Reason #2 Why I Love To Blog -- December 27, 2017

Updates

December 28, 2017, 7:00 a.m. CT: screenshot of ISO New England, early rush hour --

Original Post

 
Earlier today, I posted this from a reader (this is the second time the reader has brought this to my attention; both times posted on the blog):

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ISO New England 

After posting, a reader made these observations:

The NE power situation this moment ...
Couple of observations ...
The nuke, coal and GAS fuel percentage has been 'flatlined' all day, potentially indicating the fuel/facilities are maxxed out.
Oil is currently providing 19% of the juice - approaching gas' contribution
Forecast calls for next ten days remaining below freezing (32) all day and night.
Those folks are not only facing catastrophic costs just as winter begins, I'm wondering how secure/reliable their oil supplies are if they are burning through it a such a high rate.

There is a fairly large oil burning plant in Maine that was one of the most vociferous critics to gas pipeline build out.
Easy, in these circumstances, to see why. 

The reader noted, that by looking at the ISO New England charts (see below), nuclear, coal and natural gas had maxed out in New England. Having maxed out these sources of energy, what did New England turn to?  Petroleum.

Now today, Forbes has a story on exactly this: New England forsakes natural gas for petroleum.

In New England, an overall concern for the environment and safety has actually led to further risks to the environment.

New England has been at the forefront of converting its fossil fuel power plants to use cleaner burning natural gas. In fact, the region’s electricity generation is over 50% reliant on natural gas.

In addition, many New Englanders have gas lines in their homes and use natural gas for heating and cooking.

However, natural gas prices in New England are also the most expensive in the nation, because state and local governments have fought to keep out the pipelines needed to transport it into and around the region.

Natural gas prices across the United States dropped with the advent of fracking, and it would be easy and cheap to supply New England with natural gas from the nearby Marcellus shale region.

Several companies have tried to build pipelines to bring this gas to New England, but they were stymied by hostile local governments and ultimately by a 2016 ruling from the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts that forbade utility companies from entering into long term natural gas deals with the intent of passing on charges to customers.

After the legal case was decided in Massachusetts, Kinder Morgan withdrew plans for a new pipeline.

Now New England has turned to petroleum, a source of great pollution and even greater expense, for electricity generation. Over the course of one day, December 27, 2017, petroleum use grew from less than 500MW to nearly 4,000MW.

Petroleum accounted for 22% of the electricity generation, just behind nuclear at 35% and natural gas at 24%.

It's not in the charts below, but if you go to the ISO New England link you can see how natural gas, coal, and nuclear all maxed out today, leaving New England reliant on oil for heating.

The one thing not mentioned in the Forbes article is the oil burning plant in Maine that is benefiting from the lack of natural gas pipelines coming into New England.

That earlier line that "an overall concern for the environment and safety" rings very, very hollow. Something tells me it has nothing to do with an overall concern for the environment and safety but rather politics and money, with CAVE dwellers being co-opted for someone else's goals. Just saying.

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ISO New England

Looks like it's time to turn on the wind and solar farms. Link here.

Six Permits Renewed; That Was All -- December 27, 2017

Re-balancing: API shows drawdown of 6 million bbls. I use EIA data to follow re-balancing. EIA data should be released tomorrow, unless holiday Monday delays EIA data for one day.

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Active rigs:

$54.58→	12/27/2017	12/27/2016	12/27/2015	12/27/2014	12/27/2013
Active Rigs	51	41	62	173	187

No new permits.

Six permits renewed:

• HRC (4): three Fort Berthold permits in Dunn County; and, one Storhaug permit in Williams County
• Enduro (2): two Newburg-Spearfish-Charles Unit permits, both in Bottineau County; note the permit numbers, #02302, and 02657

• 2302, 81, Enduro, Newburg-Spearfish-Charles Unit J-714, Newburg, t5/59; cum 465K 6/07; last produced in 2007, but still "A";  well status is now listed as LOC. The permit was set to expire January 10, 2018. On January 10, 2016, the operator was issued a permit for "fluid injection." A SWD well?
• 2657, 15, Enduro, Newburg-Spearfish-Charles Unit J-712, Newburg, t6/60; cum 115K 3/89; last produced 3/89; but still "A"; well status is now listed as LOC. Interestingly, the file is on confidential status

Why Oasis Paid "Big" For The Permian -- Mike Filloon -- December 27, 2017

This is very cool. Mike Filloon as a note on why Oasis paid "big" for a toehold in the Permian. Regular readers know my feelings about the deal ("a great deal" from the CEO's point of view). The original post was here.

So, now the link to Mike's contribution over at Seeking Alpha: Jagged Peak Oil production improvements show why Oasis "paid big" for its new leasehold. Summary:

• JAG production results have improved significantly since 2015, with several very good locations
• The results help support high acreage valuations in southern Winkler and northern Ward counties
• JAG has improved production per location by 90 KBO and 132 MMcf over 16 months of well life over the time frames analyzed
• JAG's central and southern acreage could see further large increases in valuation as leasehold is de-risked

Great headline but not much "meat" to the article.

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Spoiler Alert

If you haven't seen the movie, and plan to see the movie, don't watch the clip.

Tailor, Tinker, Soldier, Spy

So good on so many levels.

Bakken Wells Turned Off When Prices Dropped; Turned Back On When Prices Rose -- December 27, 2017

North Dakota file numbers: the oldest Bakken wells go back to about 16XXX -- back to 2006.

• 16000: a Denbury South Red River well drilled in early 2006
• 16011: a Hess Bakken well in Baskin oil field
• 16999: a Hess Bakken well drilled in early 2008

There were Bakken wells before 16000 (the first 16000 series Bakken well was #16011, Hess, H. Juma 1-9H, Baskin oil field), but one can say the first two Bakken wells that started it all were:

• 16164, EOG, Parshall 1-36H, t6/6; cum 225K 5/17;
• 16324, EOG, Parshall 2-36H, t9/6; cum 367K 5/17;

It's too tedious and too time-consuming to do much more than listing file numbers and a few notes, but going through these old 16XXX wells I've noticed a fair number of wells that went to inactive (IA) status back in 2015 (during the Saudi Surge) that are now coming back on line. Many of the MRO wells that went off-line during the Saudi Surge were re-fracked. Some of the wells noted below have been off-line for almost two years. File numbers as examples (it is not a full listing of all such 16XXX wells):

• 16173, Statoil; back on line 10/17;
• 16233, Hess; back on line 11/17;
• 16276, Statoil; back on line 9/17;
• 16351, Oasis; back on line 10/17;
• 16355, Hess; back on line as of 9/17;
• 16357, BR; back on line as of 8/17;
• 16404, CLR, back on line as of 6/17;
• 16422, MRO, probably re-fracked in 8/17 just before it was brought back on line 9/17;
• 16565, Hess; back on line as of 8/17;
• 16640, Hess, back as line as of 8/17;
• 16753, MRO; off-line just to be re-fracked 5/17; off-line less than a month;
• 16780, MRO, probably re-fracked 8/17; brought  back on line 9/17; off line for only about four months;
• 16923, MRO, still active; recently off-line; probably re-fracked 10/17
• 16925, MRO, re-fracked 7/17;
• 16952, MRO, a nice well; I suggested that this was a candidate for re-frack about four months before it came off-line; off-line for about four months; back on line 10/17; must have been re-fracked; huge jump in production from 654 bbls/month to 24,230 bbls/month;
  

Global Warming Hits Minnesota WIth New Record -- December 27, 2017

Thank goodness there's a bit of "global warming" to offset what might have been a lot colder Minnesota today. As it is, International Falls, MN, set a new record low temperature: minus 36 degree F. Social media responded:

• Embarrass, MN: minus 40 degrees F
• Cotton, MN: minus 41 degrees F

But it has been worse. The state's record low temperature was a minus 60 degrees in Tower, Minnesota in 1996.

Al Gore's book, Earth In The Balance, was published in 1992.

Forecast for one of the snowiest winters on record (2017 - 2018). Now we have forecast for one of the coldest winters ever. A screenshot from The Drudge Report:

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Meanwhile in Sunny Southern California

Shocking video footage of downtown Los Angeles in today's The [London] Daily Mail]. Shot on 5th Street, 6th Street and San Pedro in the Skid Row district, it captures life in one of the city's most notorious homeless hotspots.

Map of the immediate area:

And a bit farther south, The Los Angeles Times is reporting that San Diego border crossings are now overwhelmed by asylum seekers from all over the world. And it looks like Big Bend (Texas) is where the US-Mexico border is most susceptible to illegal immigration.

The Political Page, T+340 -- December 27, 2017

For background to the [ISIS] caliphate, see this post. Now, this incredibly good reporting at Fox News and The Wall Street Journal. I have not checked, but I can bet this story is not being published at The Los Angeles Times.

From The Wall Street Journal, how Islamic State's caliphate crumbled.

In 2014, a terror group once affiliated with al Qaeda blitzed across Iraq and Syria—and into global headlines—in a military campaign aimed at establishing a new caliphate. At the height of its power, Islamic State is estimated to have controlled a third of Iraq and about half of Syria.

An array of local forces, many of them backed by a U.S.-led coalition, fought back over the years that followed. A series of battles led to the recapture of cities held by the extremists, and the self-proclaimed caliphate began to shrink. Last month, Islamic State was pushed out of its last urban stronghold in the two countries. These maps tell the story of the terror group’s rise and fall. 

Fox News was a bit more succinct: the terror group lost 98 percent of caliphate after Trump scraps 'onerous' Obame rules of engagement. 

The history books, if fair and balanced, are going to be very, very hard on the Obama administration.

Whiting Discovers New Oil And Gas Pool In Far Western North Dakota -- December 27, 2017

Interesting item from January, 2018, hearing dockets:

• 26332, Whiting, new field-pool, temporary spacing for an oil and gas pool discovered by Whiting, Dore 3-10X, NWSE 3-150-104; McKenzie County

New pool: looks like it will be the Nelson Bridge-Madison pool; may have implications for eastern Montana neighbors -- good  luck to all.

The well:

• 9995, A, Whiting, Dore 3-10X, Nelson Bridge, multiple pools
• Red River, t3/83; cum 317K PNA
• Duperow, t10/96; cum 129K 10/17
• Madison, on/about 6/17; cum --

Update, April 13, 2019: looks like it's all over for this well. No production since 10/17 and that was minimal; now on AB list; 

The graphic:

The scout ticket:

January, 2018, NDIC Hearing Dockets

Link here.

Dockets are tracked here. 

The usual disclaimer applies.

Full summary to be completed later.

Cases Of Interest

Friday, January 19, 2018 -- only two cases

Thursday, January 18, 2018 -- only one case, involving a SWD well
26374, Buckhorn SWD Solutions, Siverston oil field, conversion of the H and M Gierke 1-20-1D well (#9024) into SWD, McKenzie

Thursday, January 18, 2018 -- 8 pages
26343, NP Resources, Four Eyes-Bakken, 4 wells in an existing 1280-acre unit; establish a new 1280-acre unit; 4 wells; Billings
26344, NP Resources, Rough Rider-Bakken, 4 wells in an existing 1280-acre unit; establish four 1280-acre units, 4 wells in each; McKenzie County
26345, NP Resources, Tree Top-Bakken, 4 wells in an existing 1280-acre unit; dissolve two existing laydown 1280-acre units and establish two standup 1280-acre units, 4 wells each, Billings
26349, ERF, McGregory Buttes, South Fork; and/or Moccasin Creek-Bakken; establish six overlapping 2560-acre units; 2 wells on or near various section lines; Dunn County
26354, Hunt Oil, Parshall-Bakken; establish eight overlapping 1280-acre units; one well on each; establish an overlapping 1920-acre unit, two wells; establish an overlapping 1920-acre unit, 1 well; establish five overlapping 2560-acre units; one well each; Mountrail County
26356, NP Resources, Ash Coulee-Bakken, 4 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit; Billings County
26357, NP Resources, Bicentennial-Bakken; 4 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit; McKenzie County
26358, NP Resources, Big Stick-Bakken; 4 wells on each of four existing 1280-acre units; Billings County
26359, NP Resources, Cooks Peak-Bakken, 4 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit; Golden Valley
26360, NP Resources, DeMores-Bakken; 4 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit; Billings County
26361, NP Resources, St Demetrius-Bakken 4 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit; Billings County
26368, XTO; Sand Creek-Bakken; 10 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit; McKenzie County

Wednesday, January 17, 2017 - 5 pages
26330, Luff Exploration, Haley-Red River, establish a 320-acre unit; Bowman County
26332, Whiting, new field, temporary spacing for an oil and gas pool discovered by Whiting, Dore 3-10X, NWSE 3-150-104; McKenzie County
26334, Whiting, Alger-Bakken 8 wells on a 640-acre unit, section 13-155-93; Mountrail County
26335, Whiting, Robinson Lake-Bakken, 11 wells on a 1280-acre unit; Mountrail County

Full Summary

Friday, January 19, 2018 -- only two cases
26290, a continued case
26373, pooling

Thursday, January 18, 2018 -- only one case, involving a SWD well
26374, Buckhorn SWD Solutions, Siverston oil field, conversion of the H and M Gierke 1-20-1D well (#9024) into SWD, McKenzie

Thursday, January 18, 2018 -- 8 pages
26343, NP Resources, Four Eyes-Bakken, 4 wells in an existing 1280-acre unit; establish a new 1280-acre unit; 4 wells; Billings
26344, NP Resources, Rough Rider-Bakken, 4 wells in an existing 1280-acre unit; establish four 1280-acre units, 4 wells in each; McKenzie County
26345, NP Resources, Tree Top-Bakken, 4 wells in an existing 1280-acre unit; dissolve two existing laydown 1280-acre units and establish two standup 1280-acre units, 4 wells each, Billings
26346, PetroShale, Mandaree-Bakken; establish an overlapping 2560-acre unit; 2 wells; Dunn County
26347, NDIC; treatment plant, White Owl Energy Services, McKenzie County
26348, EOG, Spotted Horn-Bakken and/or Squaw Creek-Bakken, establish an overlapping 1920-acre unit; multiple wells, McKenzie
26349, ERF, McGregory Buttes, South Fork; and/or Moccasin Creek-Bakken; establish six overlapping 2560-acre units; 2 wells on or near various section lines; Dunn County
26350, ERF, Mandaree-Bakken, establish two overlapping 2560-acre units; 2 wells; Dunn County
26351, Abraxas, exceptions to rule, Stenehjem 6H, #32097; McKenzie County
26352, Resource Energy Can-AM, creating a 640-acre unit; 1 well; Divide County
26353, CLR, Brooklyn-Bakken, i) 2 wells on/near section line; ii) 3 wells on/near a section line; Williams County
26354, Hunt Oil, Parshall-Bakken; establish eight overlapping 1280-acre units; one well on each; establish an overlapping 1920-acre unit, two wells; establish an overlapping 1920-acre unit, 1 well; establish five overlapping 2560-acre units; one well each; Mountrail County
26355, Pegasus, risk penalty legalese, McKenzie
26356, NP Resources, Ash Coulee-Bakken, 4 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit; Billings County
26357, NP Resources, Bicentennial-Bakken; 4 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit; McKenzie County
26358, NP Resources, Big Stick-Bakken; 4 wells on each of four existing 1280-acre units; Billings County
26359, NP Resources, Cooks Peak-Bakken, 4 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit; Golden Valley
26360, NP Resources, DeMores-Bakken; 4 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit; Billings County
26361, NP Resources, St Demetrius-Bakken 4 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit; Billings County
26362, Slawson, pooling
26363, Slawson, pooling
26363, Slawson, pooling
26364, Slawson, pooling
26365, Nine Point Energy, pooling
26366, NIne Point Energy, pooling
26367, WPX, pooling
26368, XTO; Sand Creek-Bakken; 10 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit; McKenzie County
26369, CLR, pooling
26370, CLR, Banks-Bakken, 2 wells on/near a section line on an overlapping 2560-acre unit; McKenzie
26371, Bulllrock, SWD
26372, Henry Hill Oil Services, SWD

Wednesday, January 17, 2017 - 5 pages
26329, Kraken Operating, Ellisville-Bakken; establish an overlapping 2560-acre unit, 1 well; Williams
26330, Kraken Operating, Tree Lake-Bakken, establish two overlapping 2560-acre units; 1 well each; Williams Count
26331, Luff Exploration, Haley-Red River, establish a 320-acre unit; Bowman County
26332, Whiting, new field, temporary spacing for an oil and gas pool discovered by Whiting, Dore 3-10X, NWSE 3-150-104; McKenzie County
26333, Whiting, amend Order # 25995 to allow one or more wells to be drilled on a 2560-acre unit in Zone XVI of the Banks-Bakken Pool, McKenzie, Williams County
26334, Whiting, Alger-Bakken 8 wells on a 640-acre unit, section 13-155-93; Mountrail County
26335, Whiting, Robinson Lake-Bakken, 11 wells on a 1280-acre unit, sections 24/25-155-93; Mountrail County
26336, Petro-Hunt, pooling
26336, Petro-Hunt, pooling
26337, BR, pooling
26338, BR, pooling
26339, BR, pooling
26340, Hess, commingling
26341, MRO, commingling
26342, Oasis, commingling

Five Wells Come Off Confidential List Today; CLR WIth Two Nice Wells In Brooklyn Oil Field -- December 27, 2017

This page will not be updated.

Wells coming off confidential list today, Wednesday, December 27, 2017: 88 for the month; 198 for the quarter --

• 33596, SI/NC, Petro-Hunt, Hurinenko 144-98-11D-2-1H, Little Knife, no production data,
• 32882, 614, Liberty Resourcess, Nelson 158-95-20-3MBH, McGregor, 13 stages, 3.3 million lbs, t7/17; cum 33K 11/17;
• 30279, 472, Lime Rock, Kenneth Stroh 6-12-1H-143-97L, Cabernet, 4 sections, 50 stages, 6 million lbs, t7/17; cum 64K 10/17; [this is interesting: this well was reported as completed back in September, 2017]; the Cabernet oil field is tracked here.
  
• 30096, 1,543, CRL, Charleston 4-22H1, Brooklyn, 4 sections, Three Forks, 59 stages, 6 million lbs, t8/17; cum 85K 10/17;
• 30095, 2,043, CLR, Charleston 5-22H, Brooklyn, 4 sections, 59 stages; 9.2 million lbs, t8/17; cum 105K 10/17; 

The Brooklyn oil field has turned into quite a nice field. I follow it here. I have not updated this field in a long time.

Morning In America? December 27, 2017

First things first, football: today is the day that college football playoffs and bowl games reach their stride with three to four bowl games / day. Today there are four games. Whoo-hoo. I may go over to Applebee's and simply hang out. LOL I  hate the names of the bowl games, but some of the match ups should be pretty good:

• Southern Miss vs Florida State, must watch, 12:30 p.m. CT
• Iowa vs Boston College, must watch 4:15 p.m. CT
• Purdue vs Arizona, no interest, but someone must want it, prime time, 7:30 p.m. CT
• Missouri vs Texas, no interest, but someone must want it, prime time, 8:30 p.m. CT

So, Applebee's this afternoon; couch potato this evening. What a great country!

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ISO New England 

After posting, a reader made these observations:

The NE power situation this moment ...
Couple of observations ...
The nuke, coal and GAS fuel percentage has been 'flatlined' all day, potentially indicating the fuel/facilities are maxxed out.
Oil is currently providing 19% of the juice - approaching gas' contribution
Forecast calls for next ten days remaining below freezing (32) all day and night.
Those folks are not only facing catastrophic costs just as winter begins, I'm wondering how secure/reliable their oil supplies are if they are burning through it a such a high rate.

There is a fairly large oil burning plant in Maine that was one of the most vociferous critics to gas pipeline build out.
Easy, in these circumstances, to see why. 

Looks like it's time to turn on the wind and solar farms. Link here.

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The Market

Tesla: And more trouble for Tesla, at least that’s what analysts at KeyBanc are predicting. After conversations with Tesla salespeople across the the country, analysts believe the electric car maker will report 70% fewer Model 3 deliveries for the current quarter than previously expected. Elon Musk said he would deliver 15,000 Model 3 vehicles in December, 2017. Early this morning, CNBC talking head said the number was more likely to be 5,000. Thirty percent of 15,000 is 4,500. Thirty percent of 5,000 is 1,500. If it's 5,000 vehicles, the believers will still believe. If it is less than 2,000 ... watch out....

Bull market: earlier this mornig a talking head on CNBC reminded us that the secular bull market that began in 1949 lasted until 1966. The "great recession" ended in 2012. 2029 is seventeen years from now.

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Where E-Media Shines

The Wall Street Journal has an excellent article on the defeat of ISIS. The dynamic maps are incredible and really bring the story to life. If caught behind a paywall try googling how islamic state's caliphate crumbled wsj. See also this post.

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Energy

Later today: the calendar suggests that API will release its weekly US crude oil inventories later today, but unlike previous weeks, no forecast is provided. Update: the forecast was for a drawdown of 3.8 million bbls; in fact, API shows actual drawdown of 6 million bbls. I use EIA data to follow re-balancing. EIA data should be released tomorrow, unless holiday Monday delays EIA data for one day.

Putting miners back to work: not only will the Trump EPA "repeal" the Clean Power Plan but it looks like Rick Perry, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, has found a way to subsidize coal. LOL.

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Shell Game

Shell confusion. I'm hearing conflicting stories on how the new tax bill will affect Royal Dutch Shell. For the past 36 hours -- including minutes ago (8:03 a.m. CT) on CNBC that RDS will incur a $3 billion charge in the fourth quarter. But now this "breaking story," at 5:33 a.m ET, from thefly.com:

Royal Dutch Shell expects U.S. tax reform to be favorable to Shell.

Royal Dutch Shell plc expects the potential economic impact of the recently enacted U.S. tax reform legislation to be favorable to Shell and to its U.S. operations, primarily due to the future reduction in the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%.

This change in U.S. tax legislation, effective January 1, 2018, will impact Shell's Q4 results but the analysis of the actual impact is not yet complete.

Shell intends to determine and announce the actual impact including any Q4 movements, and balance sheet adjustments, as part of its Q4 results.

However, on the basis of the Q3 financial statements, Shell would have incurred an estimated charge to earnings of $2B-$2.5B primarily driven by a re-measurement of its deferred tax position to reflect the lower corporate income tax rate. This charge represents a non-cash adjustment and will be reflected as an identified item.

How will the average investor know where the truth lies? Follow the share price of RDS-A or RDS-B. By the way, in 2019, the difference between RDS-A and RDS-B will no longer exist, which begs the question: do the "B" shares go away?

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For Those Who Love The Smell Of Diesel 

Diesel? Yup, diesel is the new green!

Welcome to a clean green Australia where they gave up coal to move to diesel. Fear of blackouts means diesel generator sales up 400%. Over at JoanneNova.

You can "believe" that story or you can go with Elon Musk: Tesla's enormous battery in Australia, just weeks old, is already responding to outages in "record" time, from The Washington Post. 

Less than a month after Tesla unveiled a new backup power system in South Australia, the world's largest lithium-ion battery is already being put to the test. And it appears to be far exceeding expectations: In the past three weeks alone, the Hornsdale Power Reserve has smoothed out at least two major energy outages, responding even more quickly than the coal-fired backups that were supposed to provide emergency power. Tesla's battery last week kicked in just 0.14 seconds after one of Australia's biggest plants, the Loy Yang facility in the neighboring state of Victoria, suffered a sudden, unexplained drop in output.

But this is the real story:

Fed by wind turbines at the nearby Hornsdale wind farm, the battery stores excess energy that is produced when the demand for electricity isn't peaking. It can power up to 30,000 homes, though only for short periods — meaning that the battery must still be supported by traditional power plants in the event of a long outage. 

Astute readers will know why Australia needed batteries in the first place and why their spot electricity prices are surging.

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$59.44→	12/27/2017	12/27/2016	12/27/2015	12/27/2014	12/27/2013
Active Rigs	53	41	62	173	187

RBN Energy: Alberta gas production tests takeaway capacity.

Western Canadian natural gas producers are increasingly facing oversupply conditions and price volatility. While competition and pushback from growing U.S. shale gas supply continues to be a factor, producers are now also contending with fresh problems closer to home — namely transportation constraints right where production is growing the most, in central Alberta.

This fall, the Alberta market experienced extreme bottlenecks that left production stranded and sent area gas prices reeling. The ramp-up of winter heating demand has since helped ease the constraints, but the problems are likely to return in the spring when demand is lower, leaving producers exposed to the risk of severe price weakness again in 2018 and limited in their ability to grow supply. Today, we continue our look at what’s behind the local constraints and the implications for production growth and prices in Western Canada.

Enbridge: growth portfolio is underappreciated -- Morningstar.

Enbridge is positioned to benefit from growing oil sands supply dynamics with its Mainline system and regional oil sands pipelines. The regulated Mainline system generates attractive tolls and represents approximately 70% of Canada’s pipeline takeaway capacity. The system offers refinery access to various markets, adding to the network’s attractiveness.

While crude pipelines are Enbridge’s bread and butter, the company operates a diverse energy portfolio. Gas distribution operations benefit from regulated returns and provide the company with reliable cash flows. Enbridge also operates natural gas pipelines and processing assets that supplement its crude pipeline network. Future natural gas pipeline projects benefit from long-term contracts that are tied into emerging projects.

Recently, Enbridge finalized its acquisition of Spectra Energy. The deal positions Enbridge to diversify its operations toward natural gas. The company intends to increase its annual dividend and has maintained an average distributable cash coverage ratio of approximately 3 times over the past three years.

Overall, Enbridge is in a strong position to benefit from the growing oil sands supply, which we expect to outstrip pipeline takeaway capacity in the near term. We expect the Line 3 Replacement to help; we project it to be in service by the end of 2019 and fuel tremendous growth for the company. We believe the stock is undervalued based on the company’s vast growth portfolio, highlighted by the lucrative natural gas projects associated with the Spectra acquisition and the Line 3 Replacement.

Enbridge Energy Partners: 10% dividend just got safer -- Motley Fool.

Not only that, but management expects the payout to grow at around 3% per year through 2020. Investors were rightly shocked by the news, sending shares up by as much as 10%. Enbridge Energy Partners and its parent, Enbridge, Inc. (NYSE: ENB), have made multiple moves in recent years that would leave anyone's head spinning. But the ship seems to have been righted, and the stock's sky-high yield appears safe for the foreseeable future in light of the outlook's key details. In fact, for venturesome investors, EEP is a great high-yield stock to consider heading into the new year. 

COP: did COP's earning growth outperform the industry? -- Simply Wall St.

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