Friday, July 4, 2014

Happy July 4th, 2014

Not sure what I will post today. I suppose the big story not being reported is this: the Middle East is apparently going on "war footing." I assume that's the English (American) idiom. I say that because there are reports that Israel has announced it will help Jordan protect its borders. Strange bedfellows. All I know is that it took a lot less than this to start WWI. A single assassination was the tipping point then.

So, we'll see.

I think I will just meander along on this post over the day.

4:14 p.m. CDT. Expanding on the above, I see InvestorVillage has noted the same thing and adds this: now, Kuwait is burning, and adds,
....we suspect this 'spring' is far from over.
Things do not look good...
Almost a haiku, I suppose... I might work on that later.

4:59 p.m. CDT. GulfNews is reporting:
Kuwait’s parliament on Thursday passed a record $82.6 billion budget for 2014/2015 fiscal year, projecting a $11.2 billion shortfall on the basis of a conservative oil price.
Something tells me Kuwait will sort this out -- they have a pretty good track record:
The OPEC member has projected a deficit in each of the past 14 fiscal years but ended each year in the black, accumulating more than $300 billion in budget surpluses.
Oil income in 2014/2015 is projected at 18.8 billion dinars, or 94 per cent of total revenue.
Oil revenues were calculated on the basis of a price of $75 a barrel, up $5 from the past year, and a daily output of 2.7 million barrels.
Like the previous 14 fiscal years, oil revenues are expected to be much higher than the estimates because the actual price is above $100 a barrel and Kuwait’s daily crude production is running at around 3.0 million barrels.
A big "thank you" to Don for sending me this story and others throughout the day. The Saudis have a new expense: the 30,000 troops that have been sent to the Iraqi/Syrian/ISIS border.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Seventeen (17) New Permits -- North Dakota, USA; Abraxas With A Nice Well

Active rigs:


7/3/201407/03/201307/03/201207/03/201107/03/2010
Active Rigs191190215172133

Seventeen (17) new permits --
  • Operators: BR (7), CLR (6), Abraxas (4)
  • Fields: Sand Creek (McKenzie), Sadler (Divide), North Fork (McKenzie)
  • Comments:
Wells coming off confidential list were posted earlier; see sidebar at the right.

One (1) producing well completed:
  • 22994, 1,049, Abraxas, Jore Federal 2-11-4H, North Fork, t5/14; cum 8K 5/14;

For Investors Only; Market Highs -- July 3, 2014; Shortened Trading Day

Trading at new 52-week highs: EW, GBX, HES, NOV, SCCO, WFC.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here. 

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Sleeper Story Of 2014?

Ebola continues to spread in Africa.
There have been 759 confirmed or suspected cases of the haemorrhagic fever in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday, with 467 people dead.

"This makes the ongoing Ebola outbreak the largest in terms of the number of cases and deaths as well as geographical spread," the WHO said in a statement announcing a two-day conference in Ghana to be attended by 11 West African health ministers.

"Decisions taken at this meeting will be critical in addressing the current and future outbreaks," it said.

Since West Africa's first ever epidemic of the deadly and highly contagious fever broke out in Guinea in January, the WHO has sent in more than 150 experts to help tackle the regional crisis.

Despite the efforts of the UN agency and other health workers, there has been a "significant increase" in the rate of new cases and deaths in recent weeks, the WHO said.

Terror-fied? Saudi Arabia and ISIS -- July 3, 2014 -- That Didn't Take Long

On June 12, 2014, "along the watch tower," I wrote:
If this "thing" in Iraq goes as it appears to be going, once the sand settles, I may have to add a fifth center of gravity: IranSyriaIraq. Which leads us to Saudi Arabia. One word: terrified
That didn't take long. The (London) Telegraph is reporting that Saudi Arabia is moving 30,000 troops along the Iraqi border, concerned about the spread of "foreign fanaticism," also known as "jihadism" (see below):
Saudi Arabia has sent 30,000 troops to reinforce its long northern desert border after Iraqi troops withdrew from the other side.
Fighters from Islamic State, the jihadist group, and its allies have already seized frontier posts on Iraq's western borders with Syria and Jordan. The southern border with Saudi Arabia, which regards itself as vulnerable to the threat of jihadism, is more than 500 miles long.
Large parts of it are with Anbar province, the centre of Islamic State power in Iraq and now almost entirely under the control either of the group itself or of Sunni Arab tribes that have allied with it.
The last serious incursion into Saudi Arabia also came from Iraq, after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. Iraqi forces were eventually repelled from the Saudi town of Khafji, the following January, but only after they were attacked from the air by American jets. [The Saudis can assume they cannot count on US air support this time around.]
Since then, the border has been relatively stable and far more concern and attention has been paid to the southern border with Yemen, which is mountainous and hard to control, and where there have been two separate, long-running insurgencies, one jihadist, and one led by a Shia breakaway movement.

Happy Fourth Of July -- The Market Closes Early Today; I'm Wrapping It Up Early For Now

From Yahoo!In-Play:
  • Enterprise Products Partners and Enbridge announced that the 512-mile loop of the Seaway Pipeline system from Cushing, Oklahoma, to the Jones Creek storage and terminal facility near Freeport, Texas, is mechanically complete. The new 30-inch Seaway Loop Pipeline is expected to more than double the capacity of the Seaway system to 850,000 bopd.
I assume this is the "Seaway Reversal." If folks recall: the Keystone XL was to have capacity of about 850,000 bopd.  There is a "Seaway" tag that will take you other Seaway stories on the blog.

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A Good News Story ... For Some
North Dakota At The Top For Jobs -- 32 States Lagging

The Bismarck Tribune is reporting:
Five years after the Great Recession officially ended, most states still haven't regained all the jobs they lost, even though the nation as a whole has.
North Dakota is an exception.
In May, the overall economy finally recovered all 9 million jobs that vanished in the worst downturn since the 1930s. Another month of solid hiring is expected in the U.S. jobs report for June that will be released today.
Yet 32 states still have fewer jobs than when the recession began in December 2007 — evidence of the unevenness and persistently slow pace of the recovery.
Other data points at the linked article:
  • North Dakota has added 100,000 jobs since December 2007 — a stunning 28 percent increase, by far the nation’s highest numbers in job creation -- I assume it's all the wind farms; the article did not mention the Bakken, BNSF, ethanol, or agriculture
  • Illinois is down 184,000 jobs from pre-recession levels; factory layoffs
  • New Jersey is down 147,000, factory layoffs
  • Florida is down 170,000 in the aftermath of its real estate market collapse
  • Washington D.C., where lobbying is an all but recession-proof occupation, are up 49,000, or 7 percent
  • Wall Street’s recovery from the financial crisis has helped New York gain 237,000 jobs since the recession ended, an increase of nearly 3 percent
That's really quite phenomenal: the population of North Dakota was around 650,000 people (before the boom) -- that includes everyone: men, women, and children; workers and non-workers. To add 100,000 new jobs in the past seven years is ... well, stunning, as The Bismarck Tribune writes. And even more jobs are opening every day. Absolutely stunning.

When you get right down to it, 32 states lagging is not a good commentary on the economy overall. People coming to work in North Dakota are not coming here for the weather. Five years into the recovery and a trillion dollars in stimulus, and here we are. Thirty-two states still struggling.

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Odd Bit Of Trivia For This Weekend's Cocktail Parties

Quick: name the country that accounts for 67% (2 out of 3) of Europe's deliveries for Tesla.

Answer: Norway.

The country is oil-rich, and the people are environmentally conscious.

But the numbers are in for the most recent quarter: deliveries to Norway dropped almost 50% in the latest data. Apparently Tesla sales in Norway are not on fire. One wonders if word-of-mouth about battery reliability in cold weather has anything to do with this?

Tesla may have to depend on China to fill the gap.

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Will She Be Driving A Tesla 18 Years From Now

 Our third granddaughter at two days of age or thereabouts.