The Bakken Oil Patch: There Are Still More Places Where Nothing Is Than Something Is -- And That's Likely To Remain True "Forever"

Somehow I missed this great article from The Bismarck Tribune:

If, for example, you are a Wall Street Journal reporter or someone from the BBC, and you fly out from New York or London to Denver and then on a tiny plane to Williston "to make sense of the oil boom," you are going to see a city bursting with energy, enterprise, dust, chaos, congestion, noise, construction and growing pains that make it not a very attractive destination.

But Williston is not the oil boom and the oil boom is not Williston. Williston is one of the choke points of the oil boom.

Wow, that is well said.

I won't post more than that, but I surely hope this article is not archived by the Tribune. This article should remain easily accessible for decades.

For Investors Only: EOG Traded To A New 52-Week High Today

Regarding That Runaway Crude Oil Freight Train....

Updates

July 11, 2013: This disaster could give President O'Bama "top cover" if he decides to approve the Keystone XL. [His decision will be seen as arbitrary and capricious regardless which way he decides.]

July 11, 2013: The WSJ says criminal probe underway. Railroad owner says it is likely engineer didn't set brakes correctly. 

July 10, 2013: Rigzone has a long article on this story.

July 9, 2013: the "runaway freight train" did not frighten off investors. UNP is up almost $4.00 today. Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read here or what you thought you might have read here.

July 9, 2013: The WSJ is reporting:

The operator of the runaway train that derailed and exploded in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, this weekend recorded an accident rate far higher than the U.S. average over the past 10 years, federal data show.

A train operated by Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway Inc., a subsidiary of U.S. train operator Rail World Inc., is at the center of a Canadian probe after the train was left unmanned at a crew rest stop and slammed into the small town early Saturday, triggering a deadly explosion and fire.

Rail World is controlled by a Chicago-area railroad veteran, Edward Burkhardt, who has put together an empire of small railroads around the world. Mr. Burkhardt, Rail World's chairman and chief executive, has spent a lifetime in the industry, earning the respect of many fellow rail executives.

But the 74-year-old Yale graduate has also faced criticism for a bitter battle with one of his boards and for championing the controversial use of remote-controlled trains in rail yards and one-person crews. The deadly Quebec derailment has put MM&A's safety record under a microscope.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada, the country's main investigator of rail accidents, doesn't publicly post safety records of individual operators, but does make that data available upon request. MM&A didn't turn up in a basic record search of Canadian accidents. A spokesman for the safety board said late Monday that a fuller record wasn't immediately available.

July 10, 2013: the train may have been tampered with. CNN is reporting:

The chairman of the company whose driverless train barreled into the small Quebec town of Lac-Megantic and unleashed a deadly inferno told a Montreal newspaper he believes it had been tampered with.

"We have evidence of this," Ed Burkhardt said in an interview published by the Montreal Gazette. "But this is an item that needs further investigation. We need to talk to some people we believe to have knowledge of this."

Original Post  

From Platts:

Analysts also pointed to the dearth of hard facts about the incident, including the question of how a cargo of crude, which is not particularly flammable, was ignited.

I've wondered the same; great question. Weren't just four (4) tank cars of the 73 tank cars involved? I can't remember; seems I read something along that line.  -- yes, here it is, in the original post.

Wells Coming Off The Confidential List Tuesday; OXY USA With A Huge Well; Halcon WIth A Nice Well; 3/6 To DRL Status

• 22677, 1,191, OXY USA, Dennis Kadrmas 2-9-4H-143-96, Fayette, t1/13; cum 59K 5/13;
• 23258, 1,681, HRC Operating, Fort Berthold 147-94-3A-10-2H, McGregory Buttes, t3/13; cum 43K 5/13;
• 24004, 715, Hess, EN-Cvancara 155-93-1522H-2, Alger, t4/14; cum 29K 5/13;
• 24350, drl, CLR, Hawkinson 12-22H3, Oakdale, no data,
• 24390, drl, Hess, EN-Uran A 154-93-1522H-4, Robinson Lake, no data,
• 24698, WI, Enduro, MRPSU 19-33, Mouse River Park, Madison, no data

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

22677, see above, OXY USA, Dennis Kadrmas 2-9-4H-143-96, Fayette:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
5-2013	5777	1918
4-2013	2653	6
3-2013	11140	0
2-2013	14680	0
1-2013	24270	0

23258, see above, HRC Operating, Fort Berthold 147-94-3A-10-2H, McGregory Buttes:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
5-2013	14073	3
4-2013	20702	0
3-2013	8103	0

24004, see above, Hess, EN-Cvancara 155-93-1522H-2, Alger:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
5-2013	12257	11870
4-2013	16703	18603

And Another Earnings Season Has Started....

WD-40 popped $8, from $58 to $66 in after-hours trading after 3Q13 earnings were released/discussed: net income rose 12 percent in the fiscal third quarter on greater sales of multipurpose items like its namesake WD-40 spray lubricant.

Magnum Hunter is scheduled to report tomorrow, before the market opens. Analysts expect a loss of 11 cents/share. [Update: MHR blows past analysts' consensus: earns 5 cents vs an expected 11-cent loss.]