Food For Thought

I've been updating the data at "new wells reporting, back in the "early" years. Three things jump out:

• some really pathetic wells compared to what operators are reporting these days
• a real hodge-podge of locations being drilled as operators delineated the Bakken
• some operators that no longer exist, having been bought by current operators

If folks thought the Bakken was good in the early days, they will be amazed how far we have come. It is absolutely striking to scroll through some of the data at the linked site, going back to the "early" days, back in 2010. 

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

A Note to the Granddaughters

I'm reading another wonderful book, Athens: A Portrait of the city in its golden age, Christian Meier, c. 1993. I will post notes at the literature blog (but haven't done much with this book yet).

I recall my reading list in first and second grade. I loved to read; I have no idea what attracted me to reading. I don't recall my parents reading a whole lot to me: they had their hands full with four children when I was in first grade -- I was the oldest.

I don't recall what I was interested in during the later elementary school years, But I do recall the wonderful library in the northwest (?) corner of that huge study hall in Central School (our "junior high" which I suppose is now called a "middle school"). That Central School was torn down years ago; Williston Middle School is now collocated with the high school, but I digress.

In middle school I was fascinated with classical Roman and Greek history, and Carl Sandburg's biography of Abraham Lincoln. [Amazon's reviews bring back wonderful memories.] I also remember the wonderful biography of Albert Schweitzer that I read, but do not remember the author.

I think the only two "things" I lacked in my high school education was a) a good physics teacher; and, b) a Greek literature teacher. And perhaps, a good Shakespeare literature teacher. But short of that, I can't say enough about the excellent education I received in Williston. I've mentioned more than once my wonderful middle school Latin instructor and my junior year in high school chemistry instructor.

[My college roommate could recite long passages from Greek plays and from Shakespeare plays; he was educated in a small rural school in Tea, South Dakota.]

I do not recall what book I first read that left such an impression on me regarding Pericles and the golden age of Athens, but I assume that's why I am really enjoying Christian Meier's book on Athens; it probably rekindles some of the dying embers of what little I remember from my early reading.

I am reading Athens very, very slowly. I don't have a South Lake, Texas, public library card because our address is outside South Lake. So, I bike the 5 miles most week days to the library and read a bit of it.

Friday, I came across this very interesting paragraph, p. 48:

Max Weber speaks of the "growing demand on the part of a society accustomed to absolute satisfaction of its needs for order and protection (police) in  all areas of life." But government does not stop there. A great amount of regulation becomes necessary and is often supplied to excess. it comes into being partly to sustain and legitimize governmental power and partly as a result of increasing specialization. Ultimately, it culminates in the separation of state and society. This trend of specialization can be resisted, but reversing it would be difficult. Political centralization does not necessarily produce a strong foreign policy.

Wow, talk about insight.

Max Weber was a German sociologist, philosopher, and political economist but most of that paragraph was written by a modern-day historian, Christian Meier.

Parsing that paragraph, the individual points:

• a society accustomed to absolute satisfaction of its needs for order and protection
• in all areas of life
• a great amount of regulation is necessary
• governmental regulation is often supplied to excess
• excess governmental regulation is driven partly to legitimize governmental power
• excess governmental regulation is driven partly due to increasing specialization
• ultimately it culminates in the separation of state and society
• specialization can be resisted, but reversing it would be difficult
• political centralization does not necessarily produce a strong foreign policy

I was particularly caught by the comment about the "separation of state and society." Both George W. and Mr Obama have been criticized for being out of touch with "America." Certainly the developers of ObamaCare were grossly out of touch with "America."

Weekend News

The New York Times

The top story, above the fold, to the right: patients' costs skyrocket; specialists' incomes soar.
the article makes three points:

• physicians have become entrepreneurs running multi-million-dollar businesses
• health insurers pay "way more" for procedures that listening and prescribing
• physicians have learned from lawyers

That last bullet. Years and years ago I opined that physicians would do better if they charged "billable hours" like the lawyers do. The insurers never played along. Physician-entrepreneurs have done one better:

The high earning in many fields relates mostly to how well they’ve managed to monetize treatment — if you freeze off 18 lesions and bill separately for surgery for each, it can be very lucrative,” said Dr. Steven Schroeder, a professor at the University of California and the chairman of the National Commission on Physician Payment Reform.

I may have missed it but it does not appear that ObamaCare or "the Affordable HealthCare Act" was mentioned anywhere in the article. There were no efforts to control costs in that trainwreck of a bill. Oh, there it is, well into the article, but The Times suggests ObamaCare will only make things worse.

The Wall Street Journal

This was linked yesterday, but it shows up today as the lead story in Saturday's edition of The WSJ: health exchanges see little progress on uninsured. It appears that most folks who signed up for ObamaCare were the ones that had their previous insurance canceled by ObamaCare. One big shell game.

EU climate targets to stop short of ambitions. Canada withdrew from the Kyoto agreement. The EU is backpedaling. And President Obama pulled miracle-worker John Podesta off "climate" to save the NSA spy network. The good news for the EU, and I cannot make this up, "the EU is on track ot meet its target of cutting CO2 emissions by 2020 -- thanks partly to an economic downturn."

Putin says gay visitors are welcome in Russia -- just "leave the children in peace."

The Los Angeles Times

My wife visited Santa Monica yesterday. She reports that it has become an incredibly beautiful area rivaling much of the other "hot spots" in Los Angeles. Santa Monica is where the famed "Route 66" (not I-10, in that area) ended, at the Pacific Ocean. One can drive that I-10 to the end, right into the ocean (almost).

If you want to read about sports and entertainment, The LA Times is the place to go. That's about all they feature. Along with wildfires due to the drought.

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

This business story: does the rule for saving 10% of one's income for retirement still apply? The answer:

Depending on when you start saving for retirement, you may need to be saving 40% or more to help you get by when you stop working.

LOL.

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

A pretty slow news day. And we have one more day of this long weekend. Bah! Humbug! I'm off to see the granddaughters: we have a huge day planned.

Another Entrepreneurial Story Coming Out Of Williston

Years ago I was stationed in England, a few miles northeast of London.

I remember how surprised I was one day when I called a broker to set up an account. He told me that they were so busy they were not taking new accounts. I had never, never heard of that before. Can you imagine Charles Schwab coming on television to say his firm will accept any new accounts because they are simply too busy!

I was reminded of that experience when reading the story Don sent me earlier this morning. An entrepreneur looks to be highly successful by delivering food for Williston restaurants. She is already very, very busy but wants to set up arrangements with some of larger, more-recognizable franchises.

Munchies Food Taxi has been operating for about three weeks, and word of mouth and social media advertising have Cook and her delivery drivers hopping.

She has four chain restaurants that are interested in having Munchies deliver, but the businesses are already so busy that they’re still figuring out how they would handle the additional volume. Customers have told Cook that once she adds more restaurants, she’s going to be flooded with orders.

Another very interesting story coming out of the Bakken. 

Week 3: January 12, 2014 -- January 18, 2014

Top story
North Dakota sets new all-time crude oil production record

Operations
Four CLR Montana completions
Two laterals off one CLR well on the Atlanta pad southwest of Williston
Are there any active wells in Wells County
Abraxas comes in with a nice Lillibridge pad
Random look at some wells completed last year

Fracking
Fracking continues through the cold weather

Economy
Williston update in The International Business Times

Bakken 101
The definition of the Bakken

For investors only
Halcon
SLB has a great quarter; raises dividend 28%
Bret Jensen on EOG
Filloon's looks at the Bakken going into 2014, part 2 of 2 installments

National energy
The US propane shortage -- although this won't be a major mainstream story, this might be one of the major stories of 2013 - 2014 

A Mysterious Force Unkown To Most Politicians Accounts For The Success Of The Bakken

I've alluded to this numerous times since I began blogging about the Bakken. Barron's does it best in this op-ed today:

It's not always true that the government must subsidize something to get more of it for the people.

That is the default setting among politicians, as we can see from our national surpluses of grain, milk, unemployment, nonprofit companies, disabilities, and mortgage debt.

There is another way.

Consider the sudden expansion of natural gas and oil produced by hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.

Because of a mysterious force unknown to most politicians, the U.S. now produces a third more natural gas and a third more oil than it did six years ago. U.S. production of oil and associated liquids in 2012 was 11.1 million barrels a day, almost what it was in 1985. By 2015 or 2016, it should surpass the old record production level set in 1970.
The mysterious force is liberty. It is the right to own and control private property and the right to enter enforceable contracts.

The technologies of fracking and horizontal drilling were developed and applied by oily entrepreneurs who wanted to get filthy rich and were willing to risk small fortunes in hopes of making large ones.

More importantly, the resources were accessible because they lay under private land and they belonged to the landowners. In other countries, the government owns all sub-surface property rights.

Even the U.S. would never have developed fracking and horizontal drilling so fast and so effectively if all of the promising territory had been under federal or state government control or under leases already held by big oil companies.

Risk-averse bureaucrats would have found reasons for delay, as they have in northern Alaska, California, and the Florida side of the Gulf of Mexico. Big energy companies would have exploited their opportunities slowly and carefully, with due regard for keeping market prices high.

Speaking of risk-averse bureaucrats and politicians, check out the way North Dakota invests oil money finding its way into the state's "Legacy Fund."

On December 22, 2013, I spelled out a bit more clearly what I mean by "the Bakken." At that time I wrote:

Regular readers know that when I mention the "Bakken," I am thinking of the Bakken in three different ways.

• the oil patch in North Dakota
• a laboratory for horizontal drilling and fracking in tight oil
• an entrepreneurial spirit in which all concerned work together to solve problems

I am reminded of those three "Bakkens," the "trilogy," perhaps, when I think of EOG.

The third definition -- an entrepreneurial spirit in which all concerned work together to solve problems -- is exactly what the Barron's article is all about.

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

I don't know how many caught this. This is a big story.

When the Obama administration was foundering/floundering in the waning days of 2013 due to ObamaCare, the president brought in John Podesta to "save" the White House. Immediately John Podesta was put in charge of "climate change." To what extent he was brought in just for "climate change" is unknown. No doubt, just having him at the table would help Obama-Biden address issues troubling their base.

I had great concern that Obama had brought in one man, and particularly John Podesta, to focus on climate change. Two big issues were on the table: CBR  and fracking. Pedesta would have been a formidable challenge for the Bakken.

Fortunately, events have forced the Obama administration to move Podesta over to a bigger crisis: the NSA story. Again, it is unknown to outsiders how much time Podesta will spend on the NSA instead of the other issues. But it's difficult for "advisers" to wear multiple hats in the White House. Hopefully, the NSA will keep Podesta fully occupied.

Breitbart is reporting the Podesta move.