For Investors Only: OXY Working To Make Investors Happy

Link here.

Occidental Petroleum Corp said on Thursday its board voted to increase its share repurchase authorization by 30 million shares to be funded in part by the $1.4 billon sale of natural gas assets in the central United States.

Occidental, which is restructuring and under pressure to return more cash to shareholders, also raised its annual dividend by 12.5 percent to $2.88 per share.

"The dividend increase reflects our commitment to growing Occidental's dividend annually, and we will continue to make share repurchases as opportunities arise," Chief Executive Officer Stephen I. Chazen said in a statement.

Natural Gas Infrastructure -- Third Nominee For This Year's Geico Rock Award

This is the third nominee for this year's Geico Rock Award: Scott DiSavino and Edward McAllister over at Reuters. They report a story with this headline: winter exposes weakness in US natural gas supply network.

When one reads this story, it almost sounds like something that would be occurring in a banana republic somewhere else in the world, certainly not in the nation that sent the first man to the moon, and safely back; and did that several times. 

I assume folks like Jane Nielson, Algore, and William Ernest McKibben could offer an explanation of how this happened.

Eleven (11) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA; BR Reports Five "High IP" Wells

Active rigs:

	2/13/2014	02/13/2013	02/13/2012	02/13/2011	02/13/2010
Active Rigs	188	183	205	165	92

Eleven (11) new permits --

• Operators: Hess (4), Oasis (4), Whiting (2), Murex
• Fields: Alkali Creek (Mountrail), Tyrone (Williams), Sanish (Mountrail), Elk (McKenzie, Writing Rock (Divide)
• Comments: Hess had four permits for Alkali Creek yesterday also.

Wells coming off the confidential list were posted earlier; see sidebar at the right.

One permit was canceled, the MRO Mink well, #22557.

Six (6) producing wells were completed:

• 23927, 558, True Oil, Liberty Federal 13-36 36-31H TF1, Red Wing Creek, t1/14; cum --
• 25891, 2,805, BR, Blue Ridge 44-31MBH, Keene,  t1/14; cum --
• 25962, 2,592, BR, Archer 34-25TFH, Charlson, t2/14; cum --
• 25679, 2,800, BR, Washburn 41-36MBH, Charlson, t1/14; cum --
• 25680, 2,544, BR, Washburn 42-36TFH, Charlson, t1/14; cum --
• 25665, 2,952, BR, Washburn 44-36TFH, Charlson, t12/13; cum -- 

Wells coming off confidential list Friday:

• 22895, 536, OXY USA, William Kubischta 2-14-11H-143-96, Fayette, t8/13; cum 37K 12/13;
• 22896, 592, OXY USA, Williams Kubischta 3-14-11H-143-96, Fayette, t8/13; cum 60K 12/13;
• 25158, drl, CLR, Tallahassee 2-16H, Baker, no production data,
• 25701, drl, Hess, AN-Evenson 152-95-0310H-2, Antelope, no production data,
• 26004, 99, Legacy, Legacy Et Al Berge 4-6 2H,  North Souris, a Spearfish well, t10/13; cum 10K 12/13;

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

22896, see below, OXY USA, Williams Kubischta 3-14-11H-143-96, Fayette:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
12-2013	12143	1649
11-2013	11296	3678
10-2013	8394	2131
9-2013	13679	4896
8-2013	13134	5407

Will The Price Of Natural Gas Hit $6.00 This Winter Season? Meanwhile, A Freshwater Leak North Of Williston: Quick, Round Up The Usual Suspects

I can't recall if I linked this WSJ story earlier, which was also linked and posted at the MDU message board:

Natural-gas prices hit $5 a million British thermal units for the first time in 3 ½ years on expectations that continued cold weather would keep demand high for the heating fuel.

Natural gas for February delivery rose as high as $5.026/mmBtu on the New York Mercantile Exchange before pulling back slightly. The February contract recently traded up 26.4 cents, or 5.6%, at $4.994/mmBtu. The rally highlights concerns about supply, after several years of booming U.S. production. The amount of gas stored in the U.S. has dwindled in recent weeks as heating demand has ramped up.

Inventories as of Jan. 17 stood at 2.423 trillion cubic feet, 13% below the five-year average for the week. Supplies now stand at 1.686 trillion cubic feet, 27% below the five-year average level for the same week, according to the EIA. If the cold weather persists, those supplies would dwindle further.

Apparently the article I have on-line has been changed slightly from the original article which was linked/quoted at the MDU message board. In that article this was noted:

"The focus right now is: Do we have enough gas to deliver to customers in March?" said Ben Smith, president of market-data service First Enercast Financial in Denver. "We really have over a month of winter still."

More cold weather is expected.

Don suggests a poll to see if anyone expects natural gas to hit $6 or more on the New York Mercantile Exchange before this winter season is over. Posted.

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Rounding Up The Usual Suspects

The Dickinson Press is reporting a freshwater pipe leaked the other day resulting in "some water" flowing into a drainage ditch. The company said there were no additives in the "fresh water." The state is taking samples and rounding up the usual suspects.

Round Up The Usual Suspects, Casa Blanca

The Keystone XL 2.0 North Discussion In The New York Times

I'm pretty tired of reading about the Keystone, but I'm taking a break, having read a bit more of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and was surfing the net, on a day that turned out to be more newsworthy than I had expected when I started blogging this morning.

I noted that The New York Times had a "discussion"on the Keystone. Eight "debaters" provided an essay. The "debate" is: Is Keystone Worth The Fight? I actually read the first couple paragraphs by Bill McKibben, activist environmentalist who is probably the face of the Nebraska crowd to stop the Keystone. I skimmed a few of the others. I did not read the essay provided by the American Petroleum Institute.

I think the last essay, co-written by the president and the chairman of something called The Breakthrough Institute was the most in line with my thoughts. The writers were able to accurately place the Keystone in context with the current environmental movement.

The essay is all of 324 words (as counted by Microsoft Word). I can't recall an essay that packed so much into so short an essay).  It is such a great article, I have saved the entire article for later reference in case the link breaks or the article is archived.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Trailer
The best line in the trailer was changed slightly for PG audiences. Unfortunate.