Road To Australia -- The Cost Of Electricity -- Peak Demand -- $15,000/MWH -- December 20, 2019

Link here. Energy-rich Australia -- exporting coal and natural gas to Asia -- Australia switching to solar energy.

How Bored Are Americans With The Democrat Party Debates? -- December 19, 2019

Yes, I realize it's still early -- 9:47 p.m. ET, December 19, 2019, but certainly there's been enough time for folks to have seen enough of the debate to make up their minds. But here it is, 9:47 p.m. ET and all of 111 people have voted over on Drudge.

One hundred eleven people. You have got to be kidding.

This is an interesting data point:

And it looks like the first time the US has ended with an impeachment and no trial.

XTO's Injectivity Tests In Bear Creek -- December 19, 2019

From the January, 2020, NDIC hearing dockets. 

These are cases, not permits, in Bear Creek:

• 28243, XTO, Bear Creek-Bakken, Werre Trust 44X-34G, #29673, injectivity test of that well; Dunn County;
• 28244, XTO, Bear Creek-Bakken, Werre Trust 44X-34C, #29672, injectivity test of that well; Dunn County;
• 28245, XTO, Bear Creek-Bakken, Werre Trust 44X-34H, #18294, injectivity test of that well; Dunn County;
• 28246, XTO, Bear Creek-Bakken, Werre Trust Federal 14X-34AXB, #32479, injectivity test of that well; Dunn County;
• 28247, XTO, Bear Creek-Bakken, Werre Trust Federal 44X-34D, #29871, injectivity test of that well; Dunn County;
• 28248, XTO, Bear Creek-Bakken, Werre Trust Federal 21X-3F-N, #32367, injectivity test of that well; Dunn County;
• 28249, XTO, Bear Creek-Bakken, Werre Trust Federal 21X-3B-N, #32366, injectivity test of that well; Dunn County;
• 28250, XTO, Bear Creek-Bakken, WerreTrust Federal 14X-34E, #32480, injectivity test of that well; Dunn County;  

The XTO Werre Trust and Werre Trust Federal wells are tracked here. 

If one googles XTO oil injectivity test one will find any number of PDF research papers. It sounds like the jury is still out regarding "injectivity." It will be interesting what XTO "discovers." Not sure yet if this will be CO2 or natural gas injection. My hunch it is the latter, natural gas.

Notes From All Over, Part 1 -- Yesterday, He Was A Clear And Dangerous Threat To US Security -- Today, Simply An Impeached President Who May Never Stand Trial -- December 19, 2019

Politics: now we know why the US House rushed through the Articles of Impeachment as fast as they did. LOL. Members had to catch planes to get home for the holidays. Less than 24 hours after voting to impeach the president -- said to be a clear and dangerous threat to US security -- the chairperson pockets the articles; obfuscates her intentions; and, the US House adjourns for the year. The US Senate, not getting the articles from the US House, also adjourned for the year. Except for an impeached judge about a decade ago, this is unprecedented, that a call for impeachment did not lead directly to immediate trial. Yesterday the US House found Trump so dangerous to national security, they impeach him; today they go on break for at least two weeks. Am I spelling "hypocritical" correctly? I've never seen the nation treated so shabbily by the lower house.

Christmas, Baby Please Come Home, Darlene Love
Two hours of Darlene Love and David Letterman: link here. Thank goodness for YouTube, the "Smithsonian" for music, movies, and television.

Market: all three major indices hit new all-time highs.

Student debt, national: two data points I heard today -- and an observation --

• the data points
• 44 million Americans hold $1.5 trillion in student debt
• an undergraduate education is said to be worth $45,000/year in salary (a person with an undergraduate degree on average is said to earn $45,000/year more than a person without an undergraduate degree)
• the observation: 
• back to that first data point: $1.5 trillion / 44 million = $34,000 (average)
• if the "average" college graduate lived like a non-college graduate, for example a person working at McDonald's), the loan could be paid off in one year.

Comment: I don't have a dog in this fight. I no longer care one way or the other but it sure is fun to see how folks get so worked up over something so trivial in the big scheme of things. Things that seem a bit more important perhaps. Homelessness. Opiod crisis. Affordable and accessible health care for all.

Twenty Permits Renewed; Newfield With Six New Permits; Relentlessly, WTI Keeps Climbing, Albeit In Very Small Steps -- December 19, 2019

Active rigs:

$61.04	12/19/2019	12/19/2018	12/19/2017	12/19/2016	12/19/2015
Active Rigs	53	68	54	41	64

Six new permits, #37272 - #37277, inclusive --

• Operator: Newfield
• Field: Siverston (McKenzie County)
• Comments:  
• Newfield has six permits in section 21-150-97, Siverston oil field

Two permits reinstated:

• Whiting (2): two Klose permits in McKenzie County;

Twenty permits renewed:

• NP Resources (6): six Roosevelt Federal permits in Billings County;
• CLR (6): six Chloe permits, Williams County;
• Petro Harvester (3): a Miller permit and two LIG1 permits, all in Burke County;
• BR (2): a Manchester permit, Dunn County; and, an Ole permit, McKenzie County;
• Lime Rock Resources III-1, LP (2): a Kary permit and a State permit, both in Dunn County;
• Whiting: a Green permit, McKenzie County;