Saturday, November 26, 2016

Active rigs:

	11/26/2016	11/26/2015	11/26/2014	11/26/2013	11/26/2012
Active Rigs	37	65	183	193	185

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Wishin' and Hopin'

OPEC: from Platts -- 

All that has been settled at the moment is what was announced in Algiers: a goal for OPEC to freeze production between 32.5 million b/d to 33 million b/d, which would require a cut of between 640,000 b/d to 1.14 million b/d from October levels, according to the organization's own estimate. If finalized, it would be OPEC's first coordinated cut since 2008.

"A cut to 33 million b/d probably maintains the status quo -- slowly returning rigs to active status as prices hover in that $50-$55/b range," said Tony Starkey, managing director of analysis for S&P Global Platts Bentek in Denver. "If OPEC cuts to 32.5 million b/d, then we expect prices to reach $60/b next year which should accelerate, to an extent, the already upward trend in drilling activity here in the US."  

An incredibly long article with lots of wishin' and hopin'.

By the way, I think the non-OPEC meeting set for Monday was canceled when Saudi Arabia said it would not be attending.

Wishin' And Hopin', Dusty Springfield

 
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The Agriculture Page

From The Bismarck Tribune:

Most of North Dakota's winter wheat crop is in good shape as winter sets in.

The Agriculture Department in its latest weekly crop report says 78 percent of the state's winter wheat is in good to excellent condition. Only 4 percent is rated poor or very poor.

Yes, it's a quiet day in north Texas.

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The Literature Page

It must have been a slow week for The Wall Street Journal, also. The "Review" section, as always, is excellent, but the lead article is "The Need to Read." The sub-title: reading books remains one of the best ways to engage with the world, become a better person and understand life's questions, big and small."

I'm not sure what the author might mean by "becoming a better person" by reading -- but we will leave that for another day.

This was in bold, a theme, I suppose of the article on reading: "A random sentence in a thriller can lead to an unexpected insight."

Wow.

This morning, while reading Edmund de Waal's The Hare With Amber Eyes I came across something that led to an unexpected insight. I posted it in draft form, and then deleted it. It was not ready for prime time, and out of context it might not have worked. All I will say is this: something completely unexpected help me understand why some folks have issues with "speculators," something I've talked about many times on the blog.

In today's "Review" section, reviews that caught my eye:

• "From Bedlam to Bellevue" -- interesting but I won't be reading the two books reviewed, books about human madness and how the insane have been treated.
• "Making Art for the Masses," Turner, by Franny Moyle. I would love to buy the book but I already have too many J. M. W. Turner coffee-table art books.
• "Our All-Conquering Armada," The Fleet at Flood Tide, by James D. Hornfischer: "to defeat Japan, the US turned the Navy into a technologically advanced seaborne civilization." I won't read the book but the essay is quite interesting.
• "The Poetry of Earth," Collected Essays by Loren Eiseley; I had not heard of Eiseley. I always enjoy essays. He may be someone I want to read: he was skeptical of the space program: he found enough objects of inquiry on Earth to last him several lifetimes. I'm intrigued to read those essays but anyone who thinks that the space program did not help answer questions on/about Earth is quite ignorant about the space program, which in this case is hard to believe considering Eiseley grew up to get his PhD, eventually becoming head of the anthropology department at the University of Pennsylvania. But then again, the current president was a constitutional scholar at Harvard. 
• Perhaps my favorite: "A Delicious Disapora," The Dim sum Field Guide by Carolyn Phillips. Many, many memories of dim sum. 

Compared to last week's "Review" the section this week is rather thin but enough to keep me busy this weekend. 

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Working On The Blog

The assistant editor is looking through file photos to see what should be posted on the blog: