Thoughtful Discourse On Wind Energy -- Only The Brits Write So Well

For the archives.

Juan Mearns is writing:

I want to dissect some of Jennifer Webber’s statement:

We’re generating from a home-grown source

My understanding is that the majority if not all of the turbines have been imported.

which gives us a secure supply of power

Wind comes and goes with the N Atlantic weather systems: > 6GW one moment and < 0.5GW the next. It is fundamentally dishonest to describe this as secure. The security of electricity supplies is provided by natural gas, coal and imports that are cycled up and down to balance for erratic wind.

at cost we can control

According to DECC, wind is the most expensive form of electricity currently produced in the UK (Figure 3), it may well be controlled but at a fixed high cost for consumers.

rather than leaving ourselves exposed to the global fluctuation in fossil fuel prices which have driven bills up

This statement is also fundamentally untrue. It is true that high natural gas prices have put upwards pressure on electricity prices, but this past year, coal has been dirt cheap. And the UK derives roughly 20% of its electricity from nuclear, largely immune to short term moves in fossil fuel prices. So where does the truth lie?

And the conclusion:

The UK grid cannot currently run on intermittent wind that is dependent upon other, cheaper sources of electricity to provide balancing and grid stability. Wind is currently killing the power generation system it requires for its own survival and the high electricity costs this brave new energy world has created is crippling the British economy and spreading energy poverty. This is a problem made in Westminster. UK energy policy is built around the desire to reduce CO2 emissions and not to provide secure and affordable supplies of energy for its people. It is time to repeal or amend the 2008 Climate Change Act.

Quietly, Ever So Quietly ...

.... oil prices are moving back up.

And regular readers of the blog know why. What a great country!

CNBC is reporting:

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures have surged to a one-month high on expectations for the first decline in weekly U.S. crude supplies in nearly three months as well as news that a key pipeline will begin service at the start of the year, relieving the glut of oil in the middle part of the country.

NYMEX WTI oil futures climbed more than $2 a barrel to reach a session high of $96.04 a barrel. Front-month WTI futures have not settled above the $96-a-barrel mark since Oct. 31. Brent crude oil futures rose more modestly, up about $1 to a session high of $112.70 a barrel.

News that TransCanada's 700,000 barrel a day pipeline taking crude from the main physical delivery point for the WTI oil futures in Cushing, OK, to Port Arthur, Texas, on the Gulf Coast will begin service on Jan. 3 helped to spark Tuesday's move in the benchmark U.S. oil price.

We've been waiting for this for several months now. The pipeline was originally set for the "line fill" to begin the first week of November. That week came and went without much being said. I was a bit perplexed; no explanation.

Then RBN Energy started talking about it and at least one other source said that the "line fill" should be going on as "we speak" and that the first delivery of oil down the Keystone XL South, from Cushing, OK, to the Gulf Coast should occur before the end of the year, though this story now says service will begin January 3, 2014.

This is a huge story, and it's playing out as expected.

I remember all the Texas ranchers saying that pipeline would never be built. And the Texas judge who tried to stop it.

The Passing Game

A $1-trillion fraud will be passed on to American taxpayers. This is not Fox News reporting. This is NPR reporting, and if you can't believe NPR, who can you believe? I was not going to post this story until I saw that it was an NPR story.

According to sources at Starbucks, the word is out on the street: one can put in any income amount one wants to on the website (or actually even talking to an insurance agent or to a navigator). No one will question the amount of income you claim, and the IRS will never audit it -- unless they just happen to audit your tax filing for other reasons.

But the word on the street: claim an income as low as one can without making it "too" suspicious.

NPR is reporting: 

Government subsidies to help Americans buy insurance under the health care overhaul may be vulnerable to fraud, a Treasury Department watchdog warned on Tuesday in the latest indication that troubles are far from over for President Barack Obama's signature legislation.

The rollout of the law has been hurt by canceled policies and problems with the federal website used by people to enroll in health plans, causing political headaches for the White House and for Democrats in Congress. The new problems concern subsidies that are available to low- and medium-income people who buy insurance through state-based exchanges that opened in October.

Those subsidies are administered by the Internal Revenue Service in the form of tax credits, and that's where the trouble arises.

"The IRS' existing fraud detection system may not be capable of identifying (Affordable Care Act) refund fraud or schemes prior to the issuance of tax return refunds," said the report by J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. "The IRS reported that the long-term limitations of its existing fraud detection system include its inability to keep pace with increasing levels of fraud," the report said.

Eight (8) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA; Hess, KOG, And Emerald Each With A Nice Well; Zenergy Transfers ~ 170 Wells To Oasis

Active rigs: 192

Eight (8) new permits --

• Operators: MRO (4), BR (2), CLR, Oasis
• Fields: Gros Ventre (Burke), Barta (Billings), Reunion Bay (Mountrail), Keene (McKenzie), Wolf Bay Dunn)
• Comments:

Wells coming off the confidential list were reported earlier; see sidebar at the right.

Zenergy transferred about 170 wells to Oasis. 

Wells coming off confidential list Wednesday:

• 24735, 981, Hess, LK-Pohribnak 147-96-16H-5, Cedar Coulee, t10/13; cum 36K 10/13;
• 24900, 2,328, KOG, Smokey 2-17-5-2H,  Pembroke, t9/13; cum 25K 10/13;
• 24922, drl, Emerald, Caper 1-15-22H, Boxcar Butte, a nice well;
• 25145, drl, Hess, HA-Mogen-152-95-0508H-5, Hawkeye, no production data,
• 25420, drl, Hess, CA-Halverson 154-95-0409H-6, Hofflund, no production data,
• 25563, drl, KOG, P Evitt 154-98-13-12-24-14H3M, Truax, no production data,

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

24735, see above, Hess, LK-Pohribnak 147-96-16H-5, Cedar Coulee:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
10-2013	22828	0
9-2013	12788	0

24900, see above, KOG, Smokey 2-17-5-2H,  Pembroke:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
10-2013	22752	26363
9-2013	1423	0

 
24922, see above, Emerald, Caper 1-15-22H, Boxcar Butte:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
9-2013	6932	0
8-2013	10889	0
7-2013	18295	0
6-2013	14391	0

Oasis To Issue An Addiitonal 7 Million Shares of Common Stock

Oasis Petroleum announces public offering of 7 mln shares of common stock: Co announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of 7,000,000 shares of common stock. Oasis intends to use the net proceeds of this offering to repay outstanding borrowings under its credit facility and for general corporate purposes. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. is acting as the sole underwriter for the offering.

This will bring outstanding shares from current 94 million to about 100 million.