public option" (i.e., the USNHS).

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Racial Wealth Divide 

Yahoo!Finance is reporting:

The report finds that over the past 30 years, the average wealth of white families grew by 84%, which is 1.2 times faster than the average rate of growth for Latinos, and three times the rate of growth for blacks. By 2044, when America becomes a majority-minority country, the wealth gap between white families and black families will double.

By 2044, America will be a majority-minority country, meaning that whites will only make up 49.7% of the population. Current minorities like Latinos, African Americans, Native Americans and Asians will soon make up a majority of the American populace.

It will take black families around 228 years, and Latino families 84 years, the report estimates, to achieve the same average wealth white families have today.

What do the experts blame this on? The housing bubble.

I would add that burning down your own neighborhood doesn't exactly help.

I don't know about you, but "the housing bubble" wasn't the first thing I thought of when I saw the headline, racial wealth divide. And when you look at the graph, there is nothing to suggest that the "housing bubble" disproportionately affect non-whites.

Suggested solutions by the author or experts:

• reforming the tax code
• appointing a wealth tsar 

I'm thinking, maybe, reparations would work, also.

If you really want to see the "racial wealth divide" widen, ban fracking and watch what happens when Saudi Arabia / OPEC are back in the driver's seat.

Another incredibly superficial article based on a single graph, a single data point.