Two stories that arrived in my mailbox at the same time.
RBN Energy:
Kinder Morgan's Tejas Crossover to help move natural gas from the US to Mexico (would have required President Obama's okay -- going across international border).
Huffington Post: as Dakota Access protests escalated,
President Obama okayed same company for two pipelines to Mexico. (I was sent the link but have not been able to download the story yet; for some reason the URL won't download, even when googling the URL which shows up but won't download, at least at the moment.)
I have noted that it's easier to do business across US/Mexico border than it is in the US.
Someone
says Mexico needs all the natural gas we're sending them to run their
factories that US companies are moving from the US down to Mexico, like
Ford.
This administration is more concerned about a) Mexican workers; and, b) Muslim immigrants to the US, than about American workers.
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Active rigs in North Dakota:
| 9/21/2016 | 09/21/2015 | 09/21/2014 | 09/21/2013 | 09/21/2012 |
|---|
| Active Rigs | 33 | 68 | 196 | 185 | 184 |
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Venezuela -- Tick, Tick, Tick
Venezuela importing US oil:
from yesterday's New York Times --
The
United States has always been a huge market for Venezuela’s oil. But
with Venezuela’s state oil company hobbling along, it was actually
forced to start importing oil from the United States.
Early
this year, the United States began shipping more than 50,000 barrels a
day of the light crude that Venezuela needs to prepare its own oil for
export, joining a handful of suppliers that have become vital to keeping
the country’s oil industry afloat.
Even
that lifeline is tenuous. Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, is
struggling to pay for the foreign oil. Some tankers wait in port for as
long as two weeks to be paid, and sometimes they leave because of a lack
of payment, said an oil executive who requested anonymity to avoid
reprisals from the government.
The
problems are just some of the reasons Venezuela’s oil production has
plummeted to 2.4 million barrels a day, down 350,000 barrels from a year
ago. That is nearly a million barrels below what it was in 1998 when
Mr. Chávez took power.
Unless I missed it, the article did not discuss the reason US light oil is needed by Venezuela which produces heavy oil. This issue has been posted on the blog for quite some time. Just some of the entries, and note how far back this story began:
- At risk, 235,000 bopd of Venezuelan heavy crude oil, February 28, 2016.
- Venezuela crude output falls short; forced to import oil, February 3, 2016.
- Venezuela crude oil exported to US, December 18, 2015.
- Venezuela starts importing oil, November 3, 2014.
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The Market
Late afternoon trading: the Fed left rates alone. The Dow 30 hardly reacts; up 32 points after the news, although the initial reaction was a spike (up 0.63%; now up only 0.18%).
Open: up 88 points. Betting on the Fed? It looks like the "big boys" already know. Poll:
- will raise raises: 19%
- won't raise rates: 67%
- won't raise rates, but I'm hedging: 2%
- won't raise rates, not investing until I know: 12%
