Interior Department, Ryan Zinke, 16 - 6.
Energy Department, Rick Perry, 16 - 7.
I would mention this to my wife, that Rick Perry was approved by the committee, but I look forward to living a few more years. I am unable to think of one person my wife detests more than Rick Perry. Maybe Vladimir Putin, but it would be close.
The press and US politicians cannot keep up with this.
Seventh full business day for President Trump: Amazon.com plans first air cargo hub; facility at Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky Airpot to create 2,000 jobs.
In January, Iran's Oil Ministry published list of 29 international
companies qualified to bid for oil and gas projects following the
lifting of sanctions under a landmark nuclear accord that went into
effect last year.
PennEnergy: ND bill heightens penalties for rioting against oil pipeline. Not yet passed; proposed.
ten years in prison; $20,000 fine -- double current penaltie
Sounds like current law adequate (5 years in prison; $10,000 fine) if enforced, but generally North Dakota snowflakes and cupcakes in judicial robes let folks off with stern warning -- "Uffda, don't do that again."
Original Post
As a reminder, with regard to DAPL, the chain of command for: the US Army Corps of Engineers
This may be of interest in 2017:
Secretary of Defense: President-elect Trump will nominate General (ret) James Mattis
US Secretary of the Army: Eric Fanning, as of May 17, 2016, appointed by the President; no fixed term
US Under Secretary of the Army: Patrick J. Murphy, as of January 4, 2016; appointed by the President; term length -- no fixed term
The acting Secretary of the
Army has directed the Army Corps of Engineers to issue the final
remaining easement for the Dakota Access pipeline for a disputed
crossing at Lake Oahe.
Robert
Speer, who was designated as the acting Secretary of the U.S. Army on
January 20, 2017, notified Congress Tuesday that the agency will be granting the
easement.
The move follows a memo from President Donald Trump on Jan. 24
directing that the agency expedite reviews and approvals for the
project, which was proposed to carry Bakken crude 1,172 miles across
four states to Illinois, where it can more readily access refineries
that handle light sweet crude.
Proponents
of the pipeline have said it will take thousands of trucks off the road
and represents the safest way of transporting crude, while opponents
have questioned whether safety measures at Lake Oahe will be adequate to
protect the water, which provides drinking water to the tribe and many
others downstream.
Delegates
for North Dakota have generally supported completion of the project,
seen by industry leaders as critical infrastructure for the Bakken’s
future.
Apparently US Secretary of the Army, Patrick J Murphy tendered his resignation January 20, 2017.
I'm having trouble reading the tea leaves, I've haven't really been following this story lately, but what little I've read, the Standing Rock Reservation elders have pretty much thrown in the towel.
One wonders how much the casino has lost over the past few months.
A reader tells me that 600 protesters are due in North Dakota court. How many show up is another issue, but for sure, those 600 are not going to be protesting.
Without those 600 the protesting cause is pretty much dead.
Unless someone finds a judge who wants to put a "stay" on the US Army directive, my hunch is "they" can complete the pipeline in less than a month.
“We’re thrilled,” said CEO Tim Cook in a press release. “We sold more iPhones than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch… and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline.”
The big number to pay attention to with Apple earnings these days, as Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley notes, is average selling price (ASP) for iPhone. This time, ASP came in at $694.57, beating the $691 ASP of the first quarter last year, and beating Wall Street expectations of $688.
That’s an all-time high for ASP, indicating Apple devotees bought up iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, despite the controversy over Apple removing its headphone jack.
Wait until tomorrow when all those shorts start covering.
Fitbit: to cut 10% of workforce; will miss guidance by large
margin; shares down significantly in pre-market trading. AAPL earnings
come out tomorrow. If I recall correctly, Fitbit had a bad quarter three
months ago, also. Did I mention that AAPL earnings were coming out
tomorrow. Link over at CNBC.
Later, 9:59 p.m. Central Time: Mexico raises the price of gasoline (see below); Argentina raises electricity tariffs by up to 148%. Financial Times. Trump is going to run circles around the rest of the world, making America greater than it's ever been.
increases in gasoline prices are being accelerated in an ambitious effort to turn around the country's energy sector
the recent increase will be followed by another increase at the pump in February, 2017
half the population lives in poverty
Mexico has a new problem: Trump (Vicente Fox' response on US television certainly did not help the situation)
along with South African, Mexicans spend the largest portion of their incomes on gasoline (I assume that was before the recent increase in the price of gasoline); gasoline was already heavily subsidized; gasoline tax was the revenue that ran the country
like Venezuela: one of the world's top producers of crude oil, yet one-third to one-half of the country's gasoline is imported from the United States
Mexico's treasury has been used to subsidize gasoline -- not education, infrastructure, public services, or health care
regular gasoline went up 14%; will go up another 8% in February; in fact, in some areas along the border, some consumers felt the price had gone up 50%
gasoline tax: accounts for 50% of the price at the pump; tax was not decreased despite rise in price of gasoline
Mexico ranks dead last among OECD nations in collecting tax revenue (similar to problems Greece has)
daily minimum wage in Mexico: $3.60/day
Mexican congressmen voted themselves a Christmas bonus: $11,000/senator and $6,500/congressman
many government officials also receive $250/month in stipends for gasoline -- that's per month (how much do you spend on gasoline each month; something tells me government official are selling these vouchers on the "black market")
Nieto's approval numbers down to 12%
value of the peso is falling
US investment is likely to fall under Trump
but Nieto and Vicente Fox both say the US needs Mexico more than Mexico needs the US
Good, bad, or indifferent: oil companies now have clear-cut rules.
From the article, regarding State Highway 12:
The highway runs through the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest and
along the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River and its tributary, the
Lochsa River. Both rivers are protected under the Wild and Scenic Rivers
Act of 1968.
The Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho Rivers United and the legal group
Advocates for the West sued the U.S. Forest Service in 2013, saying the
federal agency had a duty to regulate the giant shipments. In response, a
federal judge ordered a halt to the megaloads while the lawsuit worked
its way through the courts.
Meanwhile, declining oil prices reduced demand from companies seeking to use the highway for megaloads.
The smartest person I know told me that the secret to business success does NOT necessarily involve hiring the right people. We just think it does.
The real secret to success is firing the people that you discover to be the wrong fit until eventually you END UP
with the right people. No one is psychic enough to do hiring right
every time. Job applicants are good at misrepresenting themselves. But a
good leader knows which employees to fire and does it quickly and
humanely.
Trump fires well. We saw him fire campaign managers
as needed to restaff for each phase of his campaign. Lewandowski was
perfect for the scrappy first months. Manafort was the right campaign
manager to get Trump through the nomination process. And Conway was the
right pick as his closer.
Apparently Sally Yates was not the right fit. LOL.
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Word For The Day: Cuirassiers
The Private Lives of The Impressionists, Sue Roe, c. 2006
Cuirassiers: armed cavalry; armed, shielded (breastplate, sometimes a backplate); made "famous" during the Napoleonic wars (1870); pistols displaced the lance; and eventually, swords displaced the pistols, the latter becoming secondary to the former.
BP moves its "US Lower 48 headquarters" from Houston to Denver
BP: "two-thirds of its operated oil and natural gas production and proved reserves in the Rocky Mountain region
could BP investing in the Rockies revive natural gas interest in that area?
after a surge in activity from 2005 to 2008, the Rockies natural gas story stagnated due to surge in the Marcellus
BP: a natural gas company?
BP: natural gas comprises 80% of BP's "Lower 48" portfolio
BP: globally, natural gas comprises 50% of its portfolio; wants to reach 60% by end of 2019
BP gas projects coming on-line: Trinidad & Tobago; Oman; Egypt; the Shah Deniz 2 project in Azerbaijan
BP: five "Lower 48" units
Green River: BP's first horizontal since 2015; 1.4 billion boe estimated
San Juan Basin: 2.1 billion boe estimated; targeting wet gas in the Mesaverde horizong; gas and oil in the Mancos marine source rock; and, wet gas in the Dakota marine sands; successfully drilled a tri-lateral well "that accessed 14,600 feet of coal"
some question decision; BP says looking long-term; not short-term
"Rockies" -- six oil / natural gas basins
Denver-Julesberg basin -- oil
Powder River basin -- oil
Green River Overthrust -- natural gas
Piceance basin -- natural gas
San Juan basin -- natural gas
Uinta basin -- natural gas
Rockies:
Denver-Julesberg (DJ) basin is the only area expected to see robust growth in 2017 -- analyst
Anadarko and Noble Energy will continue to deploy capital in this basin; highly economic
Powder River basin: once thought to be "hot" has fallen out of favor
Uinta: unique properties; requires much higher commodity prices
Niobrara: should grow in 2017; however, midstream capacity is needed
Everyone agrees that there is likely to be a shortage of workers going forward in the Bakken.
There are a number of ways to address this challenge.
Whiting is looking at a novel way of increasing the Bakken workforce: more babies.
From northdakotaoilcan, Whiting Petroleum contributed $50,000 towards a new obstetrics room int a new medical facility at ground zero in the Bakken. Data points:
Watford City: McKenzie County Healthcare Systems' new medical center
Howard Bonner Memorial Emergency Room with technology for the best, most immediate and effective response in the region
Tongue-in-cheek, of course, but this tells me that Whiting "corporate" is very, very attuned to their folks working in the Bakken: young, growing families. Good for them.
*********************************
New Hampshire Sees Increasing Electricity Costs As Business Threat
Dilbert: the Canadian option. Speaking of which, a security analyst provides rationale for Trump's action. Again, Trump is a step ahead of the politicians. He understands 9/11.
Politics: Trump is expected to "pull out" of the Paris climate agreement by the end of this week.
Politics: Dems arguing for more "open borders" into the US won't play well in the heartland. Or among New Yorkers. Maybe in Silicon Valley, but that's about it. Politics: an LGBT-executive order today is expected today. It will be interesting to see who has accepted his invitations to attend the ceremony. Trump usually signs his executive orders in a "reality-show" venue. XOM: huge miss; 41 cents vs forecast of 70 cents; top line also a huge miss. This helps explains XOM's "doubling down" in the Permian. I still still XOM entering the Permian was "Johnny-come-late" and too-little, too-late. I still think XOM should have bought CLR years ago.
CEO - barista wage gap: Starbucks CEO earns half-billion dollars in nine years; baristas? Not so much.
**********************
A Little Mythology
Shell sells $4.7 billion of North Sea assets, from Bloomberg. Needs cash to pare debt from last year's acquisition of BG Group, a $54 billion deal. North Sea buyer: Chrysaor. From wiki:
Chrysaor was the brother of the winged horse Pegasus and son of Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa. When Medusa was decapitated by Perseus, both Chrysaor and Pegasus were born at the same time. Little is known about Chrysaor; he was considered a stout-hearted warrior, and his name means "he who bears a golden sword".
Chrysaor is a private company established in 2007; focused on developing and commercializing oil and gas "incremental resources."
The market: futures (Dow 30) imply a 50-point drop when the market opens. This is still a continuation from yesterday but earnings being reported before market opening are not good.
