Cleaning Out The In-Box -- February 22, 2018

Some days my in-box is just too full to get to everything. Today is one of those days. So, I'm going to clean out the in-box and simply run through the list.

• GE is not going to spin off Baker Hughes any time soon: can you think of a more bullish energy signal? I cannot. GE is up nicely today.
• CLR beats Street as production surges: memo to self, call the naysayers. CLR expects stronger performance in 2018. But look at this: 4Q17 net income of $2.25/share vs 7 cents/share one year ago. Earnings 41 cents vs 32 cents forecast. Wow.
• CenterPoint beats 4Q17 profit forecasts: 33 cents/share vs 30 cents/share forecast. 
• Denbury Resources tops Street 4Q forecasts: 12 cents vs 7 cents forecast. Doing some exciting stuff; I will come back to Denbury later.
• Chesapeake Energy back to profit as production, prices rise. 33 cents/share vs 30 cents/share forecast. But look at this: revenue jumped 25 percent to $2.5 billion. Analysts had only expected revneues of $1.23 billion. Wow.
• Zacks oil, energy wrap. This is really quite amazing. 4Q17 results.

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Venezuelan Woes Continue
Maybe Crypto-Petro-Currency Will Help

From ArgusMedia, some data points:

• Venezuela's state-owned US refining subsidiary CITGO has shelved plans to re-start / operate Aruba's 235,000 b/d refinery
• why? CITGO running short of cash to finance the $695 million plan to revamp the refinery; shortfall due to US sanctions
• CITGO had already built a construction worker's camp and is looking for a way to move forward

From the article:

The Aruba project was aimed at bulking up PdV's nearshore logistics on the eve of the December 2019 expiry of its lease on the accident-prone Isla refinery in Curacao. Deteriorated infrastructure in Venezuela itself, and a Dutch threat in December to close Bopec unless PdV makes critical repairs add to Aruba's relevance for PdV. The Venezuelan company is also using its Dutch Caribbean assets to supply crude to the Cienfuegos refinery in Cuba, a close political ally of Caracas.

But the route from Venezuela through the Dutch Caribbean and onward to the US Gulf coast and other destinations, namely China and India, is fraught with risk for PdV because of frequent debt-related detentions of its cargoes or vessels. The Panamanian-flagged Proteo tanker has been detained in Bullen Bay since early January as a result of a preliminary embargo on its cargo of Venezuelan Boscan crude and the ship's bunkers. Another vessel, the Greek-flagged Promitheas carrying Russian Urals, is also on hold but has yet to berth in Curacao.

The detentions, which numbered as many as 15 in Curacao alone last year, might have been a trigger for Venezuela's early January decision to close its borders with the ABC islands — Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao — which Caracas initially attributed to rampant smuggling of Venezuelan goods and resources such as gold, and later blamed on EU sanctions. The borders remain closed, but the Venezuelan oil logistics are carrying on with no noticeable effect.

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Big Wind Story Of The Day

From the Albuquerque Journal: wind farm developer can't make "it" work if not given huge financial breaks.

Xcel Energy’s plans to build two massive wind farms in New Mexico and West Texas have hit a potential project-killing road block at the Public Regulation Commission.

PRC hearing examiner Elizabeth Hurst wants commissioners to reject a proposal that would allow the utility to recover lost earnings that accumulate during the time that lags between when the wind farms actually come online and when the commission eventually approves new rates for cost recovery and profits on its project.

That lag could take up to two years, during which time Xcel subsidiary Southwestern Public Service Co. would have to write off any earnings because new rates would not yet be approved, even though customers would be benefitting from the electricity generated by the facilities.

But Hurst said it would violate legal principles that prohibit “retroactive rate making,” since it establishes an “interim rate” for the wind farms before the commission has actually approved new rates.

The interim rate design, however, is a key part of a settlement agreement SPS negotiated with other parties in the case, without which the utility might abandon its $1.6 billion project, said David Hudson, Xcel president for New Mexico and Texas.

“It will be extremely difficult to proceed because of financial uncertainty,” Hudson told the Journal. “We wouldn’t know when we would start earning a return, and the longer new rates are delayed, the bigger the financial damage is to the company.”

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Best new link of the day: @TeslaCharts at Twitter. Thanks, Don.

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Best Chart Of The Day

Although they don't call it that, WalletHub's newest survey ranks the "most boring states" in the US.

#1: Vermont. 

When you get to the link, one needs to turn the chart "upside down" -- bottom to top, top to bottom -- to see how the "most boring states" survey turned out.

In addition to the fixed chart, the interactive map is very, very nice.

Also, note where North Dakota ranks on the survey. 

It appears to be one of the most accurate surveys I've ever seen based on where Vermont and North Dakota rank.

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Best Renewable Energy Chart Of The Decade (So Far)

Link here.