Snookered

Every now and then (generally on a daily basis) someone elsewhere complains that their share of Bakken royalties is not fair, but be that as it may, here's a a great story for those who thrive on schadenfreude.

I don't know how many have followed the divorce proceedings of the husband-wife team who own the Los Angeles Dodgers, but here's the story today, as being reported by The LA Times:

Jamie McCourt has no legal basis to force her ex-husband to share his record profit from the sale of the Dodgers, a judge ruled Monday.

In a 57-page ruling, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon repeatedly dismissed Jamie McCourt’s claim that she was unaware of the potential values of the Dodgers and of a regional sports network as “not credible.”

Frank McCourt sold the Dodgers for $2.15 billion last year, five months after Jamie McCourt accepted $131 million in a divorce settlement. Guggenheim Baseball Management, the new owners, subsequently agreed to an $8.5-billion deal with Time Warner Cable to launch a regional sports network centered on the Dodgers.

I can't get my hands around these huge numbers, but $2.5 billion is 2,500 million dollars. So let's say $2,500. She got $131.

She needs to sue her attorney. She may not have been aware of the potential value of the Dodgers and a cable television deal, but certainly her army of $1,000/hour attorneys should have. Wow. Call me flabbergasted.

If I were he, I would hire a lot of body guards: "hell hath no fury like a scorned woman."

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By the way, some sad news. In the same newspaper today, it was announced that Cal Worthington died. I grew up with Cal (on television). One of the originals.

Cal Worthington And His Dog Spot
Back in the 70's and 80's I drove by Cal Worthington almost every day when visiting California. Great memories.

ENB Announces Public Offering Of Up To 9 Million Shares

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on anything you read here or anything you think you may have read here. 

Press release here.

ENB today announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of approximately eight million of its Listed Shares (the "Shares"). Enbridge Management is expected to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional one million Shares.

Proceeds will be used to invest in an equal number of i-units of Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P.

Enbridge Partners will utilize such proceeds, including the proceeds from any exercise of the option to purchase additional Shares, to repay commercial paper, to finance a portion of its capital expansion program relating to its core liquids and natural gas systems and for general partnership purposes. Some or all of the net proceeds of this offering may be invested temporarily in short-term investment grade securities pending their use for such purposes.

All things being equal, shares of ENB should open about $41 tomorrow, but all things are not equal.

A Flurry Of Stories Regarding Whiting Today

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on anything you read here or anything you think you may have read here.

Press release:

WLL today announced that it has priced a public offering of $1.9 billion aggregate principal amount of senior notes consisting of the following:

• $1.1 billion of senior notes that mature on March 15, 2019 and bear interest at an annual rate of 5.000%, and
• $800.0 million of senior notes that mature on March 15, 2021 and bear interest at an annual rate of 5.750%.

Whiting expects to use the net proceeds from this offering to repay all of the debt outstanding under Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation’s credit agreement, to fund its $260.0 million acquisition of Williston Basin assets, to retire its $250.0 million of outstanding 7.0% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2014 on or prior to their maturity on February 1, 2014 and for general corporate purposes including capital expenditures.

I don't know much about business, but paying off a 7% loan with 5% money seems a pretty decent move.

Moody's:

Moody's Investors Service assigned a Ba2 rating to Whiting Petroleum Corporation's (Whiting) proposed $1.8 billion of senior unsecured notes. At the same time, Moody's changed the rating outlook to positive from stable. Moody's also affirmed Whiting's Ba2 Corporate Family Rating (CFR), Ba3 rated senior subordinated notes, and Speculative Grade Liquidity (SGL) rating at SGL-2.

The proceeds from the proposed notes will be used to redeem Whiting's existing $250 million senior subordinated notes on or prior to their maturity on February 1, 2014, to repay all drawings under its revolving credit facility, to fund a $260 million acquisition in the Williston Basin, and to pre-fund its capital expenditure program through 2014.

Zacks like this, too: gives WLL a "strong buy" recommendation.

The company reported earnings surprises in three out of the last four quarters with an average beat of 5.51%. The long-term expected sales growth of Whiting Petroleum is poised at a promising 20.53%. Currently, the company’s asset divestiture, strategic acquisitions and strong hedging program have placed it well in the market.

The proceeds from the sale of its Postle assets will enable the company to invest in the resource-rich Niobrara and Bakken formations thereby expanding its future growth prospects. These plays have proved to be the major drivers of production for Whiting Petroleum in the first six months of 2013.

Oil and gas players are perennially on the lookout for reserve additions. Whiting Petroleum’s recent purchase of Williston Basin assets in North Dakota and Montana has given it access to the prolific Bakken and Three Fork shale formations.

In the near term, the company is relying on the low-cost operations of its Redtail and Missouri Breaks assets in Colorado and Montana, respectively, to drive production. Moreover, planned drilling activities and superior frack design execution at the operating plays will act as tailwinds for Whiting Petroleum.

Coincidentally, earlier today, I posted some observations from Whiting's August corporate presentation.  Those observations were posted before I saw the news about Whiting's public offering announcement today.

So, $1.51 billion deal for Oasis announced this past week, and now this $1.9 billion deal announced by Whiting. Pretty soon Wall Street might sit up and take notice.

Monday Evening News, Links, And Views

Wow, the UK thinks it won't be until 2020 before the country sees significant results from fracking.

UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey has urged caution regarding hype around the country's burgeoning shale gas industry, warning that the UK cannot rely on shale has to solve its energy challenges during the current decade.

In a speech titled "The Myths and Realities of Shale Gas Exploration" given Monday to The Royal Society, London, Davey said:

"We may have been fracking in Britain's offshore waters for years. The US may have been fracking onshore for years. But in Britain, fracking for onshore gas in shale, at any significant scale, is something new.

"Nobody can say, for sure, how much onshore UK shale gas resource exists. Or how much of it can be commercially extracted. So let's be cautious about hyperbole on shale.

"For it would likely be the 2020s before we might feel any benefits in full. So we can't bank on shale gas to solve all our energy challenges, today or this decade. And in the next decade, shale, by itself, will not come close to solving even our basic energy resource security challenge."

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On top of a triple-digit advance on Wall Street today, futures look positive for tomorrow. Oil is dropping another dollar. That, by the way, is good news, even for Bakken operators, as we have discussed before. 

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So, it's down to this for Ben's replacement at the Fed: Yellen, Summers, Geithner.

Rather Obama, hyper aware of growing economic inequalities, avidly wants to lessen them. To do so, he must promote economic growth calculated to help lead the country’s downtrodden out of poverty, and would need a new Federal Reserve chairman to tolerate far higher inflation levels than previous chairmen. So, Geithner might just fit the President’s bill.

Again, wrong: the president has no concern for the "downtrodden." Geithner may get the nod, but not because the president is concerned about the widening gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots."

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Sixteen (16) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA; QEP With Three Huge Wells In The Helis Grail; Petro-Hunt ReportsTwo Nice Wells; QEP With Three Huge Wells

Active rigs: 184

Sixteen (16) new permits --

• Operators: CLR (4), BR (4), Whiting (3), XTO (2), Mountain Divide, Zenergy, Oasis
• Fields: Alger (Dunn), Heart Butte (Dunn), Fortuna (Divide), Dollar Joe (Williams), Corral Creek (Dunn), Foreman Butte (McKenzie), Sanish (Mountrail), North Creek (Stark)
• Comments:

Wells coming off the confidential list earlier today have been posted; see sidebar at the right.

Twelve (12) producing wells completed:

• 25515, 303, Whiting, Rigel State 11-16XH, Sanish, t8/13; cum --
• 24686, 2,207, QEP, G. Levang 13-32/29H, Grail, t8/13; cum --
• 24687, 2,740, QEP, G. Levang 4-32-29BH, Grail, t8/13; cum --
• 24685, 2,994, QEP, G. Levang 3-32-29BH, Grail, t8/13; cum --
• 25076, 726, OXY USA, Charles Tompkins 1-31-30H-144-97, Little Knife, no data at NDIC; still listed as conf;
• 24504, 827, Hess, BB-State 151-96-0310H-2, Blue Buttes, t8/13; cum --
• 22799, 574, Hess, LK-Dukart 145-97-0310H-2, Little Knife, t8/13; cum --
• 23499, 694, Hess, BB-Burk-15195-0718H-2,  Blue Buttes, t8/13; cum --
• 24861, 595, Hess, BW-Sharon 150-100-2536H-3, Timber Creek, t8/13; cum 10K 7/13;
• 24503, 733, BB-State 151-96-3625H-2, Blue Buttes, t8/13; cum 10K 7/13;
• 24371, 842, Hess, EN-Weyrauch A-154-93-1720H-6, Robinson Lake, t8/13; cum 7K 7/13;
• 22800, 746, Hess, LK-Obrigewitch 146-97-3427H-3, Little Knife, t8/13; cum 6K 7/13;

Wells coming off the confidential list on Tuesday:

• 23195, drl, Statoil, Hospital 31-36 3H, Alger, no production data;
• 23361, drl, CLR, Atlanta 12-6H, Baker, no production data;
• 23515, 303, Petro-Hunt, L. Hoiby 159-94-30C-19-3H, North Tioga, middle Bakken, 30 stages; 3.3 million lbs; 500 to 2,000 units; t51/13; cum 30K 7/13;
• 23668, drl, KOG, Koala 8-5-6-4H3, Poe, no production data;
• 24010, 1,810, MRO, Cummings USA 41-6TFH, Van Hook, t8/13; cum --
• 24015, 507, CLR, Colfax 3-19H, Oliver, t7/13; cum 5K 7/13;
• 24326, 1,674, Petro-Hunt, Vera 1-1H, Clear Creek, middle Bakken; 30 stages, sliding sleeve; t5/13; cum 45K 7/13;
• 24947, drl, QEP, Lawlar 2-5-8BH, Grail, no production data;
• 25013, 23, CLR, MPHU 13-10H, Medicine Pole Hills, a Red River well; t5/13; cum 2K 7/13; 

I made a mistake yesterday talking about the "backlog" in fracking. Some of the "backlog" is scheduled operations due to pad drilling. Due to pad drilling, it makes it difficult to determine just how severe the "backlog" is. My hunch: it's not as bad as I first thougth. 

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23515, see above, Petro-Hunt, L. Hoiby 159-94-30C-19-3H, North Tioga:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
7-2013	20718	21646
6-2013	5719	1267
5-2013	3636	1456

24326, see above, Petro-Hunt, Vera 1-1H, Clear Creek:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
7-2013	15970	18979
6-2013	21156	4520
5-2013	7629	0