Director's Cut -- Data For September, 2013 -- 931,940, A New All-Time Record

Disclaimer: there may be typographical errors. The original document can be found at the NDIC website. 

At this post (click on that in blue), I track projections at 1%, 2%, and historical changes over the past two years. 

A 2.28% increase in crude oil production on a daily basis (a new record):

• September oil: 931,940 bopd
• August oil: 911,186 bopd

A 2.18% increase in number of producing wells (a new record):

• September wells: 9,682
• August wells: 9,475

Permitting:

• October permitting: 267
• September permitting: 287
• August permitting: 276
• All-time high: 370 in October, 2012

Pricing:

• Today: $71.25
• October: $85.16
• September: $92.96
• August: $93.97

Some comments:

Although the drilling rig count was unchanged from August to September, the number of completions rose sharply from 153 to 207. This resulted in a 2% increase in oil production.

Drilling crews drilled approximately 1.5 wells for every well that completion crews put on prodcution. Industry reports that this is a result of batch processing on multi-well pads.

Days from spud to intial production remained stady at just over 100.

The NDIC estimates that 520 wells are awaiting completion.

Crude oil takeaway capacity is expected to be adequate as long as rail deliveries to coastal refineries keep growing.

The percentage of gas flare is back down 1% to 29%.

Sushi And Lutefisk. Who Wudda Thought?

CNBC is reporting:

It's Friday evening in Williston, N.D., and Basil Restaurant is buzzing with diners sipping sake bombs and ordering up Flaming Tiger rolls.

After dinner, customers can head over to the Williston Brewing Company and sample 1280 Ale, one of 40 beers on tap. With 80 more varieties available by the bottle, the locally owned bar and restaurant claims to offer North Dakota's largest beer selection. 

A year ago this kind of night out simply did not exist in Williston. Oil was first discovered in North Dakota's Bakken region in 1951, but it took more than 60 years for sushi and craft beer to arrive. 

In just the last two months both of these popular new establishments have set up shop in North Dakota's most notorious boomtown, unofficial headquarters of the state's oil and gas fracking boom. Until recently, the idea that the town could support a sushi restaurant at all would have struck some residents as far-fetched.

"People said no one will eat sushi," said Lee Lusht, interim executive director of the Williston Chamber of Commerce. "Now it's packed. I can't get in."

It was my experience in the Bakken a couple weeks ago that the "restaurant problem" for the Bakken was over. There was no difficulty in finding a place to eat any more. Perhaps at some locations -- Buffalo Wings, sushi, etc -- there is standing room only and a wait, but at Gramma Sharon's -- generally easy to find a table. Except on Taco Wednesday.

And Yet Another Flaw In ObamaCare Reporting

People a lot smarter than I are seeing a lot of flaws in ObamaCare reporting that I missed. Good, bad, or indifferent, we are incredibly lucky we have a free press AND the internet.

Look at what CoyoteBlog noted. Very, very interesting. I had never thought of this. It's very, very possible a lot of folks who think they are enrolled are not.

Apparently the Obama administration is citing a report that "21% who visited the exchange, signed up" or something to that effect. In fact, 1% signed up. The conclusion over at the linked site:

The only effect including that 21% number has on me is to say that Obama likely has a bigger problem -- If 21% of visitors THINK they enrolled and less than 1% actually did so, aren't a lot of people in for a rude shock?

That will be the next story, come next spring, around April, 2014. Folks will complain, finding out they thought they were enrolled and in fact, weren't. If one is eligible for 100% subsidies ($0 for one's premium), does one even get a monthly bill or a monthly statement? Those eligible for partial subsidies probably won't complain if they aren't billed, thinking they are enrolled and now getting full subsidies.

The CoyoteBlog is one of the best blogs I have come across; it is one of the few I keep linked at the sidebar at the right. If you really want to follow the ObamaCare Express debacle, click on CoyoteBlog (home page link different than one above) and scroll down.

The Kyoto Protocol? That Was So Yesterday. Japan Slashes Commitment To Global Warming; Aussies Agree

Updates

Later, 10:11 a.m. CT: Yahoo!News is reporting:

The architect of President Barack Obama's climate-change plan, Zichal left the White House last week after five years as a top adviser on energy and climate change.

Her departure comes as the Environmental Protection Agency moves ahead with the linchpin of the president's climate plan: emissions limits for new and existing power plants to curb greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

"Do I walk out thinking that it would have been fun to do the rule for existing coal (-fired power) plants? The short answer is yes," Zichal said in an interview.

Zichal, 37, said she has not decided on her next job but said it will involve clean energy, a field she has spent the past five years promoting as the administration moves to boost renewable energy such as wind and solar power. Obama also has increased fuel-efficiency standards and moved to tighten limits on mercury and other toxic pollution from power plants. Zichal's deputy, Dan Utech, replaced her. 

If my experience in the military taught me anything, in bureaucracies headed by political appointees, it was the deputy that really knew what was going on. This news may be good or bad; it will be interesting to see who his next choice for "energy and climate change" adviser will be. Harold Hamm is probably not on the short list.

Original Post

Reuters is reporting:

China, the EU and campaign groups criticized Japan at U.N. climate talks on Friday after Tokyo slashed its target to cut greenhouse gas emissions, blaming its shuttered nuclear power industry in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

The Japanese government on Friday decided to target a 3.8 percent emissions cut by 2020 versus 2005 levels. That amounts to a 3 percent rise from a U.N. benchmark year of 1990 and the reversal of the previous target of a 25 percent reduction. [Holy mackerel, Batman!]

"Given that none of the nuclear reactors is operating, this was unavoidable," Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara said.

Japan's 50 nuclear plants were closed on safety concerns after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami wrecked the Fukushima reactors northeast of Tokyo. Nuclear accounted for 26 percent of Japan's electricity generation and its loss has forced the country to import natural gas and coal, causing its greenhouse gas emissions to skyrocket.

At least Japan is being honest. 

And then in Australia, it's not getting much better. The Daily Caller is reporting:

Australia’s new conservative government introduced legislation that would eliminate the carbon tax and cut funding to green energy in a series of aggressive moves to scale back the country’s environmental laws.

“We have said what we mean, and will do what we say. The carbon tax goes,” Prime Minister Abbott told Australian lawmakers. “Repealing the carbon tax should be the first economic reform of this parliament.”

The Liberal-National Party swept seats in September’s election in large part due to their opposition to the left-wing Labor Party’s imposition of a tax on carbon dioxide emissions. The unpopular tax was blamed for rising power bills and hurting economic growth. Abbott has touted his party’s bill to repeal the carbon tax as “our bill to reduce your bills.”

Three more years for the US. It can't happen soon enough.

No More Blogging For The Next Seven Days ...

... I'm just going to watch these videos over and over and over ... for seven days ...

The first one is the best and the only one that really needs watching. The other two are "raw" footage of same.

X-47B UCAS Aviation History Under Way





Just kidding. Blogging will continue. But it was tempting to shut down and just watch these videos. A huge "thank you" to Don for interrupting my otherwise productive morning.

From wiki:

The Northrop Grumman X-47B is a demonstration unmanned combat air vehicle designed for carrier-based operations. Developed by the American defense technology company Northrop Grumman, the X-47 project began as part of DARPA's J-UCAS program, and is now part of the United States Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration  program. The X-47B first flew in 2011, and as of 2013, it is undergoing flight testing, having successfully performed a series of land- and carrier-based demonstrations. Northrop Grumman intends to develop the prototype X-47B into a battlefield-ready aircraft, the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Surveillance and Strike system, which will enter service by 2019.