Oil And Gas In The News -- February 17, 2020

Investors losing their patience, Rigzone. Link here.

Owing to a collapse of oil prices at the end of 2018, M&A activity in oil and gas has almost ground to a halt after a flurry of deals last autumn. After a decade of funding the expansion of unconventional oil and gas, Wall Street investors have lost patience and want a return on their investment.

Andrew Dittmar, Senior M&A Analyst at Enverus, notes, "investors who funded the shale revolution over the last decade have become vocal in advocating for pay-outs and cutting back on providing new capital. That flowed through to limited M&A and a negative reaction to deals for much of the year."

India's upside for oil demand seems unlimited, Rizone. Link here.

With almost 1.4 billion people, India remains the most energy-deprived nation on Earth. The upside for demand seems almost unlimited. India has 635 million people under the age of 24. This is a burgeoning young population the size of the total populations of the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, and Canada. Coal will remain the main source of energy, but the proven global reality that demand mounts as human development progresses makes India’s oil usage unidirectional: up.

Today, oil accounts for 25 percent of India’s total energy demand, rather high for a still developing country. The latent demand, however, is just staggering. Indians use less than 0.2 gallons of oil products per day, versus 2.6 gallons for the U.S. Even though it has almost 11 times more people, India overtook Japan only in 2015 to become the world’s third largest oil consumer after the U.S. and China.

Over the past decade, China (45 percent) and India (20 percent) have accounted for the bulk of new global oil demand. Driven by more diesel fuel, gasoline, and LPG, India could race past China to become the world’s primary new consumer within five or seven years. For those claiming “the end of oil,” the truth is that the world’s most vital fuel has no material substitute whatsoever. Electric transport, for instance, is overly expensive here in the rich U.S., let alone for a still developing country where 70 percent of the people subsist on biomass. Dreaming of the same luxuries that Westerners enjoy, gas-guzzling SUVs now comprise 35 percent of all car sales in India.

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The Apple Page

About a year ago, I forget exactly when, I bought a new iPad Pro along with the latest generation Apple Pencil.

I love the iPad Pro for surfing the net but not much else. I thought it would be possible to use it for blogging, but it's not optimized for such, at least without a peripheral keyboard. So, I use is mostly for surfing.

It links perfectly and seamless with any number of BlueTooth speakers, that I have around the house. I learned recently that there is an "Alexa" app for the iPad and that, too, works great. I assume it's tied in with my monthly Amazon Music subscription. Doesn't matter to me one way or the other. Over the weekend I learned that there is a Kindle app that works on the iPad Pro and now I have downloaded the books I have bought from Amazon. Also, a subscription to a art/painting magazine to which my wife subscribes can be downloaded on the app. Awesome.

But I had forgotten about the pencil. Never used. Had completely forgotten I even bought it. While re-organizing the closet two weekends ago I stumbled across the unopened Apple Pencil box. Wow.

With the Daytona 500 postponed, and the PGA tournament a real bust, I had a lot of free time.

Daytona 500: after an incredible opening -- President Trump, grand marshal, and Melania, making a grand entrance -- folks disappointed that his limousine didn't take the 31° banks at 70+ mph -- the race went for 20 laps or so before it was postponed / rain delay. 

PGA tournament: The host, Tiger Woods, placed dead last, #68 in a field of 68. And he was there by himself. Ryan Palmer placed #67; and, then three were tied at #64. Tiger Woods was +11 for the tournament, dropping five more in the final round. Adam Scott was the winner at -11 for the round.

So, I had a lot of time to play with the new Apple Pencil.

It's truly amazing. Best feature. It charges simply by being next to the iPad Pro. It doesn't need to be plugged into anything and no cables. Simply place the pencil next to the iPad Pro and it charges.

I did not know which "painting" app to purchase. Good, bad, or draw, after searching the net, I settled on "Procreate" for $9.99 or $10.00 (don't remember which). [I just checked the receipt: with tax, $10.81.] Today, I note that "Procreate" gets 4.5 starts (out of 5) or better at the Apple App Store.

I had forgotten how easy it was to add money to my Apple Account -- I don't think I've added money to that on-line account for six years (seriously; it could be longer) -- it still had $1.85, but I added $20 or $25.

And then a couple of clicks later I had "Procreate" on my desktop. It's not quite as intuitive as I expected, but I found a great YouTube video to get me started, and after learning a few basics, I was in business.

Most amazing is the multi-finger "touches" that can do so much. "Procreate" calls them "power-moves." Also, the layering. Absolutely incredible.

I don't know if "Procreate" is the "best" app for such stuff, but Sophia is going to have a great time with this one.

The Apple Pencil also works with Apple Notes and I'm sure it works elsewhere.

One certainly doesn't need the Apple Pencil, but it sure is fun. I'm thinking I can use it for some of my graphics on the blog. We'll see.