It Never Quits -- More Records Broken; The Graph That Terrorizes Saudi Arabia -- August 31, 2016

More records broken;

• US exported 698,000 b/d of crude oil, a new record -- EIA. 
• In another record, US distillate exports hit a record high in June at 1.45 million b/d.

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The graph that terrorizes Saudi Arabia. If it doesn't, Prince Salman is not paying attention. Remember: WTI is under $50/bbl. Saudi Arabia cannot survive on $50 oil:

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A Note For The Granddaughters

I have no idea if this is a great song or not, but Sophia (age 2 years) and I enjoy it on the way home from Tutor Time. I pick her up every day from Tutor Time, about 4:00 p.m. She goes there for the socialization. I have the wonderful task of picking her up every day. She and I are best buddies.

May and I played only classical music for the two older granddaughters, now 13 and 10 years of age. One loves classical music and is a flutist in Honors Band; the other appears to have no interest in music.

But for Sophia, it's different. Her favorite music, without question is the "early Beatles." She can recognize them immediately when I put in an early Beatles CD. Lately, I have our early Beatles CD in the other car, so I have to play something else. Lana Del Rey is way too slow and too somber.

But this song from Jefferson Airplane -- Sophia loves it. I play it loud. And she dances in her car seat.

She Has Funny Cars, Jefferson Airplane

Summary Of The September, 2016, NDIC Hearing Dockets

Summary of the September, 2016, NDIC Hearing Dockets

Note: done quickly; there will be typographical and factual errors; if this information is important to you, go to the source: Oil & Gas Hearing Docket Index

Highlighs at this post.  

Wednesday, September 28, 2016: eleven pages
25238, Statoil, Painted Woods-Bakken, establish an overlapping 2560-acre unit, 1 well; Williams
25239, CLR, Bear Creek-Bakken; two additional wells on an existing 1280-acre unit; Dunn County
25240, CLR, Oakdale-Bakken; establish an overlapping 2560-acre unit; 2 wells; Dunn County
25241, CLR, Elm Tree-Bakken, 5,120-acre unit; 6 wells; McKenzie County
25242, Liberty Resources, Beaver Lodge and/or Manitou-Bakken, overlapping 1280-acre unit; 12 wells; Williams County
25243, Enerplus, McGregory Buttes-Bakken, an overlapping 1280-acre unit; 11 wells, Dunn County
25244, Enerplus, Heart Butte-Bakken an overlapping 1280-acre unit; 9 wells, Dunn County
25245, EOG, Parshall-Bakken; establish a 1920-acre unit; multiple wells; establish two overlapping 3200-acre units; multioples well;s Mountrail County
25246, XTO, Corral Creek-Bakken, establish an overlapping 2560-acre unit; 1 well; Dunn County
25247, pooling,
25248, pooling,
25249, pooling,
25250, Liberty Resources, processing vessel vapors from a number of wells
25251, Liberty Resources, processing vessel vapors from a number of wells
25252, pooling,
25253, pooling,
25254, pooling,
25255, CLR, Oakdale-Bakken, on an existing 1280-acre unit; 14 wells, Dunn County
25256, XTO, Corral Creek-Bakken on an existing 1280-acre unit; 11 wells, Dunn County
25257, Enerplus, Antelope-Sanish, on an existing 640-acre unit, 11 wells, McKenzie
25258, Enerplus, Spotted Horn-Bakken, on an existing 640-acre unit; 7 wells; on an existing 1280-acre unit, 11 wells; 18 wells total, McKenzie
25259, EOG, Ross-Bakken; on three existing 1280-acre units; multiple wells on each; Mountrail County
25260, EOG, commingling
25261, EOG, commingling
25262, EOG, file #19210, SWD conversion
25263, EOG, file #31249, SWD conversion
25264, something I had not seen before: "on a motion of the Commission to consider rescinding Order No. XXXXX entered in Case No. XXXXX which was an application of _____________ pursuant to NDAC § 43-023-03-88.1 for an order authorizing the drilling of a saltwater disposal well to be located in ...." There are 22 such cases before the commission (different case numbers, different companies, different locations, case numbers, inclusive, from 25264 to 25285). It appears that the plan to drill 22 saltwater disposal wells is "now on hold."

Thursday, September 29, 2016: four pages
25286, NP Resources, Bicentennial-Bakken, establish four 1280-acre units; 4 wells on each; Golden Valley, McKenzie County
25287, NP Resources, Morgan Draw-Bakken, 4 wells on a 1280-acre unit; Billings County
25288, NP Resources, Elkhorn Ranch-Bakken, 4 wells on a new 1280-acre unit; Billings County
25289, Petro Harvester, Lakeside Field, extend the boundaries of said field; Lakeside-Midale/Nesson; establish two 640-acre units; 2 wells each; Burke County
25290, Petro Harvester, Carter-Midale/Nesson field; extend; establish foru 640-acre units; 2 wells on each, Burke
25291, Samson Oil And Gas, Foreman Butte-Madison; establish two 1920-acre units; 2 wells each, McKenzie County
25292, QEP, Grail-Bakken, amend field rules; reduce minimum setbacks; McKenzie
25293, Petro-Hunt, risk penalty legalese, McKenzie
25294, Hess, Beaver Lodge-Bakken, 7 wells on a 1280-acre unit, Williams County
25295, Hess, Robinson Lake-Bakken, 2 wells on an existing 2560-acre uit; Mountrail County
25296, Hess, pooling,
25297, Hess, pooling,
25298, Hess, pooling,
25299, BR, pooling,
25300, Luff Exploration, flaring waiver, Bowman County

Friday, September 30, 2016: three cases
25301, Ballantyne Oil, Glenburn Southeast-Madison Unit Area, requesting approval of a unitized plan for the field, Renville County
25302, Ballantyne Oil, Glenburn Southeast-Madison Unit Area, plan for case #25301 has been signed, sealed, and delivered by owners of interest, Renville County
25303, Ballantyne Oil, Glenburn Southeast-Madison Unit, granting an area permit for underground injection of fluids into the unitized formation, Renville County

Highlights Of The September, 2016, NDIC Hearing Dockets

Highlights of the September, 2016, NDIC Hearing Dockets

Note: done quickly; there will be typographical and factual errors; if this information is important to you, go to the source: Oil & Gas Hearing Docket Index

Full summary at this post.  

Wednesday, September 28, 2016: eleven pages
25241, CLR, Elm Tree-Bakken, 5,120-acre unit; 6 wells; McKenzie County
25242, Liberty Resources, Beaver Lodge and/or Manitou-Bakken, overlapping 1280-acre unit; 12 wells; Williams County
25243, Enerplus, McGregory Buttes-Bakken, an overlapping 1280-acre unit; 11 wells, Dunn County
25244, Enerplus, Heart Butte-Bakken an overlapping 1280-acre unit; 9 wells, Dunn County
25255, CLR, Oakdale-Bakken, on an existing 1280-acre unit; 14 wells, Dunn County
25256, XTO, Corral Creek-Bakken on an existing 1280-acre unit; 11 wells, Dunn County
25257, Enerplus, Antelope-Sanish, on an existing 640-acre unit, 11 wells, McKenzie
25258, Enerplus, Spotted Horn-Bakken, on an existing 640-acre unit; 7 wells; on an existing 1280-acre unit, 11 wells; 18 wells total, McKenzie
25259, EOG, Ross-Bakken; on three existing 1280-acre units; multiple wells on each; Mountrail County

Thursday, September 29, 2016: four pages
25286, NP Resources, Bicentennial-Bakken, establish four 1280-acre units; 4 wells on each; Golden Valley, McKenzie County
25287, NP Resources, Morgan Draw-Bakken, 4 wells on a 1280-acre unit; Billings County
25288, NP Resources, Elkhorn Ranch-Bakken, 4 wells on a new 1280-acre unit; Billings County
25294, Hess, Beaver Lodge-Bakken, 7 wells on a 1280-acre unit, Williams County

Friday, September 30, 2016: three cases
25301, Ballantyne Oil, Glenburn Southeast-Madison Unit Area, requesting approval of a unitized plan for the field, Renville County
25302, Ballantyne Oil, Glenburn Southeast-Madison Unit Area, plan for case #25301 has been signed, sealed, and delivered by owners of interest, Renville County
25303, Ballantyne Oil, Glenburn Southeast-Madison Unit, granting an area permit for underground injection of fluids into the unitized formation, Renville County

Five New Permits -- North Dakota, USA -- August 31, 2016

Active rigs:

	8/31/2016	08/31/2015	08/31/2014	08/31/2013	08/31/2012
Active Rigs	33	76	194	185	192

Something suggests to me that the NDIC daily activity report was posted before it was complete. Someone must have left early to enjoy the clement weather in North Dakota this time of year.

The only item on today's daily activity report: five new permits:

• Operator: Whiting (3), Enerplu, Crescent Point Energy
• Fields: Banks (McKenzie), Heart Butte (Dunn), Dublin (Williams)
• Comments:

No wells are coming off the confidential list Thursday.

At the sidebar at the right, note that Vern Whitten's summer portfolio of photographs is now the #1 site today -- less than 24 hours after it was posted, up to #1. I've always said his photographs are the most popular draw to the blog. Thank you, Mr Whitten.  The "blogger app" determines the ranking, not me.

US Gasoline Consumption Reaches All-Time High For Any Month -- Going All The Way Back To 1945 -- August 31, 2016

From the EIA today:

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's new Petroleum Supply Monthly report, which was released on Wednesday afternoon, shows that U.S. gasoline consumption in June reached an all-time high for any month at 9.664 million barrels per day, based on EIA data going back to 1945.

This is the link they provided: http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MGFUPUS2&f=M. 

I like this one. The EIA is doing the same thing I "used" to do: I equated "gasoline consumption" with "US product supplied of finished motor gasoline."

In fact, two points another reader pointed out to me:

• "product supplied" does not necessarily mean "product consumed" 
• "supplied blended gasoline" was significantly higher, and Americans generally use blended gasoline these days

In fact, "we've" been well over 9.664 million bbls of blended gasoline -- having hit that milestone periodically all the way back to 2013.

I do not know if "US finished motor gasoline" includes gasoline that is eventually exported -- a small amount in the big scheme of things, but could affect records.

Lots of "definitions" and a lot of qualifiers, but it must drive faux-environmentalists nuts, driving their SUVs to the local protest movement, and hearing that U.S. gasoline consumption in June reached an all-time high for any month at 9.664 million barrels per day, based on EIA data going back to 1945.

Some folks may remember what happened in 1945, and what happened in the decade following. 

Speaking of blended gasoline, did you all read the WSJ article today that said there's a glut of US corn, and prices are falling fast. By the way, did you see one of the reasons why there are record crops this year?

Clement weather this summer has fueled expectations that U.S. farmers will harvest the largest U.S. corn and soybean crops in history. The USDA earlier this month projected that the nation’s corn crop will reach about 15.2 billion bushels, and the soybean crop about 4.1 billion bushels.

So much for "extreme weather" destroying US crops. And, oh, by the way, that little bit of CO2 is doing great things for corn crops. Both "upstream" and "downstream." LOL.

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Evolution

A Note for the Granddaughters

Making The Rounds In Social Media Today

Making social media today:

Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunter/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel.

Beer required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer.

These two were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups: 1. Liberals. 2. Conservatives.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to BBQ at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.

Other men who were less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly BBQ's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement.

Some of these liberal men evolved into women. Others became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy Liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that Conservatives provided.

Over the years, Conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass for obvious reasons.

Modern Liberals like "Lite" beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and vegan are standard Liberal fare. Another interesting evolutionary side note: many Liberal women have higher testosterone levels than their men.

Most college professors, social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, film makers in Hollywood, group therapists and community organizers are Liberals. Liberals meddled in our national pastime and invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink real beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, engineers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots, and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the Liberals remained in Europe when Conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.

Here ends today's lesson in world history. It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to this post. A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be shared immediately to other true believers and to just tick off more liberals.

And there you have it. Let your next action reveal your true self. I'm going to have another beer and shoot something.

Oil Price Spike Inevitable -- Oilprice.com -- August 31, 2016

I haven't read the article yet, but the headline suggests what I have suggested for quite some time: oil price spike is inevitable. New discoveries hit seventy-year low. US onshore shale cannot possible replace deep-sea elephant fields. Mideast is (relatively) tapped out.

This is from oilprice.com yesterday, sent to me by a reader, thank you very much. 

This is the timeframe I'm looking at:

• from now (mid-2016) to 2Q17: WTI pricing volatile; could it go below $40? Possibly, but I doubt it
• summer 2017: the market will telegraph whether the inevitable spike occurs in 2018 or later
• summer 2018: first suggestions of a spike, which could result in significantly high prices very quickly; spike to me is defined as around $100; if not in 2018, then 2019. 

If price remains in the $50 range for another full year (end of 2017), Saudi Arabia is in deep trouble.

If price remains in the $50 range for two more years (end of 2018), Saudi Arabia is toast. 

The US shale operating sector will look a whole lot different if the price remains in the $50 range for the next two years, but the US shale industry is not going away.

Canadian Economy Heading Into Recession? Fell Almost 2% 2Q16; Biggest Quarterly Decline Since 2009 -- August 31, 2016

Breaking news: Canadian economy fell 1.6% in 2nd quarter; biggest quarterly decline since 2009 largely attributed to Alberta wildfire. [Update: the falling Canadian dollar is great for its trade deficit: Canada's trade deficit shrinks on year's biggest export gain. Analysts opine this means that Canada is unlikely to lower rates.]

That was posted at "Breaking News" about 45 minutes ago.

Earlier in the week Don sent me a link to this article:

There’s trouble brewing in the Great White North.

Jared Dillian, former Lehman Brothers trader and noted financial writer, says that low oil prices have hurt the Canadian economy and the real estate market is near the peak of a massive bubble.

In a video interview with Mauldin Economics, Dillian notes he shorted the Canadian dollar almost three years ago, and has profited a great deal since then. He also says the structure of the Canadian mortgage market means that when the bubble bursts, it will look quite different than the sharp and sudden 2008 crisis in the US.

The main bullets from that interview:

• the Canadian dollar will continue to drop
• the Canadian housing crisis will be a long, drawn out bottoming process
• Canadian interest rates could go negative

Something tells me the young, socialist, Trudeau will suffer a baptism of fire. At least he can blame any failed policies on the Alberta wildfire. The tea leaves suggest that much of Alberta is back on line; hampered more by lack of pipeline to the west than the wildfire. I'm not dismissing the wildfire as trivial, but a political decision not to put in a westerly pipeline is simply ludicrous. See this post: Trudeau ready to ban crude oil tankers off British Columbia; if he does, the Northern Gateway Pipeline is "thrown into question."

Of course the US can look at its own trifecta:

• Keystone XL (outcome known)
• Sandpiper (outcome known)
• Dakota Access Pipeline (outcome pending)

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The Drudge Phenomenon

I do not understand "the Drudge phenomenon." My journalism professor would have argued that Matt Drudge's website would be DOA.

To the best of my knowledge, the Drudge Report is the longest-lasting, unchanged mass-media blog out there. Everyone else has changed. Not Drudge:

• boring
• simple
• loads incredibly fast; refreshes incredibly fast; archives kept of every refresh
• never writes his own stuff
• links to every mainstream (and offbeat) medium including the most liberal (LA Times, NY Times)
• refreshes rare (not more than one or two / day)
• incredible talent for knowing which stories will resonate

My hunch is that most journalists (and newsaholics) check in with Drudge first thing each day and then multiple times/day.

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Old News

From The Huffington Post (three hours ago):

As the election of 2016 draws closer, it is not surprising that more and more articles relating to the Affordable Act of 2010 (ACA) are appearing on the front pages.

If the republicans win the Presidency, they will probably move to repeal the ACA and start a process to replace it. If the democrats win, repeal will be off the table, but changes will still be inevitable. The most pressing of several contentious issues relates to several large insurers who are planning to pull out of the health care exchanges starting in 2017 unless premiums are allowed to go up significantly.

In Tennessee, my home state, Cigna and Humana have received permission to raise premiums by 46 and 44 percent, respectively. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, losing an estimated $500 million on the state’s exchange by the end of 2016, has been given permission to raise premiums 62 percent for 2017.

Texas Blue Cross has lost a billion dollars on the state exchange and is requesting a 60 percent premium increase for 2017. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota has pulled out of that state’s exchange as losses over the last three years are $500 million.

The average premium rise for plans being offered on the state exchanges will be 24 percent for 2017. The rates must rise to offset losses due to the risk profile of those buying insurance being much worse than originally expected.

I did not read any farther (further). I have no idea what the point of the article was. ObamaCare will either be repealed or changed so much it will either be called "thank goodness" or "HillaryCare."

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A Note For The Granddaughters

I'm thinking of introducing Sophia, age 2 years old, to the drums. Any thoughts?

Vern Whitten's Photographs Continue To Exceed Expectations -- August 31, 2016

One of the most popular posts is always the updated photograph portfolios Vern Whitten sends two or three or four times a year.

The most recent portfolio was received and posted yesterday. Already it is on the top ten list of favorite posts -- based on number of hits and "pace" of hits.

Update: a couple of hours later, now 12:57 p.m. Central Time, Vern Whitten's photographs are now #3 on the list of top 10 posts. Pretty incredible how fast his photographs move up the favorite list.

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The Amazon Page

I'll get back to this article later. Perhaps. From Bloomberg Business.

Did I mention the other day that I ordered three items from Amazon on Saturday, this past weekend. I placed the order after reading a book review in The Wall Street Journal, about noon Saturday. On Sunday, Prime Shipping, the USPS brought the book to our apartment complex -- less than 24 hours later. Delivery was guaranteed to be no later than two days, Monday night by 8:00 p.m. It was at the apartment complex by noon Sunday.

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A Note For The Granddaughters

The Human Genome

Nature: The Human Genome

Editor: Carina Dennis and Richard Gallagher

c. 2001

DDS: 599.935 HUM

Pages 892+.
It is noteworthy that CRISPR-cas9 is not mentioned in this book.

Thousands of human genes produce noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) as their ultimate product. Examples of ncRNAs:

• transfer RNAs (tRNAs)
• ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs)
• small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs)
• small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs)
• humans have both a major and a minor spliceosome
• major: U2 snRNA-dependent spliceosome, splices most intron
• minor: U12 snRNA-dependent spliceosome, splices a rare class of introns that often have AT/AC dinucleotides at the splice sites instead of the canonical GT/Ag splice site consensus
• telomerase RNA
• 7SL signal recognition particle RNA
• a large Xist transcript implicated in X dosage compensation; enigmatic function
• small vault RNAs found in the bizarre vault ribonucleoproten complex, which is 3x the mass of the ribosome but has unknown function

Other notes regarding ncRNAs

• ncRNAs are very, very difficult to find using current techniques; even if the complete finished sequence of the human genome were available, discovering novel ncRNAs would still be challenging
• BLASTN technique: used to identify genomic sequences that are homologous to known ncRNA genes

EIA Must Have Read The Blog -- Will Report "Some Stuff" In Near-Real Time; Price Of WTI Falls 3%; Back Below $45 -- August 31, 2016

See energy data below: price of oil falls 3%; now below $45 again. 

From the EIA today:

Starting with today's release of the Weekly Petroleum Status Report, EIA is now publishing weekly petroleum export and consumption estimates based on near-real-time export data provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Customs).

EIA previously relied on weekly export estimates based on monthly official export data published by the U.S. Census Bureau roughly six weeks following the end of each reporting month.

This new methodology is expected to improve weekly estimates of petroleum consumption (measured as product supplied) by improving estimates of weekly exports of crude oil, petroleum products, and biofuels, which increased from 1 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2004 to nearly 5 million b/d in 2015. --- EIA

I've been talking about the issue of delayed reporting for quite some time.

For the record: I lost a huge bet some years ago when I said the US would never allow oil to be exported. That may be one of the biggest energy stories in my lifetime. I never thought I would see that in my lifetime, again.

Data points from today's EIA report (some numbers rounded):

• crude oil refinery inputs: not much change from previous week
• crude oil imports: 9 million bopd; up slightly from previous week
• crude oil imports, average over past four weeks: 8.5 million bopd; more than 10% greater than last year, same period
• Motor gasoline supplied (includes blended): 9.7 million bbls; up slightly

John Kemp's energy tweets today:

• US commercial crude oil stocks rose 2.3 million bbls; still well above historical peaks
• although not much change from previous week, the almost 9 million bopd imported crude oil is the fastest rate since September, 2012
• US gasoline stock surplus versus 2015 and 10-year average continues to narrow (slowly)
• John Kemp also noted the historic move by EIA to report in "near-real" time

Big, Big Deal For North Texas -- Grapevine -- Nothing About The Bakken -- August 31, 2016

Updates

February 19, 2018: TexRail is moving along very, very quickly. Three very visible things happening now, getting ready for TexRail to open by the end of 2018 --

• new rail and rail ties are being laid down; the ties are made of a composite that will end the clickety-clack of the train; smooth as silk
• new rail crossings for roads and highways -- between Ft Worth and DFW being done simultaneously
• the new trains are arriving -- photo below -- this train is on the rails at the south end of Main Street, Grapevine, TX, where the Grapevine Depot will be

Original Post 

Grapevine is at the apex of an equilateral triangle with the other points being Ft Worth and Dallas (or DFW). It is also the center of three major highways:

• US-114: Los Angeles to Dallas
• US-121: Ft Worth to Plano/Frisco
• US-360: Grapevine to Arlington

One could argue it is the "northern gateway to DFW."

After ten years of construction on "integrating" those three major highways, the next step in area transportation is about to begin. This is a huge, huge story for those of us in the Ft Worth area.

Two years from now a new light-rail system will be in operation connecting Ft Worth with DFW with intermediate stops in two suburbs, including Grapevine.

From a press release:

Fort Worth Transportation Authority’s celebrated three groundbreakings for the TEXRail project in one day. The celebrations were held at Fort Worth’s historic Texas & Pacific Station, which will be the beginning of the route, as well as in Grapevine and North Richland Hills. The new 27-mile commuter rail line will run from downtown Fort Worth to the airport.

TEXRail’s line will feature four stations in Fort Worth and five other stations, including two in North Richland Hills and one in Grapevine.

The rail line will operate 44 diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger trains per day. Service will begin in late 2018, and more than 9,000 daily riders are expected to use the line by the end of the first year of operation. That number is projected to grow to 14,000 riders by 2035.

This will be the "Acela of the South."

Comment: too many stops runs the risk of making for a very lengthy commute. Two minutes at each stop could add as much as 20 minutes to the Forth Worth travelers beginning at the first stop.

Zacks' Recap Of Week's Most Important Stories -- August 31, 2016

Zacks recap of the week's most important stories:

• the world's largest publicly traded oil company, Exxon Mobil, has decided against investing further in the proposed Alaska LNG facility
• Royal Dutch Shell will sell all US-based properties in the Gulf of Mexico
• Chevron entered a deal with a Chinese distributor for shipping LNG from the company's existing projects in Australia
• Petrobras received government permission to sell 49% stake in its natural-gas distribution unit to Japan's Mitsui & Co
• Chinese energy giant PetroChina reported huge decline in earnings and revenue
• Not mentioned by Zacks, but it was also announced this past week that Chinese oil production may be facing "peak oil" production

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Norway

I thought Norway was doing well. Maybe not. From CNN Money:

Norway's offshore oil, gas and shipping activity shrank by 1.4% in the quarter, while mainland GDP grew just 0.4%.

The government has been forced, for the first time, to tap the nation's huge sovereign wealth fund. Norway's central bank said the country might be forced to withdraw more than $9 billion from the $888 billion pension fund in 2016 to make up for the collapse in oil revenue.

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Job Watch

AP: 

• added "a solid" 177,000 jobs in August
• "hiring remains healthy" after two months of strong gains 
• gains in service jobs, retailers
• cuts in construction, manufacturing

Remember, these were the "magic numbers" BEFORE the Obama administration (link here):

First time claims, unemployment benefits: 400,000 (> 400,000: economic stagnation)

New jobs: 200,000 (< 200,000 new jobs: economic stagnation)

Economists estimate the labor market needs to create about 125,000 jobs a month to keep the unemployment rate steady, though estimates vary -- Reuters.

How The Exxon Case Unraveled -- August 31, 2016

The market:

Closing: recovers a bit. Now down about 55 points. NYSE:

• new highs: 101 -- add WPX Energy;
• new lows: 14

Mid-day trading: the market continues to follow the computer algorithms -- down 114 points (Dow 30). NYSE:

• new highs: 82 (not sure why it could be less than earlier reporting, although it's probably because the previous report included the "hangover" from Tuesday)
• new lows: 23

Opening; down a bit, and then kept heading down. Down 61 points (Dow 30) by late morning. NYSE:

• new highs: 169 -- BRK-B (a big whoop; now holding over $150); Loews; OXY (another big whoop); Yelp
• new lows: 6 (including our old favorites, ITT and Noble Energy)

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Saudi says it won't flood market with oil prior the September talks. Yahoo!Finance --

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, won’t boost output to capacity and flood the market, the kingdom’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said weeks before OPEC meets to discuss ways to stabilize prices.

Saudi Arabia isn’t concerned about global demand in spite of a drop in oil prices and a slower economy, Al-Falih said in an interview with Al-Arabiya television. The country is able to pump as much as 12.5 million barrels a day of oil, he said in comments broadcast during an official visit to buyers in Asia, its biggest market, including China.

There are so many story lines here, but it's not worth spending time on them. It is what it is.

Let's not forget Uganda oil. Bloomberg. Data points.

• three oil companies to begin drilling in Uganda in 2020
• London-based Tullow Oil; Paris-based Total SA; Chinese-owned CNOOC
• $8 billion
• 500 wells, pipeline infrastructure, central processing facilities ($16 million / well and support)
• 1.7 billion bbls recoverable oil (at 1 million bopd -- the Bakken rate -- the play will last less than five years
• 230,000 bopd
• companies will make final decision within 18 months; licenses would run for 25 years (with option for nationalization without compensation, no doubt)

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

	8/31/2016	08/31/2015	08/31/2014	08/31/2013	08/31/2012
Active Rigs	33	76	194	185	192

RBN Energy: what will it take to break Canada's infrastructure logjam?

Western Canada has extraordinary oil and natural gas resources, but producers there have been suffering from a long list of woes. Oil sands producers need higher oil prices to justify expansion projects, and face shortfalls in pipeline takeaway capacity to refineries in Eastern Canada and export markets on both coasts. Natural gas producers can move gas east, but face stiff competition from the Marcellus and Utica plays; meanwhile, their efforts to expand LNG exports from British Columbia have been stymied by the new glut in worldwide LNG supplies and low LNG prices. Today we discuss the challenges in advancing Canadian oil and gas infrastructure projects.

Canadian energy production and the pipelines, rail facilities and other infrastructure needed to move oil and natural gas to market have been frequent topics in the RBN blogosphere. In an earlier post, we considered the challenges faced by oil sands producers in Alberta, namely that 1) their hydrocarbon-extraction process is more complicated and costly than their shale-play counterparts; 2) the oil sands are farther away from most major refinery centers than most U.S. shale plays; 3) oil sands producers need to either add diluent to their bitumen to allow it to flow through pipelines, or transport low-viscosity bitumen in special “coil” rail cars that can be heated before unloading; and 4) existing pipelines out of the oil sands to the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast—and the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline to British Columbia (BC)—had been bumping up against capacity limits, resulting in significant, margin-erasing price discounts versus West Texas Intermediate (WTI), at least until incremental pipeline capacity started coming online in early 2015.  

We also noted that—for these and other reasons—RBN’s forecast for Alberta production in 2021 is far less upbeat than the recent 4-MMb/d estimate of Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB); we see the province’s production (now about 3.1 MMb/d) rising to only 3.4 MMb/d over the next five years under our Growth Scenario (with $65/bbl in 2021) and staying flat at best under our Contraction Scenario.

How the Exxon case unraveled. WSJ op-ed.