T

This is not an investment site; be advised of the disclaimer for this site.

But earnings are out for T.

The company only lost $1.12/share compared to an 18-cent gain in comparable former year quarter. But excluding special items, T earned 42 cents vs 55 cents, last year.


Nine out of ten iPhone buyers are buying the 4S.

It's too bad the Justice Department is holding the US back in the world of telecommunications. I wish everyone could see the overhead, nighttime photo of Seoul, South Korea, in a recent issue of National Geographic and then compare that to the US.  This is a stark contrast between the US and a country that was absolutely impoverished and war-torn in 1950's.

TYLER -- TYLER -- TYLER -- ALERT -- ALERT -- WIlliston Basin, North Dakota, USA

ALERT -- TYLER -- ALERT

There is no breaking news on any huge well targeting the Tyler formation this morning, but I get a lot of questions about the Tyler formation.

I now have a definitive source.

The North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources has a great story about the history of horizontal drilling in the Tyler formation.

Go to this link and then click on the top story to get to another link to open a PDF file.

Or go direct to the publication, but you still have to click on another link to get the PDF file.

Again, a "tip of the hat" to Don for alerting me to this link as well as to 3,487 earlier links over the past three years.

North Dakota May Have Source For Manufacture of Ceramic Proppant -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

At the link, click on the top story at the right: Southwest ND Kaolinite Study

The vast majority of oil wells that are being drilled in the Williston Basin employ hydraulic fracturing as a completion technique.

These wells use, on average, three to five million pounds of proppant, be it natural sand or spherical ceramic beads, to keep these fractures open.

Because of the tremendous amount of product utilized in North Dakota, the North Dakota Geological Survey undertook 1) a study to find local sand deposits that would meet the criteria and could be used as natural proppant and 2) a study to find local clay resources (kaolinite) that could be utilized in the manufacture of ceramic proppant.

The study is on-going.

My hunch is that some entrepreneur between South Heart and Hebron is about to start a whole new industry, clay --> ceramic proppants. And unlike the Chinese proppants, ND ceramic proppants will be radiation-free.

By the way, one of the best little books I have ever read is Graham Cairns-Smith's book on the origin of life. It's a very, very short book. I think one can read it one evening. He provides a convincing scientific argument that God indeed used clay to fashion man. But it was a somewhat complicated recipe and required a few years to bake.

Yes, Virginia, There is Methane in Ground Water Wells -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

I would direct EPA and other faux-environmentalists concerned with natural gas in well waters to read the study in this month's issue of Geo News, the official publication of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.

When you get to that link, you can't miss the index on the right; click on the third story down with the word "methane" in the title.

Yes, Virginia, there is natural gas in well waters, but it doesn't come from fracking. The methane, or natural gas, comes from coal seams.

Zeus put natural gas in well water to ensure some good old political theater between the oil industry and the faux-environmentalists. If you know the history of the Trojan War (Homer's version, The Iliad), you will know that the gods participated, prolonging the conflict to enjoy the spectacle. And as much as Zeus thought the whole war was a lark, Hera took it very, very seriously. But I digress.

Numbers You Can Trust -- Sort Of About the Bakken, But Not Really

Link here to a CBS Miami story.

This is a story about a new huge oil rig off Cuba but within "90 miles" of Florida operated by a Spanish oil company and jointly financed by the Chinese.

So, while our administration slow rolls our oil industry in the Gulf (no links; I'm tired of linking universal truths), bans oil from Canada, and promotes the Brazilian oil industry, China is moving into the Gulf "big-time."

But this is what caught my eye and why I enjoy following the Bakken:

Repsol is the the first of several international companies that will use the Scarabeo 9 to look for oil in the the Florida Straits, where the US Geological Survey estimates about five billion barrels of oil sit under the ocean floor. The Cuban government thinks the amount is much higher -- around 20 billion barrels. 

In the Bakken:

CLR is one of many independent companies that will use the huge H&P rigs to look for oil in the Williston Basin, where the US Geological Survey esimates about 3.6 billion barrels of oil sit under the prairie plains. The CEO of CLR thinks the amount is much higher -- around 24 billion barrels.

One of those two indented paragraphs was written by a professional journalist; the other paragraph was written by an armchair observer of the oil industry.

A "tip of the hat" to Greg who sent me the link, where you can find him at Four-Fifty Gas.