Happy Birthday, Katie Ledecky -- March 16, 2016

Birthday: March 17.

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The Bakken Goes Boom

Book released February 26, 2016. At Amazon.com.

Story here.

“The neat thing about this book is that it’s not just academics talking to each other,” said Conway.

“It’s journalists, poets and artists, too.  Art and poetry can open up a different world for us which is why everyone whose life is affected by oil — and that means everyone, not just North Dakotans — should read this book.”

The book features contributions from national and local authors who each offer distinct visions of the challenges and opportunities of the Bakken oil boom in the context of both Western North Dakota and the world, and  captures a fascinating moment in the history both of the state and of global oil production.

Books On Broadway, in Williston, has this book in stock.

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The Amazon Halo Effect?

FedEx shares surge after reporting better-than-expected earnings. Adjusted earnings came in at $2.51 a share, handily beating Wall Street's projections of $2.34 a share and higher than $2.03 a share it reported a year ago.

"Our strong financial performance was driven by increasing demand for our broad portfolio of FedEx business solutions which helped increase revenue and adjusted profit for the corporation," CEO Frederick Smith stated.

The Memphis, TN-based company also benefited from cheaper fuel and currency exchange rates.

Would it be cheaper for Amazon to buy FedEx or build its own global delivery system?

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Trouble in Paradise?

Bloomberg is reporting:

Ricardo Reyes has left Tesla Motors Inc. after less than 18 months as vice president of global communications just as the electric-car maker prepares to sell its most important new model.

A Tesla spokesman confirmed that Reyes has left the company. He had the top communications job from November 2014 until recently. Reyes declined to comment on his departure.

The top communications job is vital to Tesla because, unlike other automakers, the electric car maker doesn’t spend millions of dollars on traditional advertising. The company instead relies on media coverage by courting automotive and technology press and has also gotten attention thanks to the savvy Twitter activity of Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, who has 3.6 million followers on the site.

 Perhaps to spend more time with his family.

John Kemp's Weekly Energy Tweets Have Been Posted -- March 16, 2016

If the spirit moves me, I may post some of them tomorrow. Bottom line: the numbers are changing quickly (and in a positive direction for the oil and gas industry). John Kemp can be followed at Twitter.

Which reminds me. Recently (yesterday?) there was an article in The Wall Street Journal about the problems folks have with Twitter. I did not understand Twitter for the longest time, but without question, it is one of the best tools out there. Lots of advice could be given, but I think if folks "study" Twitter for a short period of time, they can make it a very, very useful tool.

One suggestion: multiple Twitter accounts if that's possible. I only have one Twitter account but I can imagine that having three or four Twitter accounts could be very useful. Sort of like having multiple e-mail addresses.

Okay, I'll post one John Kemp graphic. I still think it's possible the US could break the 10 million bbls of oil used in one day sometime this year.

Well, Isn't This Interesting! -- Maybe OPEC/Russia Are Getting Ready To Talk -- March 16, 2016

Updates

March 17, 2016: one SeekingAlpha contributor is calling this an emergency meeting with this summary:

• a Saudi source confirms emergency meeting
• 15 OPEC and non-OPEC producers to attend
• the Iran "problem" appears to be solved
• producers' talk can support prices
• they may even try for a cut to get relief

Original Post

 

Tweeting now: Crude oil prices rallying after SaudiArabia, Kuwait, Qatar say they might limit oil output even if Iran doesn't.

Tweeting now: Qatar says the meeting is scheduled for April 17, 2016.

I posted this yesterday:

No specifics, just reading the tea leaves. Most likely the first meeting will end with concessions to Iran and then working from there, with more definitive commitments at the next OPEC meeting in June.

Things seem to be moving quickly. 

In round numbers, Iran is producing somewhere around 3.5 million bopd. Iran says they won't talk about freezing production until they get to 4.0 million bopd. Some analysts don't think Iran can get to 4.0 million bopd any time soon. Whether they can or can't seems to be a red herring. When the world is producing/consuming about 90 million bopd, a half-million bopd delta is hardly worth quibbling about. Or maybe I'm missing something.

I wonder if they will invite President Obama to the meeting. He usually has something useful to say.

Growth Of US Crude Oil Inventories Slumps -- March 16, 2016

Tweeting now: US crude inventories +1.3 million bbl last week, EIAgov says. WSJ-surveyed analysts had estimated +3.3 million bbl.

This is a huge drop in the "growth" of US crude inventories in just the past three weeks. We should see the charts tomorrow.  This was the growth just a few weeks ago, posted March 2, 2016:

U.S. crude inventories jumped by 9.9 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday, much more than the 3.6-million-barrel increase analysts had forecast.

Despite Growing Global Economy, Global CO2 Emissions No Higher Than They Were In 2013 -- March 16,2 016

From  Oil & Gas Journal:

Emissions of carbon dioxide remained unchanged for the second year in a row in 2015 while the global economy continued to grow, according to preliminary data from the International Energy Agency.

CO₂ emissions totaled 32.1 billion tonnes last year, about their level since 2013.
EIA said electricity generated by renewable energy “played a critical role.”

Renewable energy accounted for about 90% of new electricity generation in 2015, IEA said. Of that increment, wind accounted for more than half.

Apparently no credit is given for the #1 economy in the world switching from coal to natural gas. 

Considering how little intermittent energy accounts for total global energy, I would like to see a peer-reviewed study to back up the IEA's contention that the "good news" is due to wind and solar energy.