Seven (7) New Permits -- North Dakota, August 4, 2014

Wells coming off the confidential list Tuesday:

• 26707, 658, Hunt, Bowline 1-2-11H,  Little Tank, t5/14; cum 13K 6/14;
• 26801, drl, Hess, SC-Tom-153-98-1514H-6, Truax, no production data,
• 27402, drl, XTO, William Federal 41X-6C, Bear Den, no production data;

Note: 

• 27492, conf, Murex, Shauna Michelle 26-35H, Daneville, no production data, based on its location, this should almost be a wildcat; nearest Bakken is two miles to the east in a different oil field (Writing Rock, Divide County); this field is exactly one township in size (T161NR102W). There are no Bakken wells in this field and only two inactive wells (#10126, and #10348, a Winnipegosis/Red River well; and a Birdbear/Red River well, respectively, neither of which amounted to anything). Daneville oil field is about 6 miles directly south of Skjermo oil field, which shares its northern "border" with the Canadian border.

Active rigs:

	8/4/2014	08/04/2013	08/04/2012	08/04/2011	08/04/2010
Active Rigs	193	179	206	182	141

Seven (7) new permits --

• Operators: KOG (3), Hess (2), American Eagle, Oasis
• Fields: Truax (Williams), Blue Buttes (McKenzie), Skjermo (Divide), Tyrone (Williams)
• Comments:

Wells coming off the confidential list this weekend and today were posted earlier; see sidebar at the right.

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Geo-Politics

I am just throwing this comment out there; it is not a political comment as in "pro-Obama or anti-Obama." It is simply an observation. It comes, probably, because of all the years I spent in that part of the world, physically and intellectually. Because of that I am probably more sensitive to what is going on in Iraq than perhaps some others in my circle of non-military colleagues. 

So, here's the comment: based on the very little news I'm seeing come out of Iraq, it appears to me that things are going well for the insurgents (ISIS), and not so well for either Kurdistan or the official Iraqi government in Baghdad. I could be wrong, but two things over the weekend: a) the rebels took more territory, towns, I believe in Kurdistan; and, b) they captured a dam with Iraqi regional (and perhaps national) consequences. [One wonders if the French Revolution might not be a good analogy; some irony there due to the long historical relationship between France and Iraq.]

Here's the observation: because the US has very little skin in the game in Iraq right now (in terms of "boots on the ground") there is currently little mainstream media or political interest in what is going on in Iraq. In addition, whatever interest there might be, it is being superseded by other "things" that are occupying Washington:

• a coming election where politics is local, not so much international
• OPEN BORDERS / OPEN ARMS policy
• the very influential Jewish lobby (again, I'm not taking sides); Israel-Hamas
• the spat with Russia (again, I'm not taking sides); Russia-Ukraine-Germany
• global warming
• corporate inversions and
• August recess

There is only so much room on the front page of The New York Times.

Iraq comes near the bottom of the list, if it even makes the list. I remember in Air War College, there were some senior officers who felt "Iraq did not matter." Time will tell. However Iraq turns out, I'm getting the feeling that it will occur off the US radar scope.

So, again, just an observation; no hidden political agenda one way or the other. As noted, I'm probably more sensitive to this "lack of information" coming out of Iraq due to my time spent there some years ago.

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Space Program

Perry: 1 

Jerry: 0

Tesla billionaire to build space port in Rick Perry's home state; not Jerry's

Bloomberg is reporting:

Billionaire Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. plans to build the world’s first commercial launchpad near Brownsville in south Texas, Governor Rick Perry’s office said.

The state is providing $2.3 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund to bring an estimated 300 jobs to the launch site, which will inject about $85 million of capital investment into the economy, according to a news release. [Many other dollar incentives at the linked article.]

Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, founded by Musk in 2002, designs, builds and launches rockets and has the goal of enabling life on other planets. The company persuaded local governments near Brownsville, the nation’s poorest metropolitan area, to compete with alternative sites in Florida, Georgia and Puerto Rico.

California was not even on the short list? Texas, Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico. That was it? They all have something in common.

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This Is Political

Thinking about Rick Perry bringing all those jobs to Texas.

At the national level, if the president, who has no skin in the game in any of the world's hot spots (Mideast, Russia, Asia, Africa); is not creating any new jobs at home; and, has the Fed "micro-managing" the economy for him, exactly, what is the president doing? Taking selfies at fund-raising events (photo-ops) and golfing (non-photo-ops)? That's a rhetorical question.

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Speaking of the nation's poorest metropolitan area --

Old Rivers, Walter Brennen   Every time I hear this song, I am reminded of my dad telling stories about his dad (my grandfather Paul) breaking up sod near the Black Hills in South Dakota behind two horses, and a single plow. The nation has come a long way.

Another Inconvenient Truth: ISIS Captures Saddam Hussein's Chemical Weapons Factories

Updates

Later, 5:39 p.m. CDT: remember how the "Whitewater" paperwork mysteriously showed up in Hillary's bedroom or Bill's study after all those years when it seemed to have been lost. Hold that thought.

It turns out the mainstream media will post this story tomorrow explaining the chemical weapons that ISIS found which we all thought the US Army had not been able to find. Here's the story I'm getting from very unreliable sources. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on this.

This is the story: the US Army did indeed find Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons. Apparently there was much more than even Mr Cheney anticipated, but that all had to remain classified for obvious reasons. Before the US Army could destroy the chemical weapons, the army had to file an environmental impact statement. That statement had been reviewed, vetted, notated, triplicated, and signed by the Acting Secretary of State, and then hand-carried to the Oval Office. The material was placed in a manila ("holey-Joe") and then given to a White House aide. The manila envelope was labeled: Environmental Impact Study -- Saddam Hussein Inventory of Toxins. That was too long for the note so the aide abbreviated the name of that study on the outside of the manila folder.

Unfortunately, the president had stepped out (golfing?) and an aide placed the EIS-SHIT folder on the president's desk where he couldn't possibly miss it. Unfortunately, another aide, possibly Joe Biden himself, dropped off the EIS for the Keystone XL and placed it directly on top of the manila folder labeled EIS-SHIT.

It turns out that the EIS-SHIT file has been sitting under the Keystone XL file all this time -- for the past several years.

The story is that because of the acronym, the president never thought to get to it. The name of the file is Environmental Impact Study -- Pipeline InSide Stuff -- which Mr Biden or the aide also abbreviated.

Original Post

The (London) Telegraph is reporting:

Chemical weapons produced at the Al Muthanna facility, which Isis today seized, are believed to have included mustard gas, Sarin, Tabun, and VX. 

At the linked article, according to the CIA:

Stockpiles of chemical munitions are still stored there. The most dangerous ones have been declared to the UN and are sealed in bunkers.

Although declared, the bunkers contents have yet to be confirmed.

These areas of the compound pose a hazard to civilians and potential blackmarketers.

And the location:

The remaining chemical weapons from Saddam Hussein's regime are stored in two sealed bunkers, both located at the Al Muthanna Chemicals Weapons Complex, a large site in the western desert some 80km north west of Baghdad.

This was the principal manufacturing plant for both chemical agents and munitions during Saddam Hussein’s rule.

Thousands of tonnes of chemical weapons were produced, stored and deployed by the Saddam Hussein regime. Iraq used these weapons during the Iran - Iraq War (1980 to 1988) and against the Kurds in Halabja in 1988. 

All this time I was led to believe by mainstream media, and Congress, that Saddam Hussein had no chemical weapons.

This story is also being reported in the WSJ.

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He Throws Maliki Under The Bus

In his own words, "I've decided to throw Maliki under the bus." 

And, "I'm gonna send some ground combat troops back in."

I'm waiting for video of the helicopter evacuations.