Obama backs Keystone -- as long at there's a 1,179-mile gap
$100 million, 12-well Hess pad? Filloon mentions it
Liberty LR 18-14H, EOG, 85,000 bbls; still on DRL status
2,560-acre spacing in the Bakken
Williston area update: new rec center ($70 million); new ONEOK pipelines; truck reliever route ($10 million)
Williston area update: new retail center set to break ground; new dollar store opens in Williston; new Greek restaurant; new steak and seafood restaurant (the old Elks building), Stevensville Stagecoach to Monana; Watford City with new housing development, apartment complex, new truck stop
Arsenal Energy and Fidelity report nice wells
Update on Oasis; Clark well, Tyrone field north of Williston, Lodgepole formation
Chesapeake issued new permit
Connecting the dots: Liberty Resources, Riverstone Holdings, Carlyle Group
Filloon: spacing, EURs, the Bakken and the Eagle Ford
Williston unemployment hits "impossible" low
$26 million proppant distribution facility to Stark County?
EPA: tests on first water wells in Pennsylvania reveal no fracking impact
Nice article on fracking
Natural gas frack crews heading to Williston Basin to frack oil wells
440,000 birds killed annually by wind turbines; 90 environmental groups fed up with the madness; seven ducks killed by oil and gas industry in the Bakken in 2011 spring flood
Sunday, March 25, 2012
It Now Makes Sense -- Brazil-Chevron -- Solyndra-Chinese Tariffs -- Absolutely Nothing To Do With the Bakken
Updates
March 28, 2012: now Brazilian unions have civil suit against Chevron, Transocean. My hunch is that this is the beginning of the end of the love affair with Brazilian off-shore oil. If nothing else, this certainly slows things down considering the glut of oil in the western hemisphere.
The union representing oil workers in Brazil has filed a civil lawsuit against U.S. oil major Chevron Corp. and rig operator Transocean Ltd. for the companies' roles in a November oil spill, asking the government to revoke Chevron's offshore concession contract.
"[Chevron] has demonstrated that it is not technically prepared to produce oil in deep waters, especially in an environmentally sensitive area," Joao Antonio de Moraes, coordinator of the Federacao Unica dos Petroleiros union, told Dow Jones Newswires in a telephone interview Wednesday. FUP is an umbrella union comprised of 13 separate oil-industry unions across Brazil.
Original Post
Two numbers sent a jolt through the government of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in March. The first was the GDP figure for 2011: 2.7 percent last year vs 7.5 percent in 2010.The article is accompanied by a photo of a "railway under construction." Interestingly enough, during an Air Force visit to Brazil 20+ years ago, we learned why railroads are not a good fit for Brazil. The article does not mention the railroad story, but it's obviously a government jobs scheme. It will make no economic sense. There may be a niche for rail in Brazil, and it might be needed to support manufacturing in some areas of the country, but something tells me it will be Brazil's Solyndra.
That sorry statistic made Brazil the laggard among BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa).
The second number hurt, too: January industrial output contracted 3.4 percent from a year earlier.
Rousseff's strategy -- to leverage Brazil's strength to build up a world-class manufacturing power -- is threatened.
Rousseff's impulse is to protect Brazilian industry. In that respect she hasn't strayed far from her days as a graduate student studying developmental economics with some of Brazil's most left-wing professors. Many of Brazil's companies from the textiles, shoe, electronics, and other industries are urging her on, as she's imposed tariffs on shoes, chemicals, texticles, and even Barbie dolls.
Under pressure form automakers, which saw imports jump 30 percent last year, the government renegotiated a trade deal in March that cps car imports from Mexico for three years.
So, with budget problems and a leftist as president, the Brazil-Chevron dots have been connected.
Earlier this week, I also posted a story suggesting that development of Brazil's off-shore oil industry is going to be more difficult than anticipated, which I suggested was good news for the Bakken. My hunch is that Brazil runs the risk of retracing the Mexican model.
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Speaking of Solyndra, which the President once called the wave of the future, and now says it was not his program at all, but the fault of Congress, here's an update. The president said he would impose tariffs on Chinese solar panels shipped to the states. He did. Again, purely symbolic. The tariffs are a whopping 4.73 percent. No typo. Decimal point in the right spot. Less than 5 percent tariff. Talk-on-the-street is that Chinese solar panels are at least 10% cheaper than those made elsewhere. -- BloombergBusinessweek, April 1, 2012, page 26.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Almost 85,000 Bbls -- Still on DRL Status -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA
This is a kind of interesting well. The well is still on DRL status as of January 31, 2012. Cumulative reported production 83,999 bbls.
- 19802, DRL, EOG, Liberty LR 18-14H, Van Hook, Bakken, s5/11; cum 84K 1/12;
Green Energy Won't Cut Price of Oil For Decades -- If Ever: Investors Business Daily
The administration is aware that hundreds of thousands of birds
are being killed annually by wind farms.
A big thank you to "Chris" for sending me this link from Investors Business Daily.
Obama has been touting an "all of the above" policy, which focuses less on what he calls the "fuel of the past" and more on things like alternative energy and improved efficiency. He touted this approach again Thursday at stops in Oklahoma and Ohio.For investors, there may be some "get rich quick schemes with wind/solar" but wind/solar won't do a thing in the big picture. Wind turbines have no redeeming value, unless you're a rodent, and then the slaughter of raptors by wind turbines might be seen as a positive. Solar produces less electricity than wind. And even with subsidies, Solyndra investors found out how that turned out.
An IBD review of the president's energy proposals finds that, if they have any effect on oil consumption and prices at all, it won't be for decades. Among the main ideas in his energy plan:
Wind, solar, etc.: Obama argues for expanding the use of renewable fuels, such as wind, solar and biofuels. "It's time," he says, "to double down on clean energy industries that have never been more promising." ["Solyndra was not our program." -- The President]
But the federal Energy Information Administration says these will account for just 13% of the nation's energy production as far out as 2035, up from 7% today. In contrast, traditional fuels — such as oil, coal and natural gas — will still make up 73%.
You have to give the president kudos for sticking to his principles. But as Einstein noted for the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. ["Solyndra was not our program." -- The President]
Per se.
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By the way, the administration is aware that hundreds of thousands of birds are being killed by wind farms. The administration is recommending wind power developers voluntarily address this. I wonder if he will call off oil and gas regulators and suggest that the oil and gas industry voluntarily try to reduce risk of oil spills. Just saying.
Williston Area Updates -- New Rec Center; ONEOK Pipelines; Truck Reliever Route
Update on new rec center (numbers rounded):
- $70 million
- 205,000 square feet (61,000 square feet larger than original plans)
- it is 2x the size of the 93,000 square foot West River Community in Dickinson
- see comment below: Super Wal-Mart in Williston said to be 214,00 square feet
- top requests from citizens: focused on swimming-related activities
- 25,000 square foot water park (10,000 square larger than originally planned)
- 53-meter lap pool
- wake board/surf board pool
- separate pool for swimming lessons and program
- lap pool with seating area for 800 spectators
- fitness center, racquetball, tennis and gym space, indoor track
- four gyms; 200 meter indoor track
- 10 locker rooms
- child car drop-offs
- funded by 1 cent city sales tax which was passed in 2011
- ground breaking this summer; completion by December, 2013 (original post had dates wrong; see first comment)
- to be completed by mid-summer 2012
- $10 million project
- from the new Stateline Gas Processing Plant Phase I and then Stateline II
- a 16-inch pipe will run 37 miles
- a 12-inch pipe will run 27 miles
- will follow existing pipeline corridor
- requires US Army Corps of Engineers to approve
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