Williston Slow-Down? What Slow-Down? Another Coffee Shop To Expand -- March 30, 2016

From The Williston Herald:

The women of Williston are an ambitious lot, especially Meg-A-Latte owner Megan Wold, whose summer months will entail expanding to a third location. All this while carrying her third child.

Amid a brief slowdown following the lunch rush, Wold took a moment of pause. Every so often, her hands fluttered to her stomach as she adjusted to a more comfortable position.

Her third child is expected to arrive in July, just a couple of months after the projected opening of her third Meg-A-Latte location. While she and her husband, Eddie, are leaving the sex of the child a surprise, she left no room for surprises when contemplating the viability in another coffee shop.

A hearty portion of Meg-A-Latte’s business stems from Williston High School. As students, teachers, and parents look to transition to the new facility this fall, Wold knew she would have to take a hard look at her operation and if she had the ability to recapture the shifting clientele.

In a scouting expedition, Wold found an ideal spot in Harvest Hills located on 32nd Ave. which already included a drive-thru. The space is equal in size to her 13th Street West location, but will have a larger kitchen which would aid in additional menu options.

Even with the new high school nearby, she considered the school board’s approval to allow for a coffee shop within the facility. But with more than 1,000 high school students and teachers looking to be served in a lunch period, she knew there would be enough spill-off.  

With approximately 8,000 people residing in the area, Wold knew she would be able to market to more than just a lunch crowd.

The $150,000 buildout that will mirror the ambiance of her other locations is expected to be complete by May.

Much, much more at the link. 

California PUC Rules "Forbearance Agreements" Re: Ivanpah Solar Experiment Are Confidential, Though Paid For By Taxpayers -- March 30, 2016

I've blogged often about the solar science project at Ivanpah in California. A reader sent me another article on the same. It's an important article.

Briefly: the solar farm is not meeting production targets, which under "normal circumstances" would allow utilities to claim "breach of contract" which could threaten to shut down Ivanpah. To prevent this from happening, the California Public Utilities Commission "saved the day," by granting the company an extension to meet those promised (and contractual) production targets.

This is why the article is important. This is what Californians are being told about the cost of preventing "breach of contract" lawsuits, in its entirety:

ESTIMATED COST:

• Actual costs of the Forbearance Agreements are confidential at this time. 

Maybe The Los Angeles Times will submit a request for this information under the Freedom of Information Act. Certainly this is not a national security issue.

I track the Ivanpah links here.

March 30, 2016

Active rigs:

	3/30/2016	03/30/2015	03/30/2014	03/30/2013	03/30/2012
Active Rigs	31	96	194	188	205

RBN Energy: CBR to California dwindles. See this post for important data points.

EIA:

U.S. production of hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGL)—a group of products including ethane, propane, butanes, and natural gasoline—is expected to increase from 3.86 million barrels per day in 2015 to 4.33 million b/d in 2017, a 12% increase, according to EIA's Short-Term Energy Outlook. HGLs are produced at both natural gas processing plants and petroleum refineries, but natural gas plants are expected to provide more than 95% of the forecast production growth. --- EIA

Boeing to cure more than 4,500 jobs. The story at The Wall Street Journal. And just yesterday, Yahoo!Finance reminded us how good the US jobs market was. These Boeing jobs being lost were high-paying jobs with great benefits.

Why I love to blog: over the last few weeks, RBN Energy has provided incredible updates on REX, and I've learned a lot from them. Had I not been blogging, I doubt I would have paid much attention to this story, over at SeekingAlpha today: Tallgrass will buy Sempra's stake in REX for $440 million:

• Tallgrass Development agrees to acquire Sempra Energy's 25% membership interest in the Rockies Express Pipeline for $440M.
• The 1,712-mile natural gas transmission pipeline extending from Wyoming and Colorado to Ohio is one of the largest natural gas pipelines in North America; Tallgrass already holds a 50% stake, a Phillips 66 subsidiary owns a 25% stake, while Sempra U.S. Gas & Power holds the remaining 25%.
• SRE also says it will permanently release the remaining uncontracted capacity that it holds on the pipeline that it had been releasing on an interim basis, resulting in a $100M-$120M charge against Q2 earnings.

Chinese Oil Companies -- Random Update, 2015 Production -- March 29, 2016

From Rigzone:

Sinopec, as China Petroleum is known, produced almost 472 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2015, down 1.7 percent. Cnooc overtook it by pumping about 496 million, jumping nearly 15 percent.  PetroChina Co. remained the largest, at 1.49 billion barrels. 

From a post just the other day:

PetroChina ready to cut losses. Link here:

As oil’s collapse leaves some fields with no chance to turn a profit, China’s biggest producer is ready to cut its losses.

PetroChina Co. sees oil and gas output falling the first time in 17 years as it shuts high-cost fields that have “no hope” of making profits at current prices.

The world’s biggest oil company by market capitalization after Exxon Mobil Corp. said output will slide 2.7 percent this year to 1.45 billion barrels of oil equivalent as a drop in crude production overwhelms higher gas output.

There's actually a bigger story here than some observers might note. Obviously PetroChina wasn't exporting much of their oil; their country needs all they produce. With their biggest producer cutting back, China will be importing more oil.

So, we have, for China:

1. PetroChina 4 million bopd
2. CNOOC: 1.4 million bopd
3. Sinopec (China Petroleum): 1.3 million bopd

In round figures, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the US each produce about 10 million bopd, the US closer to 9 million, Saudi Arabia closer to 12 million bopd.

BP Will Lay Off 500 Workers In Houston -- March 29, 2016

Rigzone is reporting:

BP plc, headquartered in the UK, has announced it will lay off 500 of its workers in Houston. According to a letter to the Texas Workforce Commission, the oil and gas super major will lay off many of the employees beginning in early June and affected employees will receive written notice at least 60 days ahead of their separation date.

The Houston workforce reductions are part of BP’s larger plan to cut 4,000 jobs globally in its upstream segment in 2016.