Thursday, February 5, 2015

Williston's Sloulin International Airport Named Airport Of The Year -- TSA -- February 5, 2015; Active Rigs Down To 136

The Williston Herald is reporting:
There are 428 TSA airports in the nation and, of them all, one has been selected the fairest in the land. That airport is none other than Sloulin Field International Airport, right here in Williston.
Sloulin Airport has won Airport of the Year award from the Transportation Security Administration for its exemplary customer focus and efficient operation while maintaining required security standards. Airport director Steve Kjergaard couldn't be happier about that.
"This is pretty distinct and a high honor," Kjergaard said. "They view this as, 428 airports each year are TSA airports, and you were the best out of that 428 nationwide."
Pretty impressive. 

Active rigs down to 136:


2/5/201502/05/201402/05/201302/05/201202/05/2011
Active Rigs136191182202165
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Natural Gas Fill Rate -- February 5, 2015

Fill rate: -155.

Scroll to the bottom of the link; barely holding at the very middle of the range.
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Seven Great Restaurants In San Pedro, California; John "Dead Last" Kerry As Secretary Of State -- Febraury 5, 2015

From The Los Angeles Times: seven great restaurants in San Pedro for food lovers. This one was listed first:
J. Trani’s Ristorante: Ante’s Croatian restaurant is gone, so is Papadakis Taverna for the Greeks. Of all the old-line traditional ethnic restaurants in San Pedro, Trani’s is the only one that remains. And its fans appreciate that — on any given day the sunny front bar and the clubby back dining room are likely to contain a who’s who of the San Pedro power structure. Celebrating its 90th birthday this year, Trani’s is now under the direction of fourth-generation chef Dustin Trani, who also runs Doma in Beverly Hills. The menu mixes old-school Italian and more current dishes such as seared ahi tuna. The grilled octopus over a tart bean salad, and the seafood pasta in a textbook OG red sauce, liberally dotted with tiny sweet Manila clams, argue for the former. Service is particularly strong, old-school and warm.
Kei: thank you for taking us.

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Some days the news is just too good not to link. From The Washington Post, 1,615 international relations scholars from 1,375 US colleges were asked who the most effective Secretary of State has been in the last 50 years?
  • Henry Kissinger: 32%
  • Don't Know: 18%
  • James Baker: 18%
  • Madeleine Albright:  9%
  • Hillary "What Does It Matter" Clinton: 9%
  • George Shultz: 6%
  • Dean Rusk: 4%
  • Warren Christopher who: 2%
  • Cyrus Vance who: 2%
  • Colin Powell: 1%
  • Condoleezza "I Would Like To Buy a Vowel" Rice: 0.5%
  • Lawrence Eagleburger: 0.3%
  • John "Dead Last" Kerry: 5 votes
The Post notes: Dr Know came in 2nd. John Kerry came in last with 5 votes.

One wonders whether the five were joking or accidentally ticked off the wrong box. Alphabetically Kerry would have come just before Kissinger in the list and if five of the scholars had poor near vision (very, very likely), it's very possible these five scholars meant to tick off Kissinger and not Kerry (though I doubt anything really ticks off Kerry).

The Post notes:
Eagleburger was only secretary of state for six weeks, from Dec. 8, 1992 to Jan. 20 1993. To be sure, he was acting secretary for three months before that, but it’s hard to say he left a huge diplomatic footprint.
(On the other hand, we always marveled at Eagleburger’s unerring ability to keep from blowing himself up as he alternated an inhaler in his right hand and a cigarette in his left.)
The fact that John Kerry is ranked so far down suggests that he is actually do more harm than good for the global community. 

My thoughts: Colin Powell ranked too high. Hillary ranked too low. Madeleine ranked too low. Sexist scholars?
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ellaruth Provides Update, Recommendation: Strata-X Quietly Cancels Its Permits In North Dakota; No Press Release From Strata-X Or The NDIC -- February 5, 2015

I started off in less than a good mood when I started this post, but then seeing ellaruth's analysis, I am now in a very good mood ... by the way -- if you google Strata-X cancels permits, "ellaruth's instablog" is the number one hit. I cannot make this stuff up.

Original Post

As of a few minutes ago, Strata-X has not updated its webpage regarding "The Sleeping Giant" in North Dakota. I have found no press releases by the company that it has canceled its permits in North Dakota (but I haven't really started looking yet, either).

Call me naive, and maybe this is the way business works in the oil patch, but I am somewhat disillusioned that after all the hype there is no press release and no media coverage regarding the Strata-X wells in North Dakota.

It looks like there was a reason why the first two Strata-X wells went to DRL status last summer and were not fracked/completed. Those two wells, I believe, are still on DRL status. I haven't checked in the last 12 hours.

On the other hand, ellaruth has an "Instablog," dated December 12, 2014, with this title: Strata-X: The Small Oil and Gas Play That Appears To Be Thriving." Perhaps in Illinois, but apparently not in North Dakota. At that link, the company still says it has "opportunities in North Dakota ... "

This is ellaruth's summary (direct cut and paste; English is perhaps not her first language) :
This is a foreign penny stock with a 100% degress of risk. You can loose everything that you invest. Very soon I will probably take a small position. It appears to becoming successful in several projects in both Illinois and North Dakota's Bakken that are most inviting. Also, the company appears to have capable management, Illinois is touted to be feasible with current low oil prices. Its every person for themselves and due your own do diligence. You might wants to sell half of your position, if you appreciate 50% or more.
And there you have it: "Its (sic) every person for themselves (sic) and due (sic) your own do (sic) intelligence. You might wants (sic) to sell half of your position, if you appreciate (sic) 50% or more."

Her instablog says ellaruth is "Employed in healthcare for 35 years. Interested in novel and destructively innovative healthcare technologies."

If she's interested in destructively innovative healthcare... I suggest ... ObamaCare. 

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From Strata-X Website -- February 5, 2015, 1:14 p.m. CT

Sleeping Giang Gas Project -- Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA
Project Highlights/Recent Activity
  • In December 2013 the Company received permits for 4 drilling locations with the North Dakota Industrial Commission.
  • On 20 June 2014, Strata-X spudded one of the permitted locations called the Rohweder #1-11 well, the Company’s first vertical appraisal well in the Sleeping Giant Gas Project, targeting biogenic natural gas from the prolific Upper Cretaceous Niobrara formation in the Williston Basin North Dakota.
  • In drilling the vertical Rohweder #1-11 well to a total depth of 1,450 feet, gas shows were encountered immediately after penetrating the regional hydrocarbon seal. In total, gas shows were encountered over an 80 foot interval of the targeted Niobrara formation, with gas shows peaking at approximately 300 units over a background of 25 units. In drilling portions of the targeted Niobrara formation, oil fluorescence and oil cut were also observed.
  • After casing, the well was shut-in to allow the Company time to design an optimal completion stimulation method utilizing data obtained during the drilling of the well. The Rohweder #1-11 well is the Company’s first proof of concept well on the Sleeping Giant Gas Project.
Strata-X Energy has acquired the rights to and intends to develop four prospective structures for shallow Niobrara gas in the south-eastern Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA. It owns options and leases to a 100% percent working interest in about 115,000 net mineral acres (147,000 gross acres) of currently leased land.

The Sleeping Giant Project is located on relatively flat agricultural lands with existing roads and infrastructure. Two interstate natural gas pipelines transect the prospect providing a sales avenue for developed natural gas. Oil and natural gas field services are readily available in Bismarck and Williston, North Dakota.

The Niobrara Formation is a significant petroleum system in the USA and has produced over 1 TCF of natural gas from shallow accumulations. There has been relatively little drilling in the Sleeping Giant prospect area. The limited drilling there has been located off structure from these gas prospects with prior wells predominantly targeting deeper Cretaceous or Paleozoic targets. The Niobrara Formation in this area has been overlooked despite gas shows and small flares being reported. In the mid 2000’s, four wells were drilled in this part of North Dakota to test shallow gas shows. None of them were completed as all were drilled off-structure for the Niobrara gas play.

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OXY USA Calls It Quits For Awhile; The Dan Rather Of NBC: The Brian Williams Story Continues ... February 5, 2015; Magellan Midstream Reports

See disclaimer. 

Sprint reports a loss -- but not as bad as expected:
Sprint Corp. on Thursday reported a loss of $2.38 billion in its fiscal third quarter.
On a per-share basis, the Overland Park, Kansas-based company said it had a loss of 60 cents. Losses, adjusted for asset impairment costs, were 18 cents per share.
The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 23 cents per share.
From the press release, Magellan Midstream Partners:
Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. today reported net income of $252.1 million for fourth quarter 2014 compared to $190.0 million for fourth quarter 2013.
Diluted net income per limited partner unit was $1.10 in fourth quarter 2014 and 83 cents in fourth quarter 2013. Diluted net income per unit excluding mark-to-market (MTM) commodity-related pricing adjustments, a non-generally accepted accounting principles (non-GAAP) financial measure, was 93 cents for fourth quarter 2014, similar to the 92-cent guidance provided by management in Oct. 2014.
Distributable cash flow (DCF), a non-GAAP financial measure that represents the amount of cash generated during the period that is available to pay distributions, was $248.1 million for fourth quarter 2014 compared to $236.6 million for fourth quarter 2013.
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OXY USA calls it quits for awhile in the Bakken. The Dickinson Press is reporting:
Occidental Petroleum Corp. likely won’t have any oil drilling or fracking activity in Dunn County through March, a representative told county commissioners Wednesday.
The company “virtually eliminated” 2015 capital spending in North Dakota and in some international oil sands plays that have “unacceptable returns in the current price environment,” CEO Steve Chazen said in an earnings call late last month.
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Misleading apology? I said the same thing to my wife last night .... something doesn't ring true, and you know that Brian Williams (and his staff) (and his lawyers) would have worked very, very hard to write the "apology."

 TruthRevolt is reporting:
NBC News anchor Brian Williams delivered a 60-second apology to his viewers Wednesday night for "mis-remembering" an incident during his reporting on the Iraq War twelve years ago.
However, he misled his viewers while apologizing for misleading them.
While explaining that he was not in a military helicopter that had to land after coming under fire as he had been claiming, Williams said: "I want to apologize. I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] fire. I was instead in a following aircraft."
While it is technically true that Williams was in "a following aircraft," he neglected to explain that he was in an aircraft that followed the one hit by RPG fire by an entire hour.
The way Williams phrased it, "I was instead in a following aircraft," makes it sound like he was right behind the copter in question.
According to the military's Stars and Stripes, the organization that exclusively broke the story on Williams' tall tale: The admission came after crew members on the 159th Aviation Regiment’s Chinook that was hit by two rockets and small arms fire told Stars and Stripes that the NBC anchor was nowhere near that aircraft or two other Chinooks flying in the formation that took fire. Williams arrived in the area about an hour later on another helicopter after the other three had made an emergency landing, the crew members said.
Williams even repeated the "following aircraft" fabrication in greater detail on his Facebook page while apologizing to the troops: I was indeed on the Chinook behind the bird that took the RPG in the tail housing just above the ramp. Williams may have survived this fabrication if he had genuinely come clean in his public apology, but with the revelation of this additional embellishment, NBC News may very well have to make a move.
Can you say Dan Rather?

Key words that caught my attention: "misremembering"  "conflated"  "following aircraft"

Didn't Hillary have to come clean with a similar story?

Update: it was after posting the above that I actually heard his taped apology on the radio while getting ready to pick up the granddaughters. Wow. Pompous apology. He read the apology just as if it was a news item, and not an apology. It was in the first person, but sounded like it was in the third person. He read it like a news story. A casual listener won't even pick up on it that it was an apology. It sounds like when he realized he got caught, he gathered his writers, telling them to come up with something he could "read" on the air. I doubt that a news reader is a real writer, and this sounded like some great writing. But not an apology. A news item.

If NBC ignores this, well,... what can I say. No one is held accountable any more. This is where the CEO needs to come out front and center and say how displeased they are with Brian Williams and then make a case of keeping him or letting him go. But for a CEO to simply ignore this is quite sad.

I don't watch television (as a rule) but I would love to know how MSNBC covered this "gaffe."
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