Sounds Like Last "Ditch" Effort To Stop DAPL -- March 20, 2017

Over at KSL:

The company building the Dakota Access pipeline said Monday that the project remains on track to start moving oil this week despite recent "coordinated physical attacks" along the line.

The brief court filing late Monday from Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners didn't detail the attacks, but said they "pose threats to life, physical safety and the environment."

The filing cited those threats for redacting much of the rest of the 2½-page report, but ended: "These coordinated attacks will not stop line-fill operations. With that in mind, the company now believes that oil may flow sometime this week."

A spokeswoman for the company declined to elaborate on the types of attacks. A spokesman for the Morton County sheriff's office, the center of months of sometimes violent conflicts between protesters and law enforcement, didn't immediately respond to an email.

Going to social media sites suggest that gun shots were fired at the workers. Those reports were from several days ago. One assumes law enforcement has this under control by now. 

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The Apple Page

On a "blah" day for the market, down a bit, not much excitement. One exception: Apple shares had a great day. I believe Apple hit a new all-time record high closing. With a market cap of $742 billion, it's the most valuable company publicly traded in the US. It well exceeds Alphabet (Google) and Facebook. I don't even look at Exxon Mobil any more.  Walmart? I think market cap for Apple is about 3x Walmart.

And tomorrow? This should be interesting:

Oasis Ceynar Update; Claystone and Shale -- March 20, 2017

Updates

May 10, 2017: the geologist's report is finally posted. #32801 is a first bench well.

March 21, 2017: in the update immediately below, the reader says the original Patsy well just to the south of the Ceynar 11T is a Second Bench producer. If I am correct, the reader is talking about #20689. It took a lot of "digging" at the file report to find it, but yes, that's accurate, the target was the second bench for this well:

• 20689, Oasis/Zenergy, 1,202, Patsy 5-8HTF, Siverston, 25 stages, 2.8 million lbs , t11/12; cum 148K 1/17;

I've talked about the "history" of the middle Bakken/Three Forks first bench/Three Forks deeper benches, but I won't repeat that here.

March 21, 2017: a question was raised whether #32801 was a first or second bench well. I think you can skip the entire original post. A reader clears it up (a big "thank you"to the reader):

The Ceynar 11T is a First Bench Three Forks well.  The claystone (shale) marks the bottom of the First Bench. The top of the target zone is 11,291 ft.  If it were a Second Bench, the horizontal leg would be drilled at about 11,340 ft TVD.

By the way, the original Patsy well just to the south of the Ceynar 11T is a Second Bench producer. 

The Patsy was drilled by Zenergy and it now owned by Oasis.  It’s horizontal leg runs

south through sections 5 and 8. 

Oasis’ naming pattern is as follows:  T (First Bench); T2 (Second); T3 (Third) B (Middle Bakken).

Original Post

Update: on the March 31, 2017, daily activity report, the name of the well for #32801 was corrected (see below; correction has been made; mostly like a first bench Three Forks well)

Over at the "Discussion Group" a reader asked about:

• 32801, drl, Oasis, Ceynar 5298 43-32 11T, Banks, 

This well should be a Three Forks well. The reader wonders whether this is a second bench Three Forks well. I don't know yet, but still looking. Maybe someone has more information.

The application stated the target was a first bench well, but the name of the well was slightly different in the application:

• Ceynar 5298 43-32 11T, Banks,

Note: no "T" after the 43-32; now  "T" has been added to the "43-32." I don't recall seeing this nomenclature before. I don't see this "T" on any of the documents in the file report. I suppose it could be a typographical error but I've never seen a typographical error in the legal name of a well on an NDIC scout ticket (I have seen typographical IP errors).

The most recent sundry form received in February, 2017, still shows this as "Ceynar 5298 43-32 11T" and no change in the name. I suppose it's possible the scout ticket with "43-32T" is a typographic error. 

From the planning report, this looks like a second bench well:

By the way, the reader noted a new marker (a new formation/sub-formation) below the target landing: Claystone 1st. I don't recall seeing Claystone 1 before.

Googling "claystone" reveals that this appears to be simply a general name for type of sedimentation that is found between different payzones?

Week 11: March 12, 2017 -- March 18, 2017

For some reason I forgot to post top stories of the week over the weekend. I will do that now, even though it will include some posts from today and yesterday.

Last week winter storm Stella rolled into the northeast US; for the most part it appears to have been over-hyped, at least as far the three major urban centers go: Boston; NYC; and, Washington, DC.

There were many, many posts on Whiting's incredible Rolla Federal wells, but I only linked one post below. I track the Rolla Federal wells here.

Operations:
Number of active rigs jumps to 50 (32 last year at same time; represents a 56% increase year-over-year)
Completion data for 3Q16 and 4Q16 wells updated
Whiting reporting some huge Rolla Federal wells, including 52K/first month of production
Update on an Oasis Rolfson well; nice results
Update of a very nice Whiting Flatland Federal well
Another well with nice post-shut-in production jump
Comments by Lynn Helms, NDIC/Director
EIA released its most recent drilling report

Pipeline
Appeals court won't take DAPL case; sets stage for oil to start flowing soon; a lot of chatter that DAPL might start flowing Monday, March 20, 2017, but no news reports yet

Fracking
Update of recent completions in the Bakken 

Bakken 101
Previously posted: break-evens in the Bakken

Random look at unusual configuration of Whiting wells in area of the microseismic array
Bakken 2.0: pad drilling; more rigs; a few new permits; a few permits renewed, DUCs completed
The shale revolution, in Zero Hedge
Backwardization vs contango 

Other
Two more wind farms proposed for North Dakota (Xcel)  

Huge Jump: To 50 Active Rigs! -- March 20, 2017

Active rigs: this is a pretty big deal. Some time ago I asked folks if they thought when/if we would ever see 50 active rigs in North Dakota again. The best answer was a reader with some close-hold information suggesting that we would see 50 active rigs by June. I was skeptical; I did not think we would see 50 active rigs in North Dakota in 2017, but here it is, on the first day of spring, 2017, and we have 50 active rigs. Compare to 32 one year ago, and 107 two years. Fifty rigs now easily beats 107 rigs two years ago. 

Active rigs:

	3/20/2017	03/20/2016	03/20/2015	03/20/2014	03/20/2013
Active Rigs	50	32	107	195	184

Two wells coming off confidential list Tuesday:

• 19947, conf, Trendwell Energy Corporation, Matter State 3-17H, Woburn, acquired from Cornerstone Resources in 2016; originally drilled/stimulated late 2011/early 2012; back on confidential status; first IP back in early 2012: 208, 1 stage, 80,456 lbs sand/proppant; stimulated 11/12/2011; followed by second frack, 17 stages, 1.31 million lbs; stimulated 1/3/2012; cum 25K as of 8/16; producing very, very little on a monthly basis through 8/16; Trendwell has two permits in ND: #1147 and #16220, a Madison well, active and in Lignite oil field; Trendwell increased production of the Madison well (#16220) from 150 bbls/month to 1,800 bbls/month in January, 2017, when it came back on line after being off-line for about five months; see this post for more information;
• 32500, SI/NC, XTO, Werre Trust Federal 14X-34AXD-N, Bear Creek, no production data,

Trendwell Energy has been added to "Bakken operators."

Seven (7) new permits (from Friday and Monday):

• Operators: Sinclair Oil & Gas (3); Whiting (3); Newfield
• Fields: Little Knife (Dunn); Moccasin Creek (Dunn), Pembroke (McKenzie)
• Comments: Sinclair's permits are in Little Knife; Whiting's are in Moccasin Creek

Correction to 3-16-17 report: the seven permits listed as cancelled were actually renewed (the data will be corrected at the original post)

Thirteen (13) permits renewed (Friday and Monday):

• BR (7): three Curtis permits and four Saddle Butte permits, all in McKenzie County
• Whiting (3): three Roggenbuck permits, all in Mountrail County
• Crescent Point Energy: one CPEUSC Manchuk permit, in Williams County
• Lime Rock: one State Dvorak permit, in Dunn County
• Resource Energy Can-Am: one Marlys permit in Divide County

Three permits cancelled:

• Hess (3): three SC-Mari permits in Williams County

Two producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 31288, 903, Enerplus, Ocotillo 149-92-35A-04H, Heart Butte, t3/17; cum --
• 32457, 1,438, Hess, BB-Federal 151-95-1708H-8, Blue Buttes, t2/17; cum --

Question Regarding CLR SWD Well In Banks Oil Field And March, 2017, Heaing Docket Case -- March 20, 2017

Updates

March 21, 2017: another nice note from a reader, reminding me how surveyors "corrected" for errors and "irregularly-shaped" townships --

Regarding the sub-divisional lines for section 2 (per original GLO survey): the SW and SE quarters are regular - contain 160 acres with the north line of said quarters established one-half mile north of south line, thus the mid-section line.

Government lots 5-12 (middle and lower tiers) are also regular 40 acre tracts (1320' x 1320') so lots 1-4 (upper tier) get all the error when closing on the parallel, and in this case creating tracts less than 40 acres.

Later, 2:02 p.m. Central Time: a reader provided some insight regarding section 2-152-99 below which will help explain things. But it probably doesn't answer the question whether the SWD well CLR is proposing is converting an older Monroe well or drilling a new one. These are the comments the reader had regarding the graphic below:

1) I am not familiar with case, but Township 152 closes on a standard parallel and section 2 would have all the error for said township on the north, therefore creating a series of government lots. This can create a lot of confusion when crafting a legal description.
2) Section 2 is very long. Therefore twelve (12) government lots make up the north half and in reality there is no NW or NE quarter.

From another reader: you are looking at this as 160 acre. The well's operator is breaking this 160 acre piece into 40 acre squares., thus technically these wells are in the  NE corner (40 acre square) of the SE corner (160  acre.)

From those comments that would put #22891 in the NESW "area" of section 2.

Original Post

 

A reader picked up on this. I'm having trouble making sense of it; I must be misreading something. Maybe a reader can help sort this out (see comments above).

It concerns section 2-152-99. These are all "Monroe" wells.

To me the 8-well pad seems to be in the NESE quadrant but the scout ticket shows them to be in the SENE quadrant (which is very, very close).

The four well pad is in the NWSW quadrant (per the scout ticket and the graphic above).

#22891 is in the SENW quadrant.

The reader noted that case #25706, Thursday, March 23, 2017, NDIC hearing dockets that CLR requests: "application ... for an order ... authorizing saltwater disposal into the Dakota Group in the Monroe SWD well, NESW section 2-152-99, Banks Field ...

I don't see an existing Monroe well in NESW 2-152-99. The oldest and most likely well would be #22891 but not only is it not in the location noted in case #25706, it seems to be a pretty good well. So, I do not understand the case as written unless CLR is going to drill a "new Monroe" well. Generally, if I recall correctly, a case to convert an existing producing well to a SWD well would use the word "convert." So, most likely a new SWD well in this section?

• 22891, 947, CLR, Monroe 1-2H, Banks, t8/12; cum 305K 1/17;

Recent Monthly Production Data:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	1-2017	31	2659	2583	968	4507	4035	0
BAKKEN	12-2016	31	2809	3005	1042	5894	4993	420
BAKKEN	11-2016	30	2783	2860	1002	4474	3994	15
BAKKEN	10-2016	31	3040	2932	1167	4997	4516	0
BAKKEN	9-2016	24	2006	1934	707	3099	2559	250
BAKKEN	8-2016	31	2601	3002	1072	4421	3969	0
BAKKEN	7-2016	31	2943	2656	1125	4858	4377	0
BAKKEN	6-2016	28	2408	2187	875	3612	3110	103
BAKKEN	5-2016	31	2720	3087	943	4140	3659	0
BAKKEN	4-2016	30	2589	2324	947	3977	3520	0
BAKKEN	3-2016	31	2654	2719	985	4108	3627	0

The Sports Page -- March 20, 2017

No, this is not going to be a new feature, but so much has happened in the past 48 hours, a stand-alone post was needed.

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The NFL Jersey Page

Tom Brady's jersey apparently found. The FBI and NFL Security apparently say the jersey has been found -- on foreign soil. But that's all that was reported this morning. [Update: later this afternoon, from The NY Post:

Fox has released footage of the aftermath of the Patriots’ Super Bowl LI victory that reportedly shows how authorities cracked the case of the missing jersey worth $500,000.
The video led them to Mexico, where Brady’s jersey (and a past Super Bowl jersey) were recovered from a former exec​utive​ at ​​tabloid Diario La Prensa. The alleged culprit’s name has not been released, but he is believed to be seen in the above video (with his face blurred) snatching the prized jersey.

Meanwhile, the FBI is still looking for the 50,000 Hillary e-mails that were lost. 

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March Madness

These were the games that caught my attention, starting on March 15, 2017:

• USC beats Providence in a very close "play-in" game.

March 16, 2017:

• Middle Tennessee defeats Minnesota
• Xavier easily beats Maryland, 76 - 65
• Arizona beats North Dakota: 100 - 82 (it was great to see ND in the final 64; some big name schools did not even get in)

March 17, 2017:

• Michigan barely beats Oklahoma State, 92 - 91
• USC incredibly continues to move forward, beating SMU, 66 - 65

March 18, 2017:

• Wow, wow, wow, second round -- Wisconsin (#8) beats Villanova (#1), 65 - 62
• Wow, wow, wow second round -- South Carolina (#7) beats Duke (#2), 82 - 81
• Wow, Xavier moves on, beating Florida State by an incredible margin, 91 - 66
• Florida - Virginia in a "keep-away" game; Florida wins 65 - 39

March 19, 2017:

• Wow, wow, wow, second round -- Michigan (#7) upsets Louisville (#2), winning 73 - 69
• Finally, USC is stopped; Baylor wins 82 - 78
• Michigan State loses to Kansas, 90 - 70 

So, as it stands now:

• in the East, both #1 and #2 are out (Villanova, Duke are out); Baylor, #3 and Florida, #4 advance
• in the West, #1, #2, and #4 advance (Gonzaga, Arizona, W Virginia); #3 Florida State fell to Xavier
• in the Midwest: #2 failed to advance (Louisville out); Kansas, Oregon, and Purdue - #1, #3, #4 - advance
• in the South: top four seeded all advance -- North Carolina, Kentucky, UCLA, and Butler

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The NASCAR Page

This was perhaps the most interesting sports story over the weekend, other than a few upsets in March Madness.

One week ago in Las Vegas:

• Joey Logano and Kyle Busch involved in late-race wreck
• Immediately after the race Kyle Busch approached Joey Logano and fist fight broke out; fight started by Kyle Busch -- no question about that
• NASCAR levies no fines

Fast forward to this week in Phoenix.

• All eyes were on a potential Logano - Kyle Busch match-up
• Logano wins the first of three segments at Phoenix
• Neither win the second segment
• In the third and most important segment, Kyle Busch is headed for the win, having led dozens of laps late in the race
• Kyle Busch is on his way to another victory -- or so it appears
• Joey  Logano is far back in the pack, #11. It appears he wants no part of this race; does not want to risk getting into another racing mishap with Busch so soon after the previous mishap
• Six laps to go and Busch is clearly in command
• Camera shots of Kyle's wife as she starts to look forward to her husband winning
• Five laps to go
• Caution comes out
• Incredible. Joey Logano suffers a cut tire; into the wall. Caution
• Five laps completed under caution. Regulation laps complete. Most (all?) cars pit during the caution, most getting two tires
• Busch does not get best pit stop. Comes out third or fourth out of the pits

Busch ends up finishing fifth -- he should have won, but Joey Logano in two consecutive weeks ruined Kyle's day.

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DNA USA: A Genetic Portrait of America,
Bryan Sykes (author of The Seven Daughters of Eve),
c. 2012
DDS: 559.93 SYK

To complement the Nick Lane book I'm reading (again), a quick look at DNA USA: A Genetic Portrait of America, Bryan Sykes (author of The Seven Daughters of Eve), c. 2012.

Some data points.

Chapter Two: The Nature of The Evidence

• mitochondrial DNA (mDNA): circular, not single strands like "nuclear DNA"; a legacy of their bacterial origins
• for every nuclear gene there are hundreds or even thousands more copies in the cell's mitochondria -- that's one reason researchers like to study mDNA -- there are many more genes; this is also one reason why researchers use mDNA when looking at extinct creatures; more of it to find in the little bit of bone one might have
• mDNA: mutates 20x faster than nuclear DNA, but still incredibly slow; one mutation every 20,000 years; mDNA mutation rate fits in comfortably/conveniently with human evolution; 20,000 years works out to about 1,000 generations
• mDNA inherited down only one set of ancestors; this makes inheritance pattern of mDNA simplicity itself
• mDNA = mitochondrial DNA = maternal DNA

• nomenclature of mDNA mutations and examples
• numbering starts from an agreed-upon starting point
• example: mutation at position 16,111 -- when talking about this particular location from 16,111 to 16,400, researchers will drop the "16" and just refer to 111 or 400, for example
• 111: Native Americans differ at this location compared to 111 in the reference sequence
• 224: Europeans differ at location 224
• 247: Polynesians differ at location 247

Chapter Three: The First Americans

• Nuu-Chah-Nulth tribe: Pacific Northwest; first to be researched, and in so doing became the tribe against which all other DNA would be measured
• Nuu-Chah-Nluth:
•  "all along the border" -- western coast of Vancouver Island and on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State; 100 miles south of Seattle
• 15 surviving groups; around 9,000 members; fishermen; in the past, whalers
• potlatch ceremony; banned in late 19th century; that law repealed in 1951; potlatch ceremonies now allowed
• 63 individuals not maternally related
• 28 different sequences discovered; at one extreme, the most frequent sequence shared by 9 individuals; at the other extreme, 13 people had sequences not shared by anyone else; but still a pattern evolved
• biggest cluster: mutations shared at position 111 and 319
• other clusters: mutations shared at position 278; 325; all three of these clusters were united by the crucial mutation at 223 which will be discussed later
• fourth cluster: did not have a variant at 223, but instead mutations at 189 and 217
• Bryan Sykes worked out the sequences and proved 20 Cook Islander Polynesians related to the Pacific Northwest Tribe -- the dot connecting them: the first European to reach the Nuu-Chah-Nulth was the British navigator and explorer James Cook in 1778
• bottom line: four clusters seen in the Nuu-Chah-Nulth -- these clusters were found in virtually all other Native American studies done about the same time (1990s)
• the Native Americans became the first Americans to be studied using new genetic tools; they were allotted the first four letters of the alphabet: A, B, C, and D -- and Bryan Sykes gave the women real names to make it more "personal": Aiyana, Chochmingwu, and Djigonese (A, B, D) but broke with pattern by giving founder of cluster B the name Ina
• 223: all possessed that mutation except Ina (B)
• Europe, daughters of Eve: seven native European clans lived at different times between 10,000 and 45,000 years ago
• same genetic research: cluster D and cluster C -- between 30,000 years (for D) and 10,000 years for C
• direct extrapolation: first settlement of America appeared to support the idea that members of cluster D has arrived well before the Clovis period, 11,500 years ago
• best estimate now: 15,800 to 19,600 years ago -- first American settlement dates (Bryan Sykes feels it will not be possible to get any better dating)

Now cluster B (begins on page36)
Polynesian control region sequence: 189  217  247  261

3,000 years ago the very first Polynesians arrived in the Cook Islands from the islands of Indonesia across hundreds of open ocean: Bryan Sykes considers this migration the greatest feat of maritime exploration in the history of humanity! (p. 36)

The Market And Energy Page, T+59 -- March 20, 2017; New Definition Of "Cheap" Car -- $70,000; Starting To Make F-350's Look Affordable

Tesla: contributor over at SeekingAlpha on recent capital raise. Tesla to ship immediately once production stars; no "standard" testing according to contributor.

Tesla: Musk Melon kills the "cheap" Model S after less than one year of production.

Less than a year after reintroducing a cheaper 60 kWh battery into its Model S lineup, Tesla will kill off that option in order to “simplify the ordering process.” It sounds like Tesla’s doing that because most people just buy the more expensive version or upgrade to it later.

For those who have never really shopped for a Tesla, the 60 kWh Model S with the shortest range starts at $68,000 for rear-wheel drive. That car is called the Model S 60, and the 60 kWh version with all-wheel-drive, the Model S 60D, starts at $73,000.

That’s compared to the 75 kWh Model S starting at $74,500 for RWD and $79,500 for AWD, and the AWD 90 kWh car that starts at $89,500.

Tesla reintroduced the 60 kWh battery pack in June 2016 with a starting price of $66,000, which went up to $68,000 just a few months later in November.

The cheaper RWD option had a zero-to-60 time of 5.5 seconds and a range of 210 miles at the time of the reintroduction, while the AWD option was faster and had a greater range.

Disclaimer: this blog is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, relationship, or travel plans based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

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Swimming In Oil

A "talking head" on Fox Business -- who I think is very, very good -- says the tea leaves suggest that the world is preparing for war. If war breaks out in the Mideast:

• swimming in oil will mitigate any shipping problems out of the Strait of Hormuz 
• for Saudi Arabia: absolutely cannot survive if its flow of oil stopped

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Five Kingdoms:
An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth
Third Edition
Lynn Margulis and Karlene V. Schwartz

foreword by Stephen Jay Gould 

 c. 1988 (1982)

DDS: 570.12 MAR

Wow, what a find. A book by Lynn Margulis with a foreword by Stephen Jay Gould. Incredible.

Based on what Stephen Jay Gould had to say in the foreword, it sounds like this book may have been one of the first, if not the first, such books to really make classification of life on earth approachable and understandable. 

I am very, very impressed with the book.

The Five Kingdoms

• Plantae, Animalia, Fungi
• Protoctista (until this book I had never heard of protoctista)
• Eubacteria/Archaebacteria (Archaea)

Copyright goes back to 1988; original back to 1982, and that explains why Margulis "lumps" eubacteria (true bacteria) with archaebacteria (ancient bacteria).

We now know that eubacteria and archaebacteria are entirely separate, and that it was the host cell -- an archaebacteria (somehow) engulfing an endosymbiont (an eubacteria) that eukaroytes appeared on the scene.

Margulis has four kingdoms under SUPERKINGDOM EUKARYA

• Protoctista
• Animalia
• Fungi
• Plantae

Margulis has one kingdom under SUPERKINGDOM PROKARYA; and

• Kingdom Bacteria (Prokaryotae, Procaryotae, Monera)
• Subkingdom Archaea
• Subkingdom Eubacteria

It is now known that Archaea and Eubacteria are two separate kingdoms.

The current three domains: Bacteria (true bacteria, eubacteria); Archaea (ancient bacteria -- turned out not be to be as ancient as true bacteria, it appears); and Eukaryotes.

Bacteria and Archaea are prokaryotes but have entirely different biochemistry.

Fungi: eukaryotes that form chitinous, resistant propagules (fungal spores) and chitinous cell walls and that lack undulipodia (that is, are amastigote, or immotile) at all stages of their life cycle.

Date from the Ordovician period, 450 million to 500 million years ago.

Fungi more closely related to animals than to plants, considering that chitin is the main component both of fungal cell walls and of the arthropod exoskeleton.

Yeasts and molds

• Yeasts: remain as single cells and do not form mycelia
• hyphae: slender tubes that grow from fungal spores
• mycelia: hyphae of an individual fungus collectively called mycelia
• yeasts: produce asexually by budding
• fungi, when forming a sexual stage: spore-bearing structures commonly noticed as molds, jelly fungi, and mushrooms.

Fungi: most resilient of the eukaryotes, though not invulnerable. (see page 351, red squirrels in New England, mushrooms).

The Political Page, T+59 -- First Day Of Spring -- March 20, 2017

Cognitive dissonance: the cover of The Economist, this week: "On The Up: The World Economy's Surprising Rise." Inside the issue's op-ed: the world's surging economy due to "stimulus, not the populists." The implication is that the economy would have surged regardless of who was elected US president. It's amazing how quickly the US economy, and apparently the global economy, surged -- it began the night the election results started coming in and has continued unabated.

Take It To The Bank

And The Winner Is

Senate confirmations: on track to have all confirmations complete by President Pence's second term; on tap this week -- Secretary of Labor; Supreme Court nominee to start hearings this week.

TV money: mainstream media is making a big deal that Donald Trump made $30 million off "The Apprentice" in 2005. That may be. To put that in perspective, the top three actors in "The Big Bang Theory" are each earning $1 million/episode, 24 episodes/season.  Mainstream media seem surprised that so much money can be made off television. Nominees for the 2017 Geico Rock Award? By the way, by the close of season nine (2016), there will have been 211 episodes. I believe "Big Bang Theory" is in its 10th season.

Congress talks to FBI Director Comey on whether Russia tried to influence US election, but no one asks whether he was aware of Donna Brazile's admission:

Former DNC chairwoman and disgraced CNN commentator Donna Brazile has admitted that she relayed confidential questions to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in advance of last year’s primary debate. 

Stephanopoulos comes across as looking pretty gullible.

By the way, now Donna Brazile blames this on the "Russians." This is starting to become the biggest joke in town, blaming everything on the "Russians."

[Update, June 29, 2017: it's now widely known -- and she had admitted -- that she, Donna Brazile fed debate questions to Hillary Clinton. The question is which journalist(s) fed the questions to Donna Brazile. There is at least one source (?) who suggests it was John Harwood.]

RBN Energy On Market Implications Of Surge In Propane Exports -- March 20, 2017

Active rigs:

	3/20/2017	03/20/2016	03/20/2015	03/20/2014	03/20/2013
Active Rigs	47	32	107	195	184

RBN Energy: market implications of the huge surge in LPG -- mostly propane -- exports. Interesting post; we talked about it on Friday, just a couple of days ago. Archived; it's a great article; incredibly long and detailed.

Scott Adams: posted previously -- how Leonardo DiCaprio can persuade me on climate change.

Iditarod: story here --

• Cindy Abbott wind Red Lantern award to close out 2017 Iditarod
• 1,000-mile race
• Ms Abbott: 12 days, 2 hours, 57 minutes
• three-time winner of the Iditarod, winning this year, Mitch Seavey
• winning time: 8 days, 3 hours, 40 minutes
• winning time: new record

Apple shares: set all-time high for second month running -- Macrumors