Three Energy Hot Spots For The United States Worth Watching In 2014: GOM Oil; Alaska LNG; US Exporting LNG

Rigzone is reporting:

• Gulf of Mexico, oil
• Alaska converting its gas into LNG
• America exports LGN

Gulf of Mexico Oil

"This area has totally rebounded from the Macondo disaster and companies are marching full speed ahead," commented Ernst & Young Strategic Analyst for Oil & Gas Foster Mellen to Rigzone. "The GOM will always be an important play due to the sheer volume of resources that it holds." Several fields are slated to come online in the near future further increasing production levels to new heights in 2014 with an average output of 1.45 million barrels per day expected by this time next year.

Alaska converting its gas into LNG

ExxonMobil Corp., ConocoPhillips, BP and TransCanada Corp. have joined forces to commercialize the North Slope gas. This project, Alaska LNG, has aligned a structure and transparent approach with the aim to commercialize North Slope's natural gas.

"Alaska is getting very busy and is quite an exciting area right now, so much so that we are looking into opening an office in that area next year," Dane Groeneveld, regional director of North America at NES Global Talent, told Rigzone. "This area will be in need of manpower as the project comes further along." "From a conventional oil perspective, Alaska is in a terminal decline," added Mellen. "However, Alaska has a lot of gas and this project is worthwhile. It makes a lot of economic sense to export it."

America exports LNG

Cheniere Energy Inc.'s Sabine Pass LNG project, the first liquefied natural gas project in North America given the OK to export, is slated to begin producing in late 2015. The project is on schedule with its first two processing units, the company announced in May 2013. Cheniere also made a final investment decision for the development and construction of Trains 3 and 4 of the Sabine Pass Liquefaction project. 

Much more at the linked article, four internet pages long. 

The Irony Of It All -- North Dakota Will Lose More Grassland, More Wetlands To Ethanol Than To The Oil And Gas Industry

Related post: EPA is ready to cut back on corn-ethanol mandate for 2014, taking it back to 2012 level. 

The Bismarck Tribune is reporting:

In the period from 2006 to 2011, North Dakota has had a net loss of about 220,000 acres of grasslands that have been converted into corn and soybean fields. 

That’s according to Christopher Wright of the Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence at South Dakota State University. Wright, who along with Michael Wimberly, authored a scientific paper on land use changes in the western Corn Belt of the U.S., spoke to group of conservation scientists Wednesday at the Ducks Unlimited regional headquarters in Bismarck.

Wright’s presentation was timely as the national debate continues over the effectiveness of the ethanol program aimed at reducing greenhouse gases.

Wright told the group that land conversion from grasslands to corn and soybeans, spurred by demands for biofuel stocks made from the crops, may take decades to reverse in terms of carbon once locked into the soil that has been released into the atmosphere.

Remember: only parts of four or five or six counties in northwestern North Dakota and a couple in southwestern North Dakota are affected directly by the oil and gas industry. Almost the entire state is affected by farming, in comparison. And farmers are making a lot of money off ethanol.

• The AP reveals the devastation created by the ethanol program; despite the overwhelming evidence, the president stands by his Interior Secretary, the EPA, and the ethanol program
• Farmers cashing in on ethanol.

And with an ever-increasing number of slicers and dicers killing bats, eagles, hawks, and whooping cranes, the oil and gas industry is starting to look like an oasis of common sense.

Apparently The Daily Activity Report Won't Be Posted This Evening; Widening Brent/WTI Rewards CBR; Dakota Plains Pioneer CBR Expansion Nearing Completion; Also Builing In-Bound Materials (Frack Sand) Terminal At Same Location

Active rigs: 183

Two data points from EIA:

• US crude oil production averaged 7.7 mil b/d in Oct, exceeding crude oil imports for 1st time since Feb '95.
• US 2014 crude oil output to rise to 8.49 mil b/d, according to EIA. 

Update On Dakota Plains Pioneer CBR, Newtown, North Dakota

Platts is reporting: Dakota Plains' CBR in Newtown, ND, expansion nearing completion.

An expansion of Dakota Plains Holdings' Pioneer crude-by-rail terminal in Newtown, North Dakota, is expected to be completed in mid-December as the company gears up to rebound throughput volumes from low levels experienced during the summer, executives said Tuesday.

"We've been through a couple of challenging quarters, while the spreads worked against us," CEO Craig McKenzie said Tuesday during a quarterly earnings call. "Our focus this year has been to prepare for 2014 and beyond. 2013 has been a build-out year."

The Pioneer Terminal, he said, is a flagship in the Bakken Shale.

In addition to this there is a lot more information at the link, including:

The 30,000 b/d terminal's volumes and profit margins suffered as a result of the narrowing of the benchmark spread between Brent and West Texas Intermediate. A wide Brent/WTI spread, a key indicator of netbacks for moving crude around the US, allows for healthy profit margins for the crude-by-rail shipments.

McKenzie explained Tuesday that sending crude by rail from the Bakken becomes profitable on average when the spread is wider than $7/b. If the spread narrows to below that level, pipelines are sometimes preferred, McKenzie said.

"The Brent to WTI spread worsened early in the third quarter," McKenzie said in an earnings statement. "With our marketing operating margin reduced, we chose with our joint venture partner to limit the throughput volumes in July and August that affected both our transloading and marketing financial results for the quarter."

During the fourth quarter, the company expects throughput volumes to reach about 27,000 b/d, the highest number in three quarters, McKenzie said. After the expansion in December, the terminal's throughput could reach into the low 40,000 b/d range, he said.

The expansion will increase the terminal's capacity to 80,000 b/d, Mackenzie said in a statement released in October.

In addition, Dakota Plains is developing an inbound oilfields products business at the terminal, including a $15 million frac sand -- sand used in hydraulic fracturing -- facility scheduled for completion in May 2014.

Rail derailments could enter Keystone XL debates

The recent CBR derailments/spills could give President Obama the top cover he needs to approve the Keystone XL; he could use the opportunity to impose stricter pipeline rules in exchange for approving the pipeline; he could suggest an ObamaCare-like website exchange that pipeline companies must use during "open season."

The Oil & Gas Journal is reporting:

Some US officials raised greenhouse gas concerns as increasing amounts of Alberta’s heavy crude oil move by rail while approval of the Keystone XL pipeline’s cross-border permit continues to be delayed, Premier Allison Redford said after concluding her fifth Washington visit to lobby for the project.

“A lot of that product is being transported by rail at the moment, and that is something that is receiving quite a bit of attention in the United States, partly because we know that transportation by rail leads to higher greenhouse gas emissions than a pipeline would,” The Financial Post reported Redford as saying.

The premier met with officials at the US Department of State, which is expected to conclude its environmental impact statement early in 2014 on TransCanada Corp.’s revised application for a cross-border permit, as well as US Senate and House leaders.

The proposed 1,179-mile pipeline would move diluted bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands to US Gulf Coast refineries for processing. It also would provide capacity to transport lighter crude from the Bakken shale in North Dakota and Montana.

The Usual Suspects; Poll: Who Do You Trust More With Reporting The ObamaCare Enrollment Numbers? Republicans In Congress Trusted Twice As Much As Democrats In Congress

From Breitbart, the ten most responsible for this debacle, in reverse order, the usual suspects:

• SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D-LA): “If you like the insurance that you have, you'll be able to keep it.” (MSNBC’s Hardball, 12/16/09)
• SEN. KAY HAGAN (D-NC): “We need to support the private insurance industry so that people who have insurance they're happy with can keep it while also providing a backstop option for people without access to affordable coverage.” (“Republicans Vent As Other Compromise Plans Get Aired,” National Journal’s Congress Daily, 6/18/09)
  SEN. MARK BEGICH (D-AK): “If you got a doctor now, you got a medical professional you want, you get to keep that. If you have an insurance program or a health care policy you want of ideas, make sure you keep it. That you can keep who you want.”
• SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO): “We should begin with a basic principle: if you have coverage and you like it, you can keep it. If you have your doctor, and you like him or her, you should be able to keep them as well. We will not take that choice away from you.”
• SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D-WA): “Again, if you like what you have, you will be able to keep it. Let me say this again: If you like what you have, when our legislation is passed and signed by the President, you will be able to keep it.” (Sen. Murray, Congressional Record, S.6400, 6/10/09)
• SEN. TOM HARKIN (D-IA): “One of the things we put in the health care bill when we designed it was the protection for consumers to keep the plan they have if they like it; thus, the term ‘grandfathered plans.’ If you have a plan you like --existing policies--you can keep them. …we said, if you like a plan, you get to keep it, and you can grandfather it in.” (Sen. Harkin, Congressional Record, S.7675-6, 9/29/10)
• SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): “If you like your insurance, you keep it.” (U.S. Senate, Finance Committee, Bill Mark-Up, 9/24/09)
• SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): “This bill before us on the Senate floor makes it clear that if you have an insurance policy that you like, you can keep it. If you like the doctor that you're currently doing business with, you can continue to use that doctor.” (Sen. Durbin, Teleconference, 12/4/09)
• SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV):“In fact, one of our core principles is that if you like the health care you have, you can keep it.” (Sen. Reid, Congressional Record, S.8642, 8/3/09)
• SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D-MT): “That is why one of the central promises of health care reform has been and is: If you like what you have, you can keep it. That is critically important. If a person has a plan, and he or she likes it, he or she can keep it.” (Sen. Baucus, Congressional Record, S.7676, 9/29/10)
  

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Newsbusters.org is reporting (with a great graphic):

As you can see, almost twice as many people trust Fox than the President.

Notice, too, how little CBS, CNN, NBC, Administration officials, and Democrats in Congress are trusted.

Maybe it's because such folk were all behind the President pushing this program before it crashed before our very eyes.

In addition, Fox News Channel is killing the other networks in primetime and in the critical demographics (previously reported).

With regard to who do folks trust the most on ObamaCare numbers?

• Fox News: 19
• Friends and Family: 17
• The President: 11
• NPR: 10
• Your insurance company: 9
• Your local TV news: 6
• Republicans in Congress: 4
• MSNBC: 3
• BBC News: 3
• CNN: 3
• CBS: 2
• NBC: 2
• Wall Street Journal: 2
• Your local daily newspaper: 2
• Obama spokespeople: 2
• Democrats in Congress: 2

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There was a headline that colleges are starting to cancel student health insurance. Why is that a headline? Why wouldn't they? Under ObamaCare children up to the age of 26 years of age must be carried on parents' insurance. There are two exceptions -- the health insurance program for President Obama and Congress; and the military health program, known as Tricare.

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Why has almost no one signed for ObamaCare? Hint: it's not because of the webpage. Let's see if I can guess. I haven't read the article yet, just the headline. I suggest "sticker shock." MarketWatch is reporting their answer: procrastination.

I'm sure that's what Ms Sebelius is telling the president. Don't worry, sir. They are simply procrastinating. 

I don't consider "procrastination" a very good answer. Why are they procrastinating?

But if, maybe they should have given incentives to be early enrollees. 

CarpeDiem Back On The Sidebar; Find Median Income, College Graduation Rates In Your Locale

In an effort to clean-up/streamline the sidebar at the right, I removed a lot of links to my favorite other sites/blogs. CarpeDiem consistently has such good links, such good stories, such good comments, I added that link back to the sidebar.

This is incredible: click to this site, and locate median income/college graduation statistics for any zip code.