Monday, December 29, 2014

Random Graphic; Proved Reserves -- December 29, 2014


This is not an investment site. Just because there seems to be a lot of oil left does not mean it might be a good commodity to short or an opportunity to go long. The graphic is simply there because I thought it looked "neat," and, hey, I sometimes needs a reminder of the various "categories." 

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This Is Not An Investment Site

Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras could be declared in technical default on some of its foreign debt as early as Tuesday if bondholders adhere to a campaign to force it to speed up its assessment of losses in a giant corruption scandal.
The campaign, which is being led by New York-based Aurelius Capital, applies only to the $54 billion of Petrobras bonds governed by U.S. law in New York state.
Aurelius, a "distressed debt" or "vulture" fund, is asking investors to put the company into default as "a precautionary step," according to a Dec. 29 letter from the firm reviewed by Reuters. Under the terms of those bonds, Petrobras is required to provide third-quarter financial statements within 90 days of the end of a quarter, in this case by Monday, December 29, 2014.
Petrobras has not published those accounts because allegations of contract-fixing and bribery at the company have raised doubts about the true value of its assets. For the default declaration to take effect on any of the more than 20 U.S. law bonds outstanding, investors holding at least 25 percent of each series must request the action, Aurelius said in the letter to fellow bondholders.

Incredible -- Chevron To Accept Apple Pay -- December 29, 2014

Big news:
Oil company Chevron has plans to expand its use of Apple Pay to gas pumps in the new year.
Chevron says that it is working with Apple to bring Apple Pay payment solutions to pumps by early 2015.
Just in time for our cross-country drive back to Texas. LOL. No, I don't have an Apple iPhone (but my wife does). But she doesn't have/use Apple Pay.

Using a cell phone as a gasoline pump. Boom.

Maybe only with gasoline made from that highly volatile Bakken crude oil. 

It's Gonna Be Close -- Nine New Permits Last Two Days Of The Year -- New All-Time Record Of 3,000 Permits -- December 29, 2014

COB, Monday, December 29, 2014: 2,991 new permits for oil and gas permits in North Dakota.

Ten more permits over the next two days, and "we" hit 3,001 new oil and gas permits in North Dakota, an all-time high.

Active rigs:


12/29/201412/29/201312/29/201212/29/201112/29/2010
Active Rigs172187187196156

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Going Down The Bucket List

The bucket list:
  • Last Dem standing after 2014 mid-term elections
  • "Treaty" with China on global warming; except that nothing changed for China
  • Immigration "reform" through executive order -- except he never did sign an order; a low-ranking bureaucrat simply wrote a new "rule"
  • Normalizes relations with Cuba -- except he can't do that without Senate approval
  • Declares war in Afghanistan "over" --ending US's longest war -- LOL
He's going to have quite a resume for his next job -- PGA commissioner; Augusta National Chairman; or, valet. 

The Road To New England Goes Through The White House; I Can't Make This Stuff Up -- December 29, 2014

From Investor's Buisness Daily:
Feeling low about the incessant screeching that the ice is catastrophically melting at the poles? A lot of us are, so it's good to see a researcher buck the narrative.
Ted Maksym, an oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, has drawn a conclusion that will surely bring him grief from the global-warming believers and cold shoulder from most of the mainstream media, which is heavily invested in the idea that man is heating his planet by burning fossil fuels.
"The North and South Poles are 'not melting,'" the British Express reported on Christmas.
"In fact," the Express said in its coverage of Maksym's finding, "the poles are 'much more stable' than climate scientists once predicted and could even be much thicker than previously thought."
Remember those words "previously thought." In the future we will be seeing them a lot more in reference to the continued unraveling of the global warming fable. In the meantime, kudos to the Express for publishing what the mainstream American media refuse to report.
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Can't Make This Stuff Up Either

Phoenix could experience coldest New Year's Day in recorded history ... going all the way back to Alexander the Great. Okay, I made that last part up.
There’s the potential for up to a foot of snow in Northern Arizona.
Farther south in Phoenix, it could be one of the coolest New Year’s on record, says Pace. All the way down to 50 degrees (10C).
All the way down to 50 degrees. LOL. That's a summer day in North Dakota. 

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A Note to the Granddaughters
Who Can't Read This Anyway Because The Blog Has Been Taken Down

What an incredibly good day! My daughter -- not granddaughter -- the daughter with no children wanted to visit a "big" Japanese bookstore in downtown Los Angeles to get a certain puzzle book, not Suduko or Suuduko as the Japanese call it. We haven't been able to find the "puzzle logic" magazines she normally gets; they are caught up in a teamsters union job slowdown with ships stranded out at sea. I doubt that's entirely correct, but there is some truth to the story. But that's for another time, I suppose.

She did find a "puzzle logic" book at the store, so she was very, very happy. I saw a whole new selection of books I would not generally see at a Barnes and Noble. It was awesome.

The store: Kinokuniya Bookstores --

 Los Angeles City bans plastic bags for large retail stores 
selling perishable goods (i.e., grocery stores) but bookstores are exempt. 
Go figure.

There are nine of these Japanese bookstores in the United States. I've now seen two of them (Los Angeles, Costa Mesa); our younger daughter has seen three of them (those two plus Portland, Orego). If she sees the two in the Bay Area, San Francisco and San Jose (possible), and the one in Seattle (very possible), she will have seen 6 of the 9. The other three: Chicago, New York, and New Jersey.

I assume 90 - 95% of the books were in Japanese and thus not for me, but the 5 - 10% of the books in English there were superb. I assume most of the books could be found in a Barnes and Noble, but with such a small "English" collection, the bookstore would only have the best of the best. And the Japanese have the best taste in almost everything, it seems.

I ended up with three books and could have bought many more but I had to stop. 

The three:
  • an almost-500 page, small-print, hardcover, of the Los Angeles film culture "before Hollywood," 1905 - 1915; very, very unique;
  • an elegant but very small 25-page (or thereabouts) graphic novella telling the story of Steve Jobs and re-inventing Apple after Sculley, The Zen and Steve Jobs; it can be read in 10 minutes but there's something about it that suggests it will be a hard-to-find-but-much-sought-after item ten years from now;
  • and, of all things, The Manga Guide to Electricity, a sort of Japanese comic book (in English) that explains electricity. 
Regular readers know my difficulty with understanding electricity and how I want to help my granddaughters learn about it, so I find whatever tools I can to help me as well as help them. This book looks particularly promising. It is very much like the American "Books for Idiots" series, but this is in the Japanese manga style which is much more appealing to a third grader who is into the Diaries of a Wimpy Kid.

The "manga" book is also a fast read, but something tells me it will provide some insights and nuances into electricity that I have not seen before.

Just for the fun of it, I read the first 20 pages earlier this evening, and right or wrong, I think I understand why Europe (and I think Japan also) has 240 volt appliances as a general rule and Americans have 120 volt. Right or wrong, it provides a way for me to remember the "power formula" (current, power, voltage relationship).

Reason #45 Why I Am So Happy Not To Be In Business In A Booming Oil Patch -- December 29, 2014

Bakken.com:
A limited-membership social and business club in Williston with dues ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 was evicted this month over failed rent payments.
The Bakken Club was ordered to remove all of its property from its downtown location by December 21, 2014, the Williston Herald reported. Court records show the eviction came after the club failed to pay nearly $23,000 in rent.
The club signed a lease in July 2013 and opened five months later featuring a bar and restaurant. An individual premier membership included a one-time $5,000 initiation fee and a $250 monthly food minimum.
When the club opened, co-owner Joel Lundeen declared that The Bakken Club was meant to be a place where “like-minded individuals can further business relations.”
In response to the eviction, the club filed a lawsuit against its lessor, On The Spot Development, owned by David Forenza. The club claims Forenza’s company failed to return a security deposit by its July 31 due date. The club argues the landlord also breached the contract by failing to provide heat, ventilation and air conditioning and to maintain the sidewalks and driveways in good condition.
The club’s counter-suit also alleges that Forenza interfered with the group’s business by spreading rumors through the public and on the club’s website. The suit says the rumors included that the Bakken Club “makes everything from a box” and “the food is terrible.”
Neither Forenza, nor club representatives could be reached for comment Saturday and attorneys for the Bakken Club declined to comment to the newspaper. The phone listed on the club’s website has been disconnected.
On The Spot Development has previously evicted other tenants from the building that housed the club. A legal dispute between the lessor and a doughnut shop shows that the tenant stopped paying its rent when On The Spot Development did not provide utilities as promised in the lease.
By the way, without going into details, I could provide some very personal observations but those observations and $1.89 would get you a cup a coffee at Starbucks.