Stockton, California, In The News Again -- February 4, 2018

During the previous (federal) administration I began a number of "Doomsday" chronicles -- there just seemed to be so many such stories coming out of the "Great Recession."

A number of cities during that period were having major financial problems (some of them still do). I tracked them under "Doomsday: US Cities." The first entry was dated February 4, 2010, and the first three cities: Chicago; Detroit, and Stockton (CA).

A judge accepted the California city of Stockton's bankruptcy application on Monday, making it the most populous city in the nation to enter bankruptcy. 

California's 13th largest city; more than a billion dollars in debt. Every city employee-retiree was given health (sic) for life and for one dependent. Will be the country's largest city to "successfully" enter bankruptcy.

Stockton, CA, is back in the news. Actually it isn't news. It was first reported a few weeks ago. I thought I had blogged about it but apparently not. But now, another link to the story tonight over at Drudge: California city to experiment with "universal basic income."

The mayor of Stockton, California, is leading an experiment with “universal basic income,” which is set to start by giving low-income residents $500 a month, no questions asked.

Mayor Michael Tubbs calls his city “ground zero” for issues like wage stagnation, rising housing prices and loss of middle-class jobs that affect the nation.
The Central Valley city went bankrupt in 2012, and for decades it has been trying to diversify its agriculture-based economy

I assume if you need "basic income" from the state you do not pay taxes of any kind but you still have full citizenship rights and privileges. I don't know if these families are required to give up food stamps; unemployment insurance; Medicaid, subsidized housing; WIC; SNAP; to name just a few perks.

It will be interesting if Mark Perry writes about this.

The Market And Energy Page, T+14 -- February 4, 2018

Exxon: the tea leaves suggest that Exxon has been behind the "8-ball" for quite some time. I first noted it when I suggested Exxon was "a day late and a dollar short" entering the Permian. First, they were way late getting into the Permian; second, they way overpaid; and third, there is some question about the quality of the play itself. Bloomberg says both Exxon and Chevron were late to the party.

Market pullback: If you thought you had buying opportunities on Friday, looking at Dow futures, it looks like Monday will be another day for opportunistic buying. Just saying.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, trading, travel, job, or relation-related decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here. If this is important to you, go to the source.

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File Under: What Has CLR Been Doing For The Past Ten Years?

The date of this news item: October 18, 2017. Four months ago.

From NASDAQ.com a few months ago:

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The Apple Page

Apple Music now has 36 million subscribers, could eclipse Spotify in Unites States later this year. The 36 million is an increase from well over 30 million reported just a few months ago. Apple has confirmed that Apple Music is growing at a faster pace than Spotify in the US. On a worldwide scale, Spotify maintains a sizeable lead over Apple Music.

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Notes to the Granddaughters

Absolutely beautiful day here in north Texas; almost shirt-sleeve weather, and not a cloud int he skky.

But Sophia loves her umbrella.

The Political Page, T+14 -- Four Days Before WInter Olympics, Lifetime Ban(s) On 28 Russian Athletes Overturned -- February 4, 2018

Link here at CNN. I assume it was the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

This follows the sexual molestation scandal.

This is another "event" -- the Winter Olympics -- I won't be watching.

Speaking of which: is there an NFL football game today?

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Now Even The Pope Caught Lying

From the AP via Yahoo, and if it's from the AP you know it has to be true.

Pope Francis received a victim's letter in 2015 that graphically detailed how a priest sexually abused him and how other Chilean clergy ignored it, contradicting the pope's recent insistence that no victims had come forward to denounce the cover-up, the letter's author and members of Francis' own sex- abuse commission have told The Associated Press.

The fact that Francis received the eight-page letter, obtained by the AP, challenges his insistence that he has "zero tolerance" for sex abuse and cover-ups. It also calls into question his stated empathy with abuse survivors, compounding the most serious crisis of his five-year papacy.

The scandal exploded last month when Francis' trip to South America was marred by protests over his vigorous defense of Bishop Juan Barros, who is accused by victims of covering up the abuse by the Rev. Fernando Karadima. During the trip, Francis callously dismissed accusations against Barros as "slander," seemingly unaware that victims had placed him at the scene of Karadima's crimes.

On the plane home, confronted by an AP reporter, the pope said: "You, in all good will, tell me that there are victims, but I haven't seen any, because they haven't come forward."

I guess it depends on the definition of "come forward." Apparently an 8-page letter is not "coming forward." It's simply an epistle.

Wells Coming Off The Confidential List This Next Week -- February 4, 2018

Monday, February 12, 2018:
33805, conf, XTO, Lund 44X-8DXA, Siverston, no production data,
31084, conf, Bruin, Fort Berthold 148-94-35C-26-8, McGregory Buttes, a very nice well; 100K in first five months;

Sunday, February 11, 2018:
33804, conf, XTO, Lund 44X-8H, Siverston, no production data,
33498, conf, Liberty Resources, Haley 158-93-29-32-1MBH, East Tioga; a nice well; 60K first five months;

Saturday, February 10, 2018:
32555, conf, Oasis, Oyloe 5199 43-23 8T, North Tobacco Garden, a nice well; 90K first five months;
30577, conf, CLR, Wiley 7-25H, Pershing; a huge well; 150K first five months;

Friday, February 9, 2018:
33803, SI/NC, XTO, Lund 44X-8G, Siverston, no production data,
32740, 1,485, CLR, Bridger 10-14H2, Rattlesnake Point, a huge well, Three Forks NOS, 41 stages, 10.2 million lbs; 111K first five months; t9/17; cum 119K 12/17;
31673, 2,031, CLR, Rath Federal 8-22H2, Sanish, a huge well; Three Forks 2; 43 stages; 13.2 million lbs; 115K first five months; t9/17; cum 113K 12/17;

Thursday, February 8, 2018:
33802, SI/NC, XTO, Lund 44X-8C, Siverston, no production data,
33723, 1,413, Newfield, Anderson Federal 152-96-9-4-20H, Westberg; 12K first month (not a full month), 52 stages, 7.7 million lbs, t11/17; cum 13K after 11 days;
23917, 1,147, Slawson, Silencer 2-29H, Big Bend, a big well; 35K first full month, Three Forks (on the sundry completion form which I think is a mistake), 21 stages; 3.8 million lbs, large/small; t11/17; cum 36K 12/17; the permit was for a Bakken well (not Three Forks); the geologist's report said it was a middle Bakken well; only one reference to "Three Forks" and that was on the completion form; I think that is an error);

Wednesday, February 7, 2018:
31671, 1,486, CLR, Rath Federal 6-22H1, Sanish, a big well; 80K first four months; Sanish; the Rath Federal wells are tracked here; Three Forks 1, 43 stages; 16.5 million lbs; t9/17; cum 70K 12/17;

Tuesday, February 6, 2018:
33742, 520, Slawson, Challenger Federal 4-29-32TFH, Big Bend, Three Forks, 41 stages; 7.8 million lbs; large/small, t11/17; cum 12K 12/17;
33399, SI/NC, Crescent Point, CPEUSC Aldag 9-36-35-164N-100W R, West Ambrose, no production data,

Monday, February 5, 2018:
32898, SI/NC, Crescent Point, CPEUSC Makowsky 5-31-30-158N-99W TFH, Ellisville, no production data,

Sunday, February 4, 2018:
31307, 34 (no typo); Ballard, Barton Trust 31-30, Chatfield, minimal production, Chatfield is a Madison field; t10/17; cum 2K 12/17;

Saturday, February 3, 2018:
31669, SI/NC, Crescent Point, CPEUSC Makowsky 2-31-30-158N-99W, Ellisville, no production
31645, 548, Oasis, Lawlar N Federal 5199 44-23 12 TX, North Tobacco Garden, 4 sections, Three Forks B1, 50 stages; 10 million lbs, mesh/large/ceramic, t8/17; cum 84K 12/17;
31417, SI/NC, Hess, EN-Kulczyk-154-94-2029-H, Alkali Creek, no production data,
31416, SI/NC, Hess, EN-Kulczyk-154-94-2029H-6, Alkali Creek, no production data,

The Polar Vortex And All That Jazz -- February 4, 2018; Nothing About The Bakken

Nothing about the Bakken.

Updates

Later, 4:41 p.m. Central Time: two stories linked below regarding cost of coal in China and the "mini ice age" the Chinese are now experiencing. No we won't here any of this on the evening news. Why? Chinese coal, unlike coal from the rest of the world, does not release CO2 when burned, nor do the diesel-run trains release any CO2 when running. It's something unique in China.

From Reuters:

Perfect storm: China's blizzard exposes flaws in rail, coal policies.

China’s worst blizzard this winter exposed a flaw in Beijing’s drive to create remote coal mining hubs as it tries to streamline heavy industries and clear the air in populated regions: a lack of railroads to get the fuel to market.

Heavy snow storms snarled the world’s largest rail network this week, closing highways, freezing ports and cutting off critical supplies of thermal coal. The bottlenecks added to a month-long coal price rally and prompted four top utilities to warn of potential heating and electricity shortages ahead of the upcoming Lunar New Year.   

Some headlines as we anticipate the coldest Super Bowl in history.

• the high for the day, Hettinger, ND: -10 degrees
• global warming crisis fails to appear; scientists bewildered; sea level rise grinds to a crawl; half that forecast: 3.0 mm/ year? nope, now down to 1.5 mm/year
• global temperatures drop back to pre-El Nino levels: "temps drop to levels not seen in six years"
• no link needed: Trump delivered first SOTU address in 8 years that did not mention "global warming"
• EU turns to razing forests; will produce lots of CO2 (FWIW): and in the 21st century the EU is burning wood chips from the US 
• China's CO2 emissions (FWIW) jumped 4% last year: and it' gonna be worse this year, see next story
• coal futures jump 10% in China as sever cold sweeps the country
• by the way, all that talk about "demand for oil" going to go away? LOL. Asian demand for 16,000 airplanes will drive requirement for more jet fuel (i.e., US crude oil) through 2100; all that talk about the end of the fossil fuel age is just that talk: talk fake news. 
• heaviest snowfall on record blankets Moscow

Now a graphic. illustrating the failure of the "Paris Accords" in one graph:

Note the drop in gasoline demand during the Great Recession.

From the same link:

• fossil fuel growth during the years of "climate diplomacy", 1993 - 2016: 1.6% / year
• fossil fuel growth during the twelve years preceding "climate diplomacy", 1980 - 1992: 1.6% / year

Laughable claim: 2017 was the warmest year ever -- except for all the others.

My hunch: no major party presidential candidate will run on the "global warming" platform in 2020.

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Flashback: Global Warming 2008

Reported breathlessly by ABC News, home of the #1 nightly news show with David Muir.

By the way, after that issue of the National Geographic came out, I never subscribed again. I still pay for a subscription for our granddaughters because they enjoy the magazine so much, but I no longer read it. 

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Note to the Granddaughters

Family recipe handed down through 6+ generations. My Japanese mother-in-law introduced our family to cucumber-octopus salad, about forty years ago.

Photos and recipe by our daughter Kiri. Sophia was going to try some and then said she was not hungry after having yogurt at our house.

Recipe:

• fresh cucumber, thinly sliced
• boil octopus for 25 minutes (have head removed at seafood market); covered pot
• remove octopus skin from the tentacles after boiling
• vinaegrette: 2 parts vinegar : 1 part sugar plus a dash of soy sauce and black pepper (one wonders if substituting dashi for soy might work?)
• serve cool/cold; great for hot summer afternoon treat