WTI Breaks Through $59 -- March 18, 2019

Active rigs:

$59.01	3/18/2019	03/18/2018	03/18/2017	03/18/2016	03/18/2015
Active Rigs	65	58	47	32	107

Five new permits: pending

• Operator: XTO
• Field: Heart Butte (Dunn County)
• Comments: XTO has permits for a 5-well FBIR Baker pad in section 25-149-92 in Heart Butte oil field (see below)

Four permits renewed:

• BR: two Saddle Butte permits and two Curtis permits, all in McKenzie County

Six producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 34162, 469, XTO, Pelton Federal 11X-35BX, Bear Creek, t1/19; cum --;
• 35834, SI/NC, Whiting, Moline 31-14-5TFHU, Tyrone,
• 32463, 421, Petro-Hunt, Milt Sandra 15-20HS, Ambrose, t3/19; cum --;
• 35289, 771, Whiting, Berg Trust 34-22-3TFH, Pembroke, t3/19; cum --;
• 34670, 1,142, Hess, GO-Bergstrom 156-98-2833H-4, Wheelock, t2/19; cum --;
• 34669, 1,520, Hess, GO-Bergstrom 156-98-2833H-5,  Wheelock, t2/19; cum -0;

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XTO Baker Wells Sited in Section 25-149-29, Heart Butte Oil Field

There's currently a 5-well Baker/Walker pad situated in this section:

• 23395, 1,158, XTO, FBIR Baker 34X-25E, Heart Butte, t1/13; cum 231K 1/19;
• 19293, 1,537, XTO, FBIR Walker 34X-25, Heart Butte, t7/11; cum 355K 1/19;
• 23394, 1,170, XTO, FBIR Baker 34X-25A, Heart Butte, t1/13; cum 252K 1/19;
• 23393, 943, XTO, FBIR Baker 34X-25F, Heart Butte, t1/13; cum 218K 1/19;
• 19292, 1,358, XTO, FBIR Baker 34X-25, Heart Butte, t7/11; cum 220K 1/19;

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The Book Page

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, Peter Frankopan, c. 2015, first Vintage softcover printing, 2017. At B&N: $27.00.

It looks like a good book but I'm always leery when I read "a new history...." of anything.

China and India competing for trade in the 14th and 15th century. From the book:

Cochin emerged as a rival to Calicut int he fifteenth after an aggressively competitive tax regime succeeded in attracting considerable trade ....

Widening horizons in this way, however had its costs. Zheng He's first expedition involved some sixty large ships, several hundred smaller vessels and nearly 30,000 sailors, representing a very substantial outlay in terms of pay, equipment and the extensive gifts sent along with the admiral for us as tools of diplomacy. This and other initiatives were paid for by a sharp rise in the production of paper money, but also by increasing mining quotas -- which led to a trebling of revenues from this sector in just over a decade after 1390. -- pp. 190 - 191.

Zheng He? See this post. Or search "Menzies" at the blog.

Spices were often a euphemism for opium along the "silk roads." It would be interesting to know more about opium trade early on in the Silk Road history, let's say, well before the 16th century. The first mention of opium in Frankopan's book is with the 19th century Sino-British opium wars.

When Paris Sizzled: The 1920s Paris of Hemingway, Chanel, Cocteau, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and Their Friends, Mary Mauliffe, c. 2016.

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1969

I have always said "1969" was the best year for music. Now this, from Hollywood Reporter:

Sony Pictures on Monday released the first poster for Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

In the official promo art for the forthcoming drama, stars Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are seen dressed in late '60s garb for the film centered around the actors' respective characters, Cliff Booth and Rick Dalton, as they move through a city and a business they hardly recognize anymore.

The highly anticipated film was first announced in February 2018. Tarantino — who is directing and producing the film, for which he also wrote the script — describes it as "a story that takes place in Los Angeles in 1969, at the height of hippy Hollywood."

"I've been working on this script for five years, as well as living in Los Angeles County most of my life, including in 1969, when I was seven years old," Tarantino has said of the film. "I'm very excited to tell this story of an L.A. and a Hollywood that don't exist anymore. And I couldn't be happier about the dynamic teaming of DiCaprio and Pitt as Rick and Cliff."

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His Name Was Bill 

Da Doo Ron Ron, Lala Brooks