In Just The Past Six Years .... What Fracking Has Done ...

... link here to CarpeDiem.com.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is forecasting that US oil output will increase this year by 14% to an average of 7.3 million barrels per day (bpd), up from last year’s average of 6.4 million bpd.  In 2014, the DOE projects another annual 8.2% increase to an average of almost 8 million bpd, which would bring production by the end of 2014 to 8.5 million bpd, the highest monthly level of domestic crude oil output since 1986.

But there's even more at the link. Staggering.

Considering that oil output has increased by 52% in North Dakota over the last year, and by 32% in Texas, the Department of Energy’s forecast of a 14% increase this year in domestic oil output might be rather conservative. And I’m not sure that the Department of Energy is incorporating recent developments in West Texas oil in its forecasts, but that’s where we might see the next surge in domestic shale oil and gas production.

Peak what?

BEXP With Another Nice Well; Wells Coming Off The Confidential List on Friday; Looks Like CLR Has A Nice Well Where BEXP Reported a Record TFS Well Back in 2009

Wells coming off the confidential list on Friday:

• 22172, 528, OXY USA, Havelka 1-19-18H-142-95, Manning, see below, t7/12; cum 20K 11/12;
• 22299, 615, Petro-Hunt, Fort Berthold 148-95-27A-34-3H, Eagle Nest, t10/12; cum 21K 11/12;
• 22481, 2,016, BEXP, Wright 4-33 4H, Alger, hooked up to a NG pipeline; t9/12; cum 36K 11/12;
• 22518, 567, G3 Operating, Quarne 1-27-34H, Strandahl, hooked up to a NG pipeline; t10/12; cum 10K 11/12;
• 22964, 139, Corinthian Exploration, Corinthian Feight 5-36 1H, North Souris, a Spearfish well, t10/12; cum 6K 11/12;
• 23211, 577, CLR, Durant 1-12H, East Fork, see below; t11/12; cum 16K 11/12;

Deeper look of selected wells from list above:

22172, conf, OXY USA, Havelka 1-19-18H-142-95, Manning; not hooked up to a NG pipeline; Manning field is in the Whiting Pronghorn prospect area in southwest Dunn County where Whiting has some nice wells in the general area:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	11-2012	26	1685	1063	2516	549	0	549
BAKKEN	10-2012	31	2438	2735	3430	482	0	482
BAKKEN	9-2012	30	2362	2210	3389	977	0	977
BAKKEN	8-2012	31	5504	5956	9739	2191	0	2191
BAKKEN	7-2012	21	7970	7208	16619	3046	0	3046

23211, conf, CLR, Durant 1-12H, East Fork (back in 2011, BEXP reported a record TFS well in East Fork oil field):

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2012	15236	20283

One mile to the east of the Durant, CLR has three producing wells in the Brooklyn oil field:

• 19652, 993, CLR, Helena 1-7H, Brooklyn, t10/11; cum 96K 11/12;
• 22267, 341, CLR, Helena 2-7H, Brooklyn, t10/12; cum 23K 11/12;
• 22679, 822, CLR, Helena 3-7H, Brooklyn, t10/12; cum 29K 11/12;

Saudi Said To Have Cut Production In December

Updates

January 16, 2013: BP: North America Shale Boom Will Pressure OPEC to Cut Output

Increasing output of shale oil in North America will put pressure on OPEC to cut its own crude production, resulting in a global oil supply buffer on a scale not seen since oil prices were far lower more than 10 years ago, BP PLC said in its annual energy forecast Wednesday.

BP's forecasts illustrate the extent to which the North American boom, first in shale gas production and now in shale oil, has redrawn the global energy map. However, the company doesn't expect the shale revolution to spread by 2030 on any great scale to Asia or Europe, where conditions for investment in unconventional oil and gas fall short of those in North America, BP said.

Original Post 

Link here to Rigzone.com.

It was probably all over the news but I missed it until seeing it in Rigzone.

Crude-oil futures prices climbed to a 16-week high Thursday on news that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, cut production in December.

Analysts said the reduction likely came in response to weak near-term demand. But, if sustained in coming months, the reduction could offset somewhat the impact of rising U.S. oil output that is expected to help trim global prices this year.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, and the de facto leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, cut output by 5% in December from a month earlier to 9.025 million barrels a day, a person familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires. The drop was the largest percentage cut by the Saudis since January 2009, as the recession took hold and U.S. benchmark oil prices collapsed to $42 a barrel from a record monthly average high of $134 a barrel in June 2008.

The cut put Saudi output at its lowest level since May 2011, prior to an increase to cover lost supplies from the Libyan civil war. The Saudis boosted output to 10.1 million barrels a day last spring to cover lower exports from Iran as stricter sanctions took hold.

American Express To Cut Almost 10% Of Their Workforce; Boeing Will Cut 40% of Workforce At El Paso, Texas

Specifically: 8.5%.

5,400 jobs.

Link here to Yahoo!News.

Again, according to "anonymous," the unemployment numbers are lagging indicators.

This was the first few paragraphs:

The steps will cost the company about $600 million in charges in the fourth quarter after taxes, which will halve its net income.

Nearly $300 million of the charges are to cover restructuring, primarily in its travel division, to save money and adapt to the fact that customers increasingly book travel online and on their mobile phones instead of with travel agents.

The other half of the charges are for higher costs from customers redeeming more rewards for spending with cards, as well as $153 million of payments to reimburse customers that were overcharged or short-changed benefits.

But then this. I would have missed it had I not read it:

American Express tends to cut staff at the beginning of recessions. 

This time it's different.

But CEO Kenneth Chenault, speaking to stock analysts after the announcement Thursday, said spending with its cards continues to grow.

"This is not driven by our view of the macro environment," he said.

The company said the job cuts will happen over the year and come even as it hires some new employees and invests in more online customer service. The current workforce of 63,500 people will be about 4 to 6 percent smaller by the end of 2013.

Okay. 

Seriously: I have maintained for quite some time job losses in many cases are due to tectonic changes in our culture, and this explains some of the cuts at American Express. I was surprised to see that it has taken this long for AMEX to cut personnel in its travel agent offices.

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Meanwhile, over at Boeing at El Paso, Texas: Boeing to cut 40 percent of workforce.

Boeing Co said it will cut a little more than 40 percent of jobs, or 160 positions, at its El Paso plant as it looks to reduce the impact of planned U.S. defense budget cuts.

The company said it will reduce occupied square footage 50 percent at the plant by moving from three buildings to one. The plant in Texas manufactures electronics for a variety of Boeing products.

Again, another lagging indicator. I'm beginning to get worried about the leading indicators.

Global Warming Hits Jerusalem; Global Warming Hits Southern California -- Interstate Closed Due to Snow (No, This Is Not a Bakken Story)

Updates

January 13, 2013: the Hollywood elite filing into the auditorium for the Golden Globes Awards are complaining about the cold temperatures. Frozen Globes, as Drudge says. 

January 13, 2013: epic cold spell in southern California continues; farmers hit hard. Headline in LA Times. Not unusual for cold snaps this time of year, but "they" say this was one of the colder ones.

January 12, 2013: temperatures could hit record lows in southern California tonight. That forecast for a one- to two-degree rise in global temperature over the next century looks more and more shaky.  But look at this: it's only been a few years since it was this cold (2007). [By the way, the Grapevine -- I-5 -- was closed for an epic 17 hours the other night due to the weather.]

January 11, 2013: Wow, don't even talk to me about global warming tonight. Epic cold snap in southern California could threaten citrus crops.

An Arctic air mass sent temperatures plunging across California, forcing the 17-hour closure of a key interstate highway through the mountains north of Los Angeles and threatening citrus crops in the state's vast central valleys, authorities said on Friday.

Temperatures throughout the state fell by as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius) below normal, allowing snow to accumulate at elevations as low as 1,500 feet, the National Weather Service reported.

Original Post

Link here to DailyMail.

Jerusalem hit by worst snowstorm for TWENTY YEARS as eight inches fall across Holy City.

• unusually heavy snowfall as temperatures dip below freezing
• Dome of the Rock and Western Wall bathed in white blanket 
• Prime Minister Natanyahu gets in on the fun with family snowball fight 

Looks like they are having fun; great photos.

***********************

Meanwhile in sunny southern California, the portion of I-5 known as the Grapevine has been closed due to snow. 

The California Highway Patrol has shut down Interstate 5 through the Grapevine because of snow as Southern California was hit by a cold front.

The announcement came at 4 p.m., with the CHP saying the northbound lanes were closed at Parker Road. The southbound lanes were closed at Grapevine Road.

The Grapevine was closed earlier this morning because of snow and ice.

A cold front from Canada settled in Southern California on Thursday, bringing snow flurries and low temperatures that forecasters said should stick around for days. 

Forecasts for that one- to two-degree increase in global temperature over the next century continue to look more and more shaky. 

The video below was posted a couple of weeks ago, during an earlier winter storm:

Winter on the Grapevine, Southern California, posted December 27, 2012
What a great country.