Instant Karma

Link  here to Jalopnik.com (a huge thank you to a reader).

Approximately 16 of the $100,000+ Fisker Karma extended-range luxury hybrids were parked in Port Newark, New Jersey last night when water from Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge apparently breached the port and submerged the vehicles. As Jalopnik has exclusively learned, the cars then caught fire and burned to the ground.

Our source tells us they were “first submerged in a storm surge and then caught fire, exploded.” This wouldn’t be the first time the vehicles, which use a small gasoline engine to charge batteries that provide energy to two electric motors, had an issue with sudden combustion.

Stunning photos at the link. 

On a completely different note, my daughter tells me that there is a high-end automobile that has a safety feature in which a car that is submerged in water (such as when folks drive their cars into lakes and rivers) in which the driver's side window will automatically open upon complete submersion.

Two nights ago, after the heavy, heavy rainstorm, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, as the storm passed through western Massachusetts, a driver went out to the parking lot to find that the heavy deluge had activated the safety mechanism. The driver's side window was completely open due to the heavy rainfall. His car was full of water.

My daughter remarked that sometimes one can carry safety innovation a bit too far. After all, how often do owners of high-end automobiles drive their cars into rivers and lakes? Probably just once.

Wow! 24 Great Photos of Global Warming Over Appalachia

Link here to walloping snowfall.

Quote of the Day: Not the fastest process in the world -- Federal Government

Update on that "gravel" story in the Badlands at the Dickinson Press.

The federal government bought the ranch in 2007 for $5.3 million. But the purchase of the 5,200-acre parcel did not include mineral rights. Roger Lothspeich and his fiancee, Peggy Braunberger, spent almost five years proving they own the right to remove gravel and other surface minerals beneath the historic ranch land near Medora.

Lothspeich had proposed a 25-acre gravel mine less than a mile from Roosevelt’s historic cabin. He estimated the site holds some $10 million in high-grade gravel that could be sold for road building and other infrastructure needs in North Dakota’s booming Oil Patch.

“I’d like to get going here,” said Lothspeich, a North Dakota native who owns a motorcycle, snowmobile and ATV dealership in Miles City, Mont. “I want to sell gravel to oil companies.”

Sexton said the agency began collecting gravel samples in October at sites in western North Dakota. He said the samples have been sent to a lab to test the rock for erionite, an asbestos-like mineral that has been linked to lung cancer.

Sexton said the land swap will take time.

“I think (Lothspeich) is well aware that this is not the fastest process in the world,” Sexton said. “It would be real nice to find an area that has got what he wants so we can swap it out.”

Not the fastest process in the world! Understatement. 

My hunch: maybe the grandchildren will see a gravel pit.

The original post can be found here.

[Update, January 7, 2015: link here.]

Links of Some Interest -- Not the Bakken

From NBC, CNBC and the WSJ, some interesting links:

NBC: Hurricane Sandy has already created more jobs than President Obama. -- Jay Leno

From CNBC, several stories:

Gasoline lines stretch for miles. I was not aware of this: most of the majors (XOM, COP, CVX) pulled out of New Jersey, New York years ago. Some commentators have suggested that the majors could respond to gasoline shortages a lot more quickly than second- and third-tier players. I notice a photograph at one of the links was of a Gulf gas station. Gulf? Where are the FEMA tankers when you need them? Reality bites. Not that "killing the Keystone" made this worse, but some folks think so (see comments); it's all about perception and "killing the Keystone" was one of ten defining moments of the last four years. Via Reuters, taxis are being pulled off the roads; no fuel available. **

Greece teetering. Here we go again.

A recent study suggests higher taxes do not result in the rich leaving California. Of course not. They can manage their taxable assets just fine. High taxes (and no jobs) drive out the middle class.

From the WSJ, several stories: 

Verizon struggles with flood -- WSJ. Can you hear me now? Wired New Yorkers get reconnected with pay phones. I didn't know pay phones still existed.

Panasonic beats a retreat as green energy bets flop -- WSJ. Can you hear me now? "Massive losses" due to investments in solar panels and rechargeable batteries. Of course, there is much more to it, but that was the headline. Comments probably won't be posted; don't bother.

Looming tax hike motivates owners to sell -- WSJ. Can you hear me now? "Bert Wolf...says he plans to sell his compressed-gas business before 2013. Many business owners are looking to close deals by year's end."

For Shell, wait 'til next year in Arctic -- WSJ. Great news for the Bakken. Can you hear me now?

After spending more than $4.5 billion in permits, personnel and equipment over the past six years to assure regulators and native Alaskans that its work would be safe and environmentally benign, Shell finally got a shot to try drilling wells here this fall. It didn't go as planned.*

Shell initially hoped to complete six wells by the end of October, before the onset of winter. But its drilling rigs packed it in for the year Wednesday, having only completed two "top holes"—the initial stages of exploration wells—after a series of setbacks with spill-response equipment. Shell said in September those problems would limit it to drilling top holes this year, which didn't go unnoticed by rivals.

Statoil ASA, the Norway-based oil company that is no stranger to cold waters, said it will delay plans to drill in the U.S. Arctic Ocean by at least a year due to the difficulties Shell has faced. An executive with French oil giant Total SA said the risks of an oil spill in environmentally sensitive Arctic waters are too high for companies to continue plumbing for crude there.

Unions slip in strongholds -- WSJ. Organizing drives fail in labor-friendly regions; high unemployment cited. 

Jerry Brown's tax cliff -- WSJ. "The second most important election next Tuesday. The California State Teachers' Retirement System has projected that it will need between $3.5 billion to $10 billion annually over the next 30 years to stay solvent. So any money allocated to schools will merely backfill the teachers' pension fund." Up to $10 billion annually over the next 30 years to stay solvent. At some point, California teachers will be teaching the merits of drilling for oil. Offshore and onshore.

Miscellaneous links:

I haven't seen any video of the American Red Cross either. 

"Where was the Red Cross? Isn’t that their function? They collect millions of dollars. Whenever there’s a drive in Staten Island, we give openly and honestly. Where are they? Where are they? I was at the South Shore yesterday, people were buried in their homes. There the dogs are trying to find bodies. The people there, the neighbors who had no electricity, were making soup. Making soup. It’s very emotional because the lack of a response. The lack of a response. They’re supposed to be here….They should be on the front lines fighting, and helping the people.” -- Staten Island Borough president. [According to Snopes.com, the current Red Cross president, Gail McGovern, received $1,032,022 in total compensation, according to "last" year information provided. The year was not given.]

******************

*One nice things about the Bakken: it has helped me get a feel for "big numbers."

One of the linked articles said that Shell had spent $4.5 billion over six years to satisfy regulators; sounds like a lot of money. Put that into perspective: oil companies are pouring $2 billion per month into western North Dakota just drilling. $2 billion each month. Probably more. But that's a nice round number ($10 million/well x 200 wells).  I still don't have a feeling for $16 trillion in debt. The federal debt. But Americans are content/satisfied. It looks like Obama will squeak through with a win, contrary to Dick's prognostications.

** Gulf gas stations, from Wiki:

Gulf, in its present incarnation, is a "New Economy" business. It employs very few people directly and its assets are mainly in the form of intellectual property: brands, product specifications and scientific expertise. The rights to the brand in the United States are owned by Gulf Oil Limited Partnership (GOLC), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cumberland Farms and operates over 2,100 service stations and several petroleum terminals; it is headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts.

From QEP's Earnings Conference Call; Strong IPs; Can't Tell Difference Between TF and MB; 10-Well Pad Strong

Link here to SeekingAlpha.com (sent in by a reader, thank you).

And with regard to our North Dakota acquisition, we booked approximately half of the purchase price to the proven properties and remainder to unproven properties. It'll move assets from the unproven category to the proven category as we execute our development program for the acquired properties. 

We closed our $1.4 billion acquisition in the North Dakota's Williston Basin Bakken/Three Forks play on the 27th of September. We've now taken over operations from the seller. We currently have 2 rigs working on the acquired South Antelope properties and we expect to begin to ramp up rig activity as we get our multi-well pads designed, permitted and constructed.

We've also began to make changes in the well design that we believe will allow us to deliver $11 million of lower gross completed well cost going forward. Note that we inherited a handful of wells that were in progress that were designed differently from our standards, so we won't see an immediate decrease in well cost until we work through that inventory.

Earlier this month, we completed in terms of sales the first QEP operated well on the South Antelope acreage since the close of the acquisition. The Kummer 1-6-7H at Three Forks well came on at a very strong 24-hour initial production rate of just over 2,500 boe per day.

On our Fort Berthold acreage, we completed, in terms of sales, 5 new wells during the third quarter, 3 of those wells were in the middle Bakken, 2 were in the Three Forks formation. Four of the wells were located on a single pad, which is in the southwest portion of our acreage. And all of them came on with extremely strong rates, with average 24-hour IPs of over 2,100 boe per day. The fifth well, which was designed to delineate the eastern edge of the Middle Bakken reservoir on our leasehold, came online with a 24-hour IP of just slightly under 1,000 boe per day. This well also had some oil foaming issues related to an experimental frac fluid that we used on that well, which we're no longer using, which we suspect also contributed to constrained initial rate. 

Since the end of the quarter, and this is something new. This is not in the releases. Since the end of the quarter, we have completed and turned to sales 7 additional wells on our Fort Berthold acreage, 3 Middle Bakken and 4 Three Forks wells. The last 5 of these new wells to sales were from the first pad on our 10-well independence pad, which is located on the extreme northwestern corner of our acreage. And all of these well had excellent 24-hour IPs of 2,400 barrels a day to 2,900 barrels equivalent a day. So these well are quite strong and we really can't distinguish between the flow back results from Three Forks wells or the Bakken wells.

During the third quarter and into the current quarter, we've been able to deliver completed wells on the reservation at an average gross completed cost of about $11 million. Note that we'd now currently have 3 rigs running on our Fort Berthold acreage.

Go to the link for more.