New Energy Link Added To Sidebar At The Right -- June 13, 2016

Tom Whipple's weekly energy review, June 13, 2016.

This link has been added at the sidebar at the right, down near the bottom; the site is now known as Resilience. 

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Storm Chasers

Again, a reminder -- check out ZoomRadar.

One can get live-streaming of storm chasers across the US. It's quite incredible.

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Alaska ObamaCare in Intensive Care

Alaska ObamaCare in critical condition. 

Alaska Republicans are joining with Democrats in taking drastic action to save the state’s ObamaCare insurance system from spiraling into crisis, as all but one insurer flee the state and health care costs soar.

Walker’s office said that three insurers have left Alaska since 2015, and that the one remaining insurer, Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield, would have to pull out or pass costs on to customers if the state does not offer relief.

The legislation establishes a state health insurance fund to stabilize rates for all Alaskans by subsidizing costs for high-cost customers, according to Politico, which earlier reported on the move. The costs would be covered by existing funds from a tax on insurance premiums that all insurance companies pay.

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I Wonder How He Feels About Gay Men

Updates

June 16, 2016: anyone who thinks the London mayor is truly pro-gay is simply not paying attention. From Breitbart:

The Mayor has also been in hot water before when it comes to questions over his links to Islamist groups and those who practice a more traditional form of Islam that often sees women segregated at events from men.

Adding further fuel to the accusations that Mr. Khan is attempting to enforce a more traditional role of women in public life is his new ban on sexualised advertising on London’s public transport.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan gave a speech in Manchester on behalf of the EU ‘Remain’ campaign, with women noticeably absent from the front of the crowd.

A photograph from one of Mr. Khan’s speeches in Manchester posted on the Guido Fawkes blog reveals that in at least one of his speeches women were excluded from the front row and relegated to the periphery of the event.  

Original Post

 

Here we go.

London's Muslim mayor upset with "sexy women in advertisements." Bans such advertisements form public conveyances. 

Sadiq Khan, London’s first Muslim mayor, announced Monday that “body shaming” advertisements will no longer be allowed in London’s public transport.

“As the father of two teenage girls, I am extremely concerned about this kind of advertising which can demean people, particularly women, and make them ashamed of their bodies. It is high time it came to an end,” Khan said.

What about men kissing in public?

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Muslim England:

Recently, advertisements featuring bikini-clad models in the British city of Birmingham were spray painted over. Birmingham has a high Muslim population.

No New Permits; Hess Completes Two DUCs -- June 13, 2016

Active rigs:

	6/13/2016	06/13/2015	06/13/2014	06/13/2013	06/13/2012
Active Rigs	28	75	185	185	211

Wells coming off the confidential list Tuesday:

• 31897, SI/NC, XTO, JMB 14X-15E, Capa, no production data,
• 32079, drl, BR, CCU Badger 3-3-14 MBH, Corral Creek, no production data,
• 32175, SI/NC, XTO, Tobacco Garden 31X-29C, Tobacco Garden, no production data,
• 32237, SI/NC, SM Energy, Bella 4B-28HS, Ambrose, no production data,
• 32270, SI/NC, Statoil, Enderud 9-4 3TFH, Banks, no production data,
• 32342, 306, Hess, BL-Davidson-156-96-3526H-7, Beaver Lodge, a Devonian well (Three Forks), 50 stages, 3.5  millions lbs, t4/16; cum --

Three permits renewed:

• Hess (2), two RS-State permits in Mountrail County
• EOG, a Van Hook permit in Mountrail County

Two producing wells completed:

• 31541, 1,217, Hess, CA-Russell Smith-155-96-2425H-3, Capa, a Three Forks well, t6/16, cum --; API 33-105-04099-00-00; fracked 4/2/16; 2.9 million gallons of water; total water 82% by weight; sand 17% by weight;
• 31544, F, Hess, CA-Russell Smith-155-96-2425H-6, Capa, a Three Forks well, no test date; API 33-105-04102-00-00; fracked 4/12/16; 2.3 million gallons of water; 85% water by weight; 15% sand by weight;

Thank Goodness -- June 13, 2016 -- Nothing About The Bakken In This Post

Nothing about the Bakken in this post; if you came here looking for the Bakken, scroll down or check out the sidebar at the right.

The Washington Post reports that we will never see atmospheric CO2 below 400 parts per million again, in our lifetime.

Wow, that's good news. Optimum atmospheric CO2 concentration for growing marijuana is about 1,200 ppm.

Unfortunately, at the rate "we" are going, we probably won't see 450 in our lifetimes either.

More troubling is the fact that rising atmospheric CO2 is due more to El Niño than anything else, all other things being equal, like the number of Teslas MuskMelon delivers:

The new study suggests is that those days are over — carbon dioxide will never fall below 400 ppm this year, nor the next, nor the next.

The reason is that the strong 2015-2016 El Niño event has pushed concentrations upward more than usual for a given year — El Niños tend to do that, because they dry out tropical regions, lessening tree growth and sparking vast wildfires.

That means that even in September of this year, when annual concentrations are typically at their lowest (as northern hemisphere trees lose their leaves and vegetation growth declines heading into winter), they’ll likely still be slightly over 400 parts per million, scientists forecast. [We'll be watching.]

The paper also predicts that this El Niño will drive a year-to-year rise in average atmospheric concentrations of 3.15 parts per million, exceeding the single-year change caused by the last major El Niño, from 1997-1998, of 2.9 parts per million.

On June 12, concentrations were at 407.26 parts per million, according to NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, which monitors the data. But they should start to decline soon, according to the seasonal cycle, which reaches a peak in May and a low in September and is driven by the growth of plants in the northern hemisphere (where there is much more total land area).

I can't make this stuff up. But it looks like "we've" hit our high for the year. I strongly doubt 3.15 ppm vs 2.9 ppm is even statistically significant, and it certainly isn't independently reproducible or verifiable. At least not be me. The best I can do, to follow global warming, is measure the rising sea levels by sticking popsicle sticks in the sand at the beach.

It's hard to believe that after the tragedy we had in Orlando, FL, last night, the Washington Post found time to post this story.

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The Tonys

Of the four major entertainment awards shows: the Oscars, the Emmys, The Grammys, and the Tonys (collectively now referred to as the EGOT awards), only the Oscars have ever really interested me enough to actually watch them, and then it was rare and generally only when Billy Crystal hosted.

But last night, for some odd reason, I found myself watching the Tonys. I was happy to see that they went on despite the tragedy in Orlando. Is tragedy the right word? James Corden has emerged as perhaps the best presenter -- as they call them in England -- in the US right now. I enjoyed the show, although I started to tire of it as it wore on.

Having watched Birdman more than a dozen times now, I have really come to appreciate Broadway much more than I might have otherwise.

Nothing seemed more accurate than the description of last night's Tonys presentation: "the Oscars with diversity." It was truly amazing. It really seemed that Broadway, at least this year, was where African-Americans were making their mark. Wouldn't it be interesting if Broadway becomes the "farm team," as it were for Hollywood? Comparing Broadway and Hollywood is comparing apples and oranges, but maybe the argument works. I don't know.

I don't particularly care for Oprah Winfrey, but I was happy to see The Color Purple win the awards it did.

Again, The Bakken Is The "Gold Standard" -- June 13, 2016

Locator: 10010ARGENTINA.

 

Updates

September 13, 2023: Argentina ordered to pay $16 billion. 

June 14, 2016: see second comment. The dating of the Vaca Muerta compared to the Bakken was misleading / poorly written in the linked Bismarck Tribune article. The Bakken is much, much older than the Vaca Muerta. 

Later, 3:46 p.m. Central Time: see first comment. Actually quite embarrassing for an article coming from "ground zero" when it come to the oil and gas revolution. I've updated the faux pas in red bold in the linked Bismarck Tribune article below.

Original Post

 

The four shale basins in Argentina:

• Vaca Muerta
• Chaco basin (northern Argentina; Paraguay-Brazil-Uruguay border)
• Golfo San Jorge basin (Patagonia centered on Comodoro)
• Austral-Magallanes (extreme south)

A report earlier today mentioned that COP would begin exploring the Magallanes in southern Argentina. The Magallanes was not on my radar scope. It is now. From The Bismarck Tribune, from last fall, September 25, 2015:

After drilling two vertical wells into a tight shale formation called the Vaca Muerta (“Mad Cow”), YPF completed its first horizontal well in July 2011. The formation is located in western Argentina just east of the Andes in the Neuquen basin.

(It is one of four shale basins in the country.)

Current reserve estimates for the Vaca Muerta are 16-22 billion barrels of oil and 308 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Numbers like those attract lots of attention.

The Vaca Muerta is made up of shales, chalks and other sedimentary rock units. It was laid down about 145 million years ago, so it predates the Bakken by nearly a quarter of a billion years of earth history. At that time the area to the east of the emerging Andes was covered by a shallow sea, which ultimately accumulated the microscopic organisms that became oil and gas. It’s also a time when the super continent Gondwana was breaking up sending South America, Australia, Africa, India, and Antarctica on their separate ways.

The formation covers about 12,000 square miles, about the size of Maryland, with incredible thicknesses that reach 1,000 feet in places. Its depth averages 7,000 to 8,000 feet. Similar to the Bakken and other North American tight shale plays, the Neuquen basin has had a conventional oil and gas industry for decades, which offers a number of advantages for further development. First and foremost is that local officials understand the oil business and are generally amenable to further development. In addition, the region has a skilled workforce, one steeped in all technical aspects of exploration and production.

The Argentine government has divided the Vaca Muerta play into exploration and development blocks managed by the consortiums of companies with which the government has deals. YPF is a partner in several blocks.

While the Vaca Muerta has gotten the lion’s share of attention, Argentina has three other tight shale formations that harbor significant amounts of oil/and or natural gas and will require fracking to exploit. They include the Chaco basin along the Paraguay-Brazil-Uruguay border, the Golfo San Jorge basin in Patagonia centered on Comodoro, and the Austral- Magallanes basin in the extreme south.

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The Apple Page

Updates

Later, 4:25 p.m. Central Time: okay. I was completely wrong in the original post. I am completely blown away by what Apple has come up with. If one wants to learn about "coding" and what our granddaughters were working on all last week at "computer coding school" at the University of Texas, Dallas, one can go to this link, and skip ahead to 105:25/-17:25. I don't know if the video link works on all browsers; it is optimized for Safari. 

Later, 4:07 p.m. Central Time: okay, I was completely wrong with my original comments. What I said still holds true for a particular part of the presentation, but now that I have seen almost the entire presentation, I have to admit that it is absolutely incredible the software that Apple has. Absolutely incredible. As just one example: the comment about being able to control the hot tub from a distance was just the tip of what "Home" can do. The one thing I hope "they" do is make the door locks digital. Garage door openers are digital, but conventional door locks need to be upgraded. I am tired of fumbling for my keys to the apartment; it would be great to click on an "opener" while riding my bike up to the door. 

Later, 3:30 p.m. Central Time: I am watching the WWDC presentation from the beginning. The note below was based on what I saw tuning in late. I think the remarks below are still valid, but the "stuff" at the beginning, which I missed by tuning in late, was quite incredible: that had to do with the Apple Watch, AppleTV, and OS X.  From what I'm seeing now, advances in those three were the highlight of the presentation. (I've yet to see the full presentation, so something may yet "wow" me more.)

Based on what I saw with the Apple Watch presentation, it appears that the AppleWatch -- the hardware and the software -- is ahead of 90% of Americans by about ten years, and probably ahead of 50% of Americans by about two decades. Whether that's good or bad, I don't know, but it's clear that the gap between "American haves" and the "American have-nots" will widen even more quickly.

Apple has changed the name of its operating system: macOS. The latest version is code-named macOS Sierra. 

Original Post

 

Unless things "pick up a bit," and I doubt they will, the Apple presentation today is very, very weak. So far, it appears that, at best, Apple has simply tweaked a few operating systems and applications. The amount of time spent on "Photos" pretty much tells me they don't have much new to offer today. Likewise, it wasn't just "Photos." The amount of time spent on "Music" was uninspired.

It will be interesting to read the comments later today. I don't think they will be good. A typical comment: Apple's keynote might be out of touch with many consumers by letting us know that Homekit is now able to turn on a hot tub?

The amount of time spent on "emoji's" tell us how far Apple has fallen; this is starting to feel like a Microsoft/Ballmer presentation. Steve Jobs would be embarrassed. 

The market? The overall market (the Dow) is down about 75 points; AAPL is down about 1.3%, at about $97.50.

Of course, this conference is geared for developers, and, it appears, mostly for developers working in Chinese.

By the way, Microsoft announced it will pay $26 billion in cash to buy LinkedIn. That represents a 49% premium from Friday's closing price.

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The Microsoft Page

Why Microsoft bought LinkedIn? For the archives. Hopefully the link doesn't break. This will be interesting to come back to in five years. But my first thought: while Apple was busy designing emoji's, Microsoft was buying the Facebook of the business world. And although Facebook has its place, when you get right down to it, "Facebook of The Business World" is going to be the next big thing -- if it's done right.

Microsoft will use the LinkedIn information to empower applications like Delve—which is already part of Office 365. By making Office 365 a more potent application, Microsoft sells more Office 365 subscriptions, specifically to enterprises and small businesses—and possibly sell Lynda training subscriptions right alongside. There are already 1.2 billion Office users, and 70 million Office 365 monthly users in business, Microsoft said. Add to that the 433 million users who have already signed up for LinkedIn (though only 105 million actively use it per month) and Microsoft feels like it can make the two networks, together, indispensable.

Was that synergy really worth $26.1 billion, especially after Microsoft essentially blew $7.2 billion chasing Nokia’s handset business?

Well, think about this: LinkedIn is essentially the Facebook of the business world, and the digital repository of most of the world’s resumes. You may lie to your friends about whether or not you like Journey, but very few people lie about their resumes to potential employers. And that’s information that Microsoft is willing to pay for.

With LinkedIn, what will Microsoft know about your?

Right now, Cortana provides some basic information about your calendar, suggesting, for example, what time you’ll need to leave to ensure you arrive at your next meeting on time. In Microsoft’s digital future, Cortana will be able to sum up what you need to know both about your business relationship, and what information you can use to cement a more personal connection, too. It sounds smarmy, but a good salesperson will tell you that an emotional connection helps seal the deal.

If the thought of Microsoft owning more data about you—well, you probably should go delete your LinkedIn profile, now. Microsoft already knows your calendar (Outlook), your meetings (Outlook), your coworkers (Delve) your accounts (Microsoft Dynamics CRM) and some of your expertise (Delve). Microsoft calls this the Office Graph.

This is the screenshot, modified slightly from my perspective:

Note: there is no direct connection between you and your spouse, but I love how one receives "insights" from God (click on graphic to enlarge it).

By the way, there's no question that "an emotional connection helps seal the deal." I'll post some photos later this month and next showing what I have been buying (tangible goods, not stocks) based as much on an "emotional connection" as anything else. 

New MDU Natural Gas Pipeline Proposed To Swing Around Fargo, North Dakota -- June 13, 2016

Updates

June 14, 2016: I find this rather ... bizarre? With all the "stuff" going on in the world, with a $3 billion pipeline being built for Tex-Mex natural gas, with Microsoft paying $26 billion for Linked In, right there, near the top of the page of headline financial news, Yahoo!Finance highlights a 38-mile natural gas pipeline that swings around Fargo, ND, to meet the needs of the Red River farmers.

Wow.

 
But it speaks volumes.

Original Post

 

From MDU today:

WBI Energy, Inc., the pipeline and midstream subsidiary of MDU Resources Group, Inc., today announced plans to build an approximately 38-mile pipeline with the primary purpose of delivering natural gas supply to eastern North Dakota and far western Minnesota. 

An open season seeking capacity commitments on WBI Energy’s Valley Expansion Project was initiated today, and will be open until July 15. WBI Energy has received significant interest in the project from its customers in the region, which has driven the project.

The proposed pipeline would connect the Viking Gas Transmission Company pipeline near Felton, Minnesota, to WBI Energy’s existing pipeline near Mapleton, North Dakota. Cost of the expansion project is estimated at $50 million.

This pipeline would swing along an arc from the west side of West Fargo, ND, to Felton, MN, a few miles to the northeast of Fargo.

One would have thought wind-electricity would have met the needs of all these folks in western Minnesota. Sure, unreliable energy costs a whole lot more, but we're talking about the environment, here, folks.

Just curious. $1 million/mile? Is that still a good figure? Let's check. Yup, cost of project is estimated at $50 million.

Other data points:

• 40 million cubic feet per day
• begin/complete: 2018
• residential, commercial, drying grain in the Red River Valley 

And, hey, if Minnesota says "no," there's still enough interest, I assume, on the west side of the river to go ahead with this project.

Reality Check -- June 13, 2016

... and with that, I'm going biking. Off the net for awhile. Watch for the Director's Cut.

Bullish EIA Natural Gas Storage Report -- RBN Energy -- June 13, 2016

RBN Energy: a bullish EIA storage report signals a big shift in the US natural gas market. Folks paying attention will note that a couple of dots are starting to connect concerning this story and a recent John Kemp tweet. Earlier I said I would come back to this if the spirit moved me. Apparently the spirit moved me. From RBN Energy today (at the link is much, much more):

The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Thursday (June 9) reported a surprisingly bullish 65-Bcf injection for the week ended June 3—that was 8.0 Bcf below our Natgas Billboard estimate and more than 10 Bcf below the Bloomberg industry average assessment. [Wow!]

In response, the CME/NYMEX Henry Hub July natural gas contract screamed about 15 cents higher following the report to a settle of $2.617/MMBtu, the highest daily settle for the prompt month in nearly 9 months.

Thursday’s gains extended a rally that began on May 31 (2016) just after the July contract rolled to the front of the futures curve. It’s likely the rally was initially spurred by market participants looking to cover their short positions. But in the past week, an increasingly bullish fundamental picture has emerged prompting us to raise our price outlook.

In today’s blog, we analyze the fundamentals behind rising natural gas prices.

We closely track natural gas supply and demand to forecast storage and price in the daily NATGAS Billboard report – a joint venture with our friend and veteran expert Kyle Cooper of IAF Advisors.

On the supply side, U.S. natural gas production was initially relatively flat following the June contract expiration, but since last week, production has declined by 0.6 Bcf/d to an average of 71.9 Bcf/d the week of June 3, which is also 0.5 Bcf/d below the 30-day average and 1.0 Bcf/d under the year-to-date average.

Production volumes have been struggling to stay above 72 Bcf/d much less get back to staying consistently above the 73 Bcf/d mark we saw in March and early April (2016). A combination of pipeline maintenance events (which can reduce capacity available for receiving and flowing gas) and possible operational issues related to another bout of heavy rains and flooding down in Texas is keeping production down. Volumes are not just down week-on-week but also flat to lower versus last year, which is supportive of price.

But in our book, that alone would not seem to warrant a 50-cent run-up in price.

However, when we factor in demand, the rationale for a much more bullish outlook firms up.

U.S. consumption – including power, industrial and residential/commercial demand – has climbed nearly 1.0 Bcf/d over the past two weeks. By itself, this isn’t extraordinary for this time of year.

After fairly moderate (boring) weather through April and May, national average temperatures are gradually rising as summer approaches, which is bringing on incremental gas-fired power generation demand for air conditioning—again a normal trend for this time of year. But indications are that power demand is coming on much stronger earlier in the season than usual.

Since June 1, natural gas demand for power generation has averaged close to 30.5 Bcf/d, which is a new record high for this period and about 4.0 Bcf/d higher than last year. It’s also a big jump (of more than 5.0 Bcf/d) from the May 2016 average.

June 1 also marked a step change in how much gas is being burned per degree (temperature-adjusted demand).

Our NATGAS Billboard models demand to show where it’s coming in relative to historical volumes at the same temperatures.

Demand from April 1 to June 1 (2016) had been averaging about 2.6 Bcf/d higher than it historically has on a temperature-adjusted basis and had climbed to as much as 5.3 Bcf/d higher --- the expected result of increased gas-fired generation capacity and lower natural gas prices relative to coal. But in the last two storage weeks (since May 28), that weather-adjusted demand level has shot up to an average near 4.4 Bcf/d, with a couple of days coming in well over 6.0 Bcf/d.

The natural question is what is driving this supply/demand delta? RBN Energy suggests it could simply be a reporting error; not all data is available. I like to think it might be related to US manufacturing but I'm always looking through oil-stained glasses.

Much more at the RBN Energy link. But did you catch that "temperature-adjusted demand" stuff?

By the way, connect today's RBN energy blog with the recent John Kemp tweet in which he noted that "cooling days" were increasing across the US this summer. 

Supreme Court Rejects Puerto Rico Restructuring Law -- June 13, 2016

Updates

May 3, 2017: Puerto Rico files for biggest ever US local government bankruptcy. 

May 1, 2017: deadline tonight. Take it or leave it. If bondholders refuse deal, bankruptcy protection ends. Lawsuits begin. 

April 12, 2017: Puerto Rico seen sliding toward bankruptcy as May 1, 2017, deadline nears. Data points:

• $70 billion in debt
• last year (2016), US Congress tried to help Puerto Rico's situation with a freeze on creditor lawsuits
• but the freeze ends May 1, 2017, and an extension by Congress is "not going to happen"
• one source: "avoiding bankruptcy is impossible"

Original Post

Link here.

The Supreme Court on Monday struck down Puerto Rico’s effort to restructure its public utility debts, ruling Congress had precluded the territory from enacting its own bankruptcy legislation.

The 5-to-2 vote increases pressure on Congress to act to resolve the island territory’s fiscal crisis, since Puerto Rico as a U.S. territory has no authority to provide for municipal bankruptcies.

Really, really bad news for Apple. Link here:

The Supreme Court on Monday made it easier for patent holders to win increased financial damages in court from copycats who use their inventions without permission.

The high court, in a unanimous opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, overturned a specialized lower court that had adopted hard-to-meet standards for winning punitive damages, even in cases where someone infringed upon a patented invention intentionally.

The chief justice said the lower court’s standard was too rigid and effectively protected some companies from being punished with larger monetary penalties despite their willful trampling on another’s intellectual-property rights without permission.

Federal law allows trial judges to award enhanced infringement damages to patent holders that total three times the amount of actual damages in a case.

On the other hand, some good news. Congress passes a resolution "condemning" an Obama-inspired proposal to add a new $10.25/bbl tax on crude oil to pay for transportation infrastructure. I assume Prince Salman was a huge supporter of this proposal. Analysts suggest the tax would add 25 cents/gallon of gasoline. My hunch is that the 25 cents is off by about $1.00. US shale can't survive at oil less than $40. At oil barely at $50 now, adding a $10 fee, takes US shale back to $40. It would pretty much crush the industry. It would make a lot more sense to set a reasonable "percentage" fee that wouldn't kick in until oil was well above, let's say, $150. LOL.

Unfortunately The Bakken Flaring/Fracking Meme Was Released Years Ago -- Once A Meme Goes Wild, It Can Never Be Re-Captured -- June 13, 2016

I'm Not Seeing The Uptick In Fracking DUCs Everyone Is Talking About -- June 13, 2016

You may want to keep your browser open to the Director's Cut site. The report was to have been released on June 10, 2016, according to his "tentative Director's Cut dates." I just checked and the tentative date has not been changed; it still shows as June 10, 2016, 11:00 a.m. The tenth is really early in the month for the report to be released, suggesting a typo, but it would be such a glaring typo that it would not be missed, at least not in Bismarck. The full statistical report, when released, will be linked here.

Water flooding. For those who have not seen the most recent post on another possible example of the "halo effect," I have posted an interesting update from a reader. Is this not an example of "water flooding"? There have been discussions whether water flooding would work in the Bakken; does this push the discussion along?

Active rigs:

	6/13/2016	06/13/2015	06/13/2014	06/13/2013	06/13/2012
Active Rigs	28	75	185	185	211

RBN Energy: a bullish EIA storage report signals a big shift in the US natural gas market. Folks paying attention will note that a couple of dots are starting to connect concerning this story and a recent John Kemp tweet. More later, if the spirit moves me.

Previously posted, but posting again:

For those who may have missed it, the Miss North Dakota 2016 pageant took place in Williston, at the Williston High School. Miss Grand Forks, Macy Christianson, lists her hometown as Minot. It was nice to see that "Miss Oil Country," Cara Mund, was among the five finalists. In fact, she was first runner-up. I assume these are one and the same: back in 2006, ten years ago, Cara Mund was a 7th grader at Horizon Middle School in Bismarck, ND, where she was crowned Miss Junior Teen Oil Country. 

I've never understood how Williston is always able to showcase some of these events. I think it's quite remarkable and quite wonderful for Williston to get the pageants. Williston is also a frequent host for the annual national Babe Ruth World Series League championships. 

Availability of lodging should not be an issue. 

Bloomberg has a story on DUCs. I think I posted it / linked it yesterday. Analysts suggest frackers are getting back to work. I've not seen any evidence of any significant increase in completing DUCs yet. I just went through the "new wells reporting" for 1Q15 and 2Q15 and no change since the last update.

The New York Times has a great article on corporate farming in North Dakota. Until recently corporate farming was banned in North Dakota. Then the legislature, a year ago, opened the door and the governor signed a new law allowing corporate farming. Apparently NoDaks were not happy with the new law; petitioned for a referendum and got it, and now they vote to overturn the law.

Update: ND voters overwhelmingly voted to overturn this law. Corporate farming not allowed in North Dakota.