Heidi: Considering A Switch? -- December 14, 2016

Who wudda thought? Ms Heitkamp must like being a US senator, and wants to keep her job. She is up for re-election in just two short years. If Trump has a great first two years, and if North Dakota fields a strong Republican contender, Heidi might have a short career. Fox News is reporting. Senator Heitkamp's mentors: Barack Obama, Joe Biden (74), Chuck Schumer (66), Nancy Pelosi (76), Barbara Mikulski (80), Barbara Boxer (76) -- something tells me Heidi (61), except for her age, doesn't really fit in.

Is it just me or do things seem to be moving very, very fast.

And "the Donald's" early morning tweets are still a few hours away.

Jill Stein: $1 million on overhead.

Stein, who pushed for recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, raised $7.3 million for the efforts and said that “every dollar” went towards costs associated with the recount efforts.

The group, which claimed costs associated with the recounts hit $7.4 million, upped their fundraising goal four times since first calling for recounts. According to a breakdown of expenses contained on the fund’s website, Stein paid nearly $1 million on consultants and staff. The staff payroll tallied $212,500 while consultants pocketed $364,000. Administrative expenses, such as travel costs, ran $353,618.

In all, $930,118 was used to pay consultants, staff, and administrative costs.

Hacking? There are indications that Obama's Department of Homeland Security may have tried hacking Georgia state government. This would explain why the White House was so reticent/resistant/hesitant about beginning an investigation. No links. Story everywhere.

****************************

Clambake

WSJ.

• Kosher salt
• 8 small potatoes, such as fingerlings
• 15 medium to large clams, such as Cherrystones
• 15 large mussels, beards removed
• 2 lobster claws and 1 lobster tail
• 1 soft-boiled egg, peeled
• 2 ounces slab bacon, cut into ½-inch slices, 6 ounces smoked pork sausage, such as kielbasa, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• ½ stick butter, melted

1. Lidded large pot, salted water to boil over high heat: add potatoes; simmer until cooked halfway through - about 10 minutes.  Remove potatoes; leave boiling water on heat.

2. Meanwhile: clams and mussels in large bowl of cold water to clean; rinse lobster claws and tails.

3. Steamer basket: lobster claws, tail, mussels, clams, egg (soft-boiled), bacon, potatoes. Pot on medium-high heat; steamer basket into pot. Steam until potatoes are easily pierced with knife; lobster tail is bright pin, tender, about 15 minutes. Check pot during cooking; remove any opened mussels/clams to prevent over-cooking.

4. Transfer contents of basket to a platter. Serve with lemon wedges, a dish of warm, melted butter, and a bowl for discarded shells.

The Obama Administration: The Sierra Club's Worst Nightmare -- Even The Koch Brothers Were Never So Audacious -- December 14, 2016

Callon Petroleum to enter the Permian. From The Oil & Gas Journal, data points:

• a Natchez, MS, company
• 16,098 net acres
• $615 million in cash
• southern Delaware Basin; Wolfcamp and Bone Spring
• seller: Austin-based American Resource Development
• return: 71% oil
• estimated inventory of 206 net horizontal locations, targeting the Wolfcamp A and B zones; average length of 7,500 feet
• back of the envelope: $615 million / 16,098 acres = $38,000 (which is in the ballpark for other Permian deals)

******************************

Killing Bald Eagles

From PennEnergy:

Final wind-energy rule permits thousands of eagle deaths.

The Obama administration has finalized a rule to let wind-energy companies operate high-speed turbines for up to 30 years — even if that means killing or injuring thousands of federally protected bald and golden eagles.

Under a rule announced Wednesday, wind companies and other power providers face no penalty if they kill or injure up to 4,200 bald eagles.

That's nearly four times the current limit. The standards are tougher for the more rare golden eagle. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe says the new rule will conserve eagles while also spurring development of a pollution-free energy source intended to ease global warming, a cornerstone of the Obama energy plan.

The new rule will conserve eagles. And environmentalists are worried about Trump's appointee for the EPA, Department of Energy, Attorney General, and chief strategist. Get real.

This tells me all I need to know about the Sierra Club which obviously consulted with the Obama administration on this.

4,200 bald eagles/wind farm. Pretty sad.

***********************

The Technology Page

From The Los Angeles Times:

Wynn Las Vegas resort announced Wednesday that it’s putting an Amazon Echo (Alexa) in every room. “The ability to talk to your room is effortlessly convenient,” Chief Executive Steve Wynn said in a statement.

You just know that folks are going to use Echo to order room service. It will pay for itself in a year.

I don't yet have an Amazon Echo, but it's incredibly intriguing.

*****************************

They're Lovin' It

He's gonna out-Reagan Reagan. 

Bill Gates and Jim Brown.

***************************

The Literature Page

I don't subscribe to many periodicals any more. I canceled two during the most recent presidential campaign: The Smithsonian and The New Yorker. The first had turned into an advertising monstrosity; the latter had turned into a mouthpiece for Hillary.

I may subscribe to others, but the only three I know I still get: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Review of Books, and, London Review of Books.

London Review of Books presents an enigma for me. Generally speaking, there is not one article in the "magazine" that catches my attention when it arrives. But I keep it on the table, and when I'm ready, I begin reading any article at random, and really, really try to concentrate. And then, I find it a most incredible, a most interesting periodical.

Today, again, the same experience. London Review of Books arrived and it seemed worse than ever. Nothing caught my attention. But as usual, I let it smolder on my dining table.

Tonight while listening to "The Best of Skeeter Davis" through vintage Beats by Dr Dre headphones I started reading an essay on "Records of the Spanish Civil War/Into the Net" by Neal Ascherson. Ascherson writes his essay citing/reviewing four books on the Spanish War, including Spain In Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, April, 2016, by Adam Hochschild.

How coincidental. Some months ago I received an advance copy of Hochschild's book. To say the least, the Spanish Civil War was never one I could understand. But that all changed with Hochschild's book. I finally "understood" it. If  you have any interest in the Spanish Civil War, you might find Hochschild's book interesting. For me, it's a top shelf book and one that won't get put in storage.

******************************

The Music Page

Many, many years ago I was lucky enough to have come across a VHS Country Rhythm and Blues. It is one of my favorites and I still treasure it. For whatever reason I was reminded of it again tonight. I did not realize "Something Else" was an Eddie Cochran song (1959). Amazing.

Something Else, Tanya Tucker and Little Richard

The clip from Country Rhythm and Blues is much, much better but the video on YouTube is of poor quality and that's why I posted the the CMA Awards version above. But, if you haven't seen it before, you might enjoy the CRB version. 

Ms Lonely -- December 14, 2016

Posted earlier. No reason to post it again, except I wanted to play "Mr Lonely."

The media "turn" on Obama / Clinton: anyone paying attention cannot possibly miss the huge 180-degree "turn" on Obama / Clinton. MSNBC "Morning Joe" sounds like a responsible Fox News morning talk show. If one needs additional proof, read this article in Vanity Fair, another huge fan of Hillary. Had Hillary won, Huma would have been elevated to an even higher level than the one she held before the election.

Later, 7:47 p.m. Central Time: picture of loneliness -- Huma. From The Week:

Huma Abedin has found herself at the center of a blame game over who lost Hillary Clinton the election, Vanity Fair reports. "[Abedin] was enjoying the red carpet and enjoying the photo spreads much too much in my opinion," one campaign insider reflected.

"She enjoyed being a celebrity too much."

Abedin has spent most of her life as one of Clinton's closest aides and was largely blamed after new Clinton emails were discovered on her estranged husband Anthony Weiner's computer, prompting a fateful letter to Congress from FBI Director James Comey in late October.

But Abedin is also being blamed by Clinton insiders for "reinforc[ing] all the bad habits" throughout the campaign. "Where in most presidential campaigns the circle grows broader and broader, [Clinton's] grew smaller and smaller," one insider source explained to Vanity Fair.

My Lonely, Bobby Vinton

******************************** 

US Oil And Natural Gas Proved Reserves -- 2015

When I first started blogging about the Bakken in 2007 this was a subject I did not understand at all. I now understand it much better and, in some ways, it's now how I would measure "proved reserves." But it it what it is. 

U.S. oil and natural gas proved reserves decrease in 2015 due to lower prices.

U.S. crude oil proved reserves declined 4.7 billion barrels (11.8%) from their year-end 2014 level to 35.2 billion barrels at year-end 2015, according to U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves, Year-end 2015, released today by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

U.S. natural gas proved reserves decreased 64.5 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), a 16.6% decline, reducing the U.S. total to 324.3 Tcf at year-end 2015.

The significant reduction in the average price of both oil and natural gas between 2014 and 2015 resulted in more challenging economic and operating conditions, an important factor in determining proved reserves.

These price developments, reflected in a nearly 50% decline in average West Texas Intermediate crude oil spot prices (from $95 per barrel in 2014 to $50 per barrel in 2015) and a more than 40% decline in the natural gas spot price at the Louisiana Henry Hub (from $4.55 per million Btu in 2014 to $2.62 per million Btu in 2015) led to reduced drilling activity and downward revisions in proved reserves across a broad range of U.S. producers in 2015.

Changes in proved reserves between year-end 2014 and year-end 2015 are summarized in the following table

New Mexico had the largest net increase in proved reserves of crude oil and lease condensate of all states in 2015, mostly from development of the Wolfcamp shale and Bone Spring plays in southeastern New Mexico's portion of the Delaware Basin.

Crude oil and lease condensate extensions to existing fields were highest in Texas and North Dakota in 2015. However, as a result of downward revisions, both states experienced a net reduction in proved reserves.

In 2015, Ohio added more than 5 Tcf of natural gas proved reserves (in the Utica/Point Pleasant Shale play), and surpassed Arkansas and the Gulf of Mexico to become the ninth-largest natural gas reserves state.

Proved reserves are those volumes of oil and natural gas that geological and engineering data demonstrate with reasonable certainty to be recoverable in future years from known reservoirs under existing economic and operating conditions. U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves, Year-end 2015 is available at: http://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/crudeoilreserves/.

October, 2016, Crude Oil Production By Field In North Dakota

I did this quickly while watching Sophia earlier today. Could be many typographical and factual errors. Will correct them later if any found.

August - September, 2016, data here.

Current data here, September - October, 2016 data here, follows.

Top 20 producing Bakken fields in North Dakota, monthly production per field (descending order, 6th column, most recent month: October, 2016):

Field	Sept 2016 Production	Sept Wells	Sept Oil / Well / Month	Percent Change Aug - to- Sept	Oct 2016 Production	Oct Wells	Oct Oil / Well / Month	Percent Change  Sept-to-Oct
Parshall	1,160,162	446	2,601	-0.51%	1,384,361	454	3,049	19.32%
Sanish	1,284,316	601	2,137	-5.39%	1,272,975	601	2,118	-0.88%
Antelope-Sanish	773,353	171	4,523	0.39%	809,971	171	4,737	4.73%
Grail	829,786	179	4,636	-8.55%	808,414	178	4,542	-2.58%
Van Hook	483,348	185	2,613	-0.88%	746,624	186	4,014	54.47%
Corral Creek	771,081	148	5,210	-6.89%	710,230	148	4,799	-7.89%
Reunion Bay	585,800	152	3,854	15.08%	704,294	157	4,486	20.23%
Eagle Nest	290,515	84	3,459	-7.85%	693,733	93	7,459	138.79%
Banks	472,996	188	2,516	-22.54%	675,940	189	3,576	42.91%
Camp	517,194	141	3,668	5.39%	596,897	141	4,233	15.41%
Blue Buttes	498,107	143	3,483	-21.70%	577,204	143	4,036	15.88%
Siverston	512,404	222	2,308	-9.80%	562,880	224	2,513	9.85%
Alger	577,213	312	1,850	-11.01%	559,241	312	1,792	-3.11%
Heart Butte	519,383	179	2,902	1.75%	516,621	179	2,886	-0.53%
Spotted Horn	548,335	88	6,231	-11.24%	515,438	88	5,857	-6.00%
Alkali Creek	523,913	147	3,564	25.37%	507,940	147	3,455	-3.05%
Robinson Lake	372,026	173	2,150	-5.73%	465,712	178	2,616	25.18%
Big Bend	376,666	116	3,247	-27.42%	433,350	116	3,736	15.05%
Charlson	277,788	107	2,596	3.19%	400,653	107	3,744	44.23%
Truax	406,166	171	2,375	-10.03%	396,383	171	2,318	-2.41%

Top 20 producing Bakken fields in North Dakota, crude oil / well (descending order, 8th column):

Field	Sept 2016 Production	Sept Wells	Sept Oil / Well / Month	Percent Change Aug - to- Sept	Oct 2016 Production	Oct Wells	Oct Oil / Well / Month	Percent Change  Sept-to-Oct
Twin Valley	24,695	18	1,372	484.77%	153,902	18	8,550	523.21%
Eagle Nest	290,515	84	3,459	-7.85%	693,733	93	7,459	138.79%
Lost Bridge	264,198	61	4,331	-8.76%	376,069	61	6,165	42.34%
Long Creek	141,624	27	5,245	-19.96%	159,524	27	5,908	12.64%
Spotted Horn	548,335	88	6,231	-11.24%	515,438	88	5,857	-6.00%
North Fork	290,677	57	5,100	33.48%	324,416	57	5,692	11.61%
Corral Creek	771,081	148	5,210	-6.89%	710,230	148	4,799	-7.89%
Antelope-Sanish	773,353	171	4,523	0.39%	809,971	171	4,737	4.73%
Grail	829,786	179	4,636	-8.55%	808,414	178	4,542	-2.58%
Reunion Bay	585,800	152	3,854	15.08%	704,294	157	4,486	20.23%
Camp	517,194	141	3,668	5.39%	596,897	141	4,233	15.41%
McGregory Buttes	439,666	95	4,628	-1.90%	394,154	95	4,149	-10.35%
Pershing	170,794	39	4,379	-8.90%	158,885	39	4,074	-6.97%
Blue Buttes	498,107	143	3,483	-21.70%	577,204	143	4,036	15.88%
Van Hook	483,348	185	2,613	-0.88%	746,624	186	4,014	54.47%
North Tobacco Garden	106,944	44	2,431	24.57%	186,518	47	3,968	74.41%
Bear Creek	114,026	27	4,223	-1.38%	110,607	28	3,950	-3.00%
Bear Den	171,774	44	3,904	-17.36%	173,021	44	3,932	0.73%
Elm Tree	106,221	31	3,426	8.12%	121,115	31	3,907	14.02%
Charlson	277,788	107	2,596	3.19%	400,653	107	3,744	44.23%

Top 20 Bakken fields in North Dakota, percent change in production (for the entire field) month-over-month for the field (descending order, 9th column):

Field	Sept 2016 Production	Sept Wells	Sept Oil / Well / Month	Percent Change Aug - to- Sept	Oct 2016 Production	Oct Wells	Oct Oil / Well / Month	Percent Change  Sept-to-Oct
Twin Valley	24,695	18	1,372	484.77%	153,902	18	8,550	523.21%
Eagle Nest	290,515	84	3,459	-7.85%	693,733	93	7,459	138.79%
North Tobacco Garden	106,944	44	2,431	24.57%	186,518	47	3,968	74.41%
Van Hook	483,348	185	2,613	-0.88%	746,624	186	4,014	54.47%
Clarks Creek	92,852	37	2,510	-4.54%	141,471	41	3,451	52.36%
Charlson	277,788	107	2,596	3.19%	400,653	107	3,744	44.23%
Banks	472,996	188	2,516	-22.54%	675,940	189	3,576	42.91%
Lost Bridge	264,198	61	4,331	-8.76%	376,069	61	6,165	42.34%
Elidah	96,392	54	1,785	-32.81%	130,190	54	2,411	35.06%
Grinnell	140,740	52	2,707	-13.38%	186,234	52	3,581	32.32%
Sand Creek	217,328	79	2,751	-23.07%	276,314	82	3,370	27.14%
Robinson Lake	372,026	173	2,150	-5.73%	465,712	178	2,616	25.18%
Tobacco Garden	160,203	55	2,913	-15.69%	199,921	55	3,635	24.79%
Reunion Bay	585,800	152	3,854	15.08%	704,294	157	4,486	20.23%
Chimney Butte	168,482	75	2,246	5.09%	202,402	75	2,699	20.13%
Parshall	1,160,162	446	2,601	-0.51%	1,384,361	454	3,049	19.32%
Poe	248,560	94	2,644	-17.81%	296,158	94	3,151	19.15%
Willow Creek	59,130	27	2,190	5.93%	70,114	27	2,597	18.58%
Jim Creek	115,554	53	2,180	15.28%	134,313	53	2,534	16.23%
Blue Buttes	498,107	143	3,483	-21.70%	577,204	143	4,036	15.88%

Note: The spreadsheet from which this is taken includes only 88 fields in North Dakota. All, except two, are Bakken fields.

Note: The huge change in production in Twin Valley was due to almost all or all of Whiting wells in Twin Valley taken off-line for the month of August, or at least, reported no production in Twin Valley for the month of August. In September, these wells were again reporting production. See this post for more information.

Note: the usual disclaimer applies. These tables are done quickly and will have typographical and factual errors. If this information is important to you, go to the source.