Pay Gap in Massachusetts -- And In The White House -- Nothing To Do With The Bakken

On the way into Harvard Square, Cambridge, on the Metro, this little gem from the metro_news:

As the Bay State continues to lag behind the national average for equal women's earnings, a group of female state legislators is pressing a bill concerning equalizing pay for women in comparable jobs as men.

I remember thirty to forty years ago, the argument regarding unequal pay between the sexes had more to do with the types of jobs each held, for example, policeman vs teacher.

In Massachusetts, a "liberal" state with huge numbers of both men and women working in the same fields, education and medicine, that argument does not hold water.

It never dawned on me that Massachusetts lagged the national average, at 80 cents (women) on the dollar (men). Pretty sad. Pretty enlightening.

But it's even more surprising to see this in the White House. I can understand the pay differential between Buffett and his secretary and how that would skew results at Berkshire Hathaway just because of the enormity of the single CEO/secretary gap, but the president really doesn't get paid that much more than staffers, comparing salaries only.  Doesn't the president only get $400,000/year?

Another Pipeline: This One To Service the D-J Basin -- Colorado to Texas; 435 Miles

Updates

April 15, 2012: RBN Energy has the story on this one.

April 15, 2015: link to short note on this at PennEnergy.  PennEnergy links break early, requiring a subscription for archives. This short blurb mentioned two new pipelines: this one, the D-J to Texas; and the proposed ONEOK pipline from the Bakken area to Cushing. The important point in this short note:

The Bakken Crude Express Pipeline, Oneok's first foray into oil, would be able to handle as much as 200,000 barrels per day and would combine with five other proposals to offer the region the ability to ship 900,000 barrels per day.

The EPP D-J pipeline to Texas, expected to be completed by the end of 2013, would initially have a capacity of 150,000 barrels per day, expandable to 230,000 barrels per day. 

Original Post

Yahoo!InPlay:

7:30AM Enterprise Products, Anadarko (APC) and DCP Midstream (DPM) to jointly develop new NGL Pipeline to serve colorado's Denver-Julesburg Basin: Enterprise Products Partners, Anadarko Petroleum, and DCP Midstream, announce an agreement to design and construct a new natural gas liquids pipeline that will originate in the Denver-Julesburg Basin in Weld County, Colorado and extend approximately 435 miles to Skellytown, Texas. Each party will hold a one-third interest.

Political comment deleted.

The Reuters story.

Oil Sheen in Gulf -- Bakken Related?

From Yahoo!InPlay:

6:48AM Royal Dutch Shell taking proactive measures as Gulf of Mexico sheen has been spotted: On April 11, Shell notified the National Response Center of a light sheen in the central portion of the Gulf of Mexico, between the Mars and Ursa production area. Shell has no current indication that the sheen originates from wells in either the Mars or Ursa projects. However, out of prudent caution, Shell has activated the Louisiana Responder, a Marine Spill Response Corporation vessel. At this time, the source of this sheen is unknown. 

Connect that dot with the problems going on off-shore Brazil and a theme is starting to develop: development of off-shore oil in western hemisphere is not going to be easy. 

RBN Energy Blog: Natural Gas Below $2.00

Link here to RBN Energy (access may need registration): author writes about implications of oil below $2.00.

One of several observations (from RBN):

Producers of dry gas are in trouble.  They are receiving a lot less money in the door than was budgeted, because nobody did a budget based on sub-$2.00 gas.  Those that had substantial unhedged volumes will need to borrow money, sell assets and scramble to make ends meet. 

On April 9, I blogged:

April 9, 2012: Chesapeake raises $2.6 billion in cash; sells some non-core assets, including Oklahoma acreage to XTO.

April 9, 2012: Chesapeake removed its hedges for 2012 and 2013 at at time when natural gas was around $4, and just before natural gas plummeted to ten-year low, around $2.00. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Interesting.

Data For New Wells Reporting Has Been Posted -- The Bakken, Williston, North Dakota

Eight more wells were added to "New Wells Reporting" and a lot more will be posted by the end of the week.