| From: quehubo | 12/3/2006 8:42:45 PM | | | | | | EIA 914 updated last week for September.
Texas where most of the land drilling effort is being felt is little better in September than in May.
Has the GOM rolled over?
Overall USA production flat with all this activity leading up to September. USA Drilling really ramped between March and October in the USA, maybe we will feel its impact soon. Then again the Canadian gas directed counted dropped more than the US count rose.
The last 12 weeks we averaged about 90 less gas directed rigs in NA then we did in the first 12 weeks.
eia.doe.gov |
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| To: smh who wrote (75861) | 12/3/2006 11:23:27 PM | | From: energyplay | | | | The Rare Earth Situation - there has been concern about the rare earth situation in Western Countries for a long time.
This may be a longer answer than you wanted.
Most rare earths are found in pegmatite dikes, sort of linear ridges 2-200 feet wide, and 50 feet to a mile long. Mining them tends to be labor intensive, and the processing tend to be labor intensive also.
Rare Earths earn good money for China.
Unocal ownership of Molycorp and the Mountian Pass, California mine was well known. The Mountian Pass mine was partialy shut down by the expansion of a Desert Conservation Area. I understand the ore is close to the surface. Unlike like deep mines which can have flooding, ground creep and cave in problems, the Montain Pass could be restarted fairly quickly. It is not remote, it is about 20 miles from I-15 going from LA to Las Vegas.
California labor costs are a bit higher than China's...
I believe there are some rare earths on the Brush Wellman (NYSE:BW) properties in Utah, in addition to beryllium.
Canada has a large number of rare Earth ore bodies, mostly in Ontario and Quebec.
There has been a search for rare earth deposits, and a number have been found in Africa, Asia outside of China, and other places.
Rare earth consumption has increased with the growth of consumer technology. Because of the increased consumption, there is quite a bit of rare earth in the produciton pipelines for TV phosphor, disk drives, laser equipment, etc.
Inspite of the name Rare Earths, most aren't really rare, just diffused into all sorts of rock, and hard to separate chemically. They are not rare like platinum. To mine them econommcally, you need to find a pegamtite or other rock where they are concentrate - and pegamatites with rare earths are infrequent.
So, bottom line -
Most of the military and economic strategic planners know about this.
It would be hard for China to execute a resource denial strategy that would accomplish anything major. Could they use the economic leverage to dominate phosphor for TV tubes, and thus take over a larger slice of the tube TV market ? Sure. But what do they win ? Look at retail tube TV prices for 19 inch color that isn't a SONY ;-)
Much of the really high tech stuff uses relatively little rare earths - maybe a few box car loads per year for the 50+ companies in the US.
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There's a real resource fight over oil, obviously.
There is occasionaly a real shooting war over the cobalt from the Katanga province in the Congo. It is the major source of world cobalt outside of the Former Soviet Union countries.
Cobalt, and lots of it, is essential for jet engines.
The Russian have a great position in the Platinum group metals, Pt, Pd, Ir, Os, Re, Rh. South Africa is a large producer, and there is some prodcution in Canada and a little in Alaska.
The Russains play the Platinum market like a yo-yo, extracting maximum profits.
I don't know about Tungsten, but becuse some of the mines are labor intensive, I expect China has some leverage there.
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The above metals, Cobalt and the PGMs, are where I think the US would be vulnerable to resource denial by foreign powers.
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The real economy killer right now is natual gas. The high price has damaged the chemical and fertilizer industries, and thus the US plastics industry and farmers. The high plastics then pushes up cost for car parts, furniture, and other items.
The farm jobs go to Mexico and South America, and the industrial jobs go to East Asia.
The natural gas mess is 98% Made in the US.
Strategic resource denial by our own stupidity.
By the way Alan Greenspan made an extensive speech in Congrressional hearings warning of this about 5 years ago.
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There are other metals in short supply, but they tend be situated in countries allied with the US or in the US.
Nickle is one, but Canada has huge deposits, currently subject of bidding wars for Inco and Falconbridge etc.
Copper is another, but Chile is the main producer, and there is expanding mine production in the US, plus Canada and Australia have procduction.
Uranium maybe be short, but both Canada, Australia, and the US have major deposits.
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I expect it is possible to make good money in all these metals.
How is the questions, but there is a bull market in metals and metal stocks. |
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| To: Big Dog who wrote (75874) | 12/4/2006 12:21:41 AM | | From: buckbldr | | | | Yo, Your Bigness...Put me and Mz B in the "interested" column. We're doing some calculating to see if we can afford to board for what sounds like an intriguing event for this group.
Are there any plans/efforts to try to obtain group prices on the cruise fares, and/or the air fare to Copenhagen? If so, what would be the closing dates for us to indicate confirmation?
If we can just keep ol' Que lookin' out to th' bright side on this weather ('05 summer, extreme hurricanes in GOM...'06 summer, nary a one! Soo...why not '06 Jan, lazy hazy days of summer...'07 Jan, freezin' the balls off a well driller?). Sure would help me and the Missus see fit to come aboard for what's bound to be a helluva great party!
Just added a new pair of long johns to Santa's list to keep my butt warm this winter, Que. <ggg>
Buck |
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| To: Dennis Roth who wrote (75864) | 12/4/2006 4:00:17 AM | | From: enginer | | | | US Govt Develops alternative to Palm Oil, uses much less Land
In a multi-decade long project the government studied an oil source that would reduce the impact on Cornflakes prices from the rediculous ethanol fad we are seeing. Many millions are being spent on this concept by private companies who see the potential to gain carbon credits and even eliminate much NOx from power plant stacks...
Land costs are 1000 times less than biodiesel from Soy!
nrel.gov |
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| From: Ed Ajootian | 12/4/2006 8:07:01 AM | | | | | | The linked article about the January Effect, finance.yahoo.com , makes an interesting point -- that it mostly just applies to the lower market cap stocks.
Bringing this home to the E&P arena, I present my top 3 candidates for January Effect moves this year:
1) Petrosearch Energy (PTSG) -- this company is taking the term "late bloomer" to the max, but, more than a year after it raised a bunch of cash it is finally starting to put some numbers on the board. The stock price has recovered recently but I believe it has a lot more to run, which I predict will occur once the tax-loss season is over.
2) Westside Energy (WHT) -- they have a great play going in the Barnett Shale, only problem is nobody knows it. A big chunk of their acreage is in the same county that EOG was recently singing the virtues of.
3) Dune Energy (DNE) -- they are going nutty drilling and fracing holes, but the market is wary of buying the stock because they have to come up with $25 M in about a month to complete the financing for their Barnett Shale acquisitions. Once this occurs, and tax-loss selling season is over, this turkey should fly.
If you wanna talk low market caps for January Effect stocks, you got 'em -- each of the first 2 companies have market caps below $30 M. |
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| From: ldo79 | 12/4/2006 8:21:45 AM | | | | | | One to keep an eye on. Our not-so-friendly crude suppliers to the south, east and west would love to inflict $USD pain.
US tells banks to shut down Iran operations
By Andrew Murray-Watson
Published: 03 December 2006
Several of the UK's largest banks fear they could face the full legislative wrath of the US government unless they bow to Washington's pressure to shut their operations in Iran.
It is believed that officials in President George Bush's administration have also put pressure on banks with operations in the US, including RBS, HSBC and Barclays, to stop acting on behalf of UK business customers in Iran. Barclays, it is thought, has already told its corporate clients that it will not accept deposits from transactions originating in Iran.
The finance director of an AIM-listed company with significant operations in Iran said: "Barclays told us that it is unable to act as our bank as far as Iran is concerned. We have not been told why." HSBC has said it will no longer accept dollar transactions from within Iran, while RBS declined to comment.
Although the UK banks involved are listed and incorporated in the UK, all have either a secondary listing or substantial operations in the US that makes them potentially vulnerable to US government action.
A senior executive at one of the banks affected said: "The consequences of not toeing the American line on Iran have not been made clear, but we were left in no doubt that we might not want to find out."
A spokeswoman for the US Treasury Department confirmed that meetings had taken place with senior UK bankers. However, she stressed that the talks had been set up so that US government officials could "equip banks with information" about the dangers of allowing Iran to remain part of the international financial community.
Business leaders in the UK have grown increasingly worried that they might fall foul of US legal or regulatory censure for actions that take place in the UK or in another country. It emerged last month that American victims of terrorist attacks were pursuing civil actions against US subsidiaries of NatWest and Crédit Lyonnais on the grounds that their parent companies provided banking facilities in the UK and France for charities that the US Treasury Department believes has links to Hamas, the militant Palestinian organisation.
The US has imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran - because of its alleged support for international terrorism - and individuals found to have breached the economic restrictions face a fine of up to $250,000 (£126,000) and 20 years in jail.
Several of the UK's largest banks fear they could face the full legislative wrath of the US government unless they bow to Washington's pressure to shut their operations in Iran.
It is believed that officials in President George Bush's administration have also put pressure on banks with operations in the US, including RBS, HSBC and Barclays, to stop acting on behalf of UK business customers in Iran. Barclays, it is thought, has already told its corporate clients that it will not accept deposits from transactions originating in Iran.
The finance director of an AIM-listed company with significant operations in Iran said: "Barclays told us that it is unable to act as our bank as far as Iran is concerned. We have not been told why." HSBC has said it will no longer accept dollar transactions from within Iran, while RBS declined to comment.
Although the UK banks involved are listed and incorporated in the UK, all have either a secondary listing or substantial operations in the US that makes them potentially vulnerable to US government action.
A senior executive at one of the banks affected said: "The consequences of not toeing the American line on Iran have not been made clear, but we were left in no doubt that we might not want to find out."
A spokeswoman for the US Treasury Department confirmed that meetings had taken place with senior UK bankers. However, she stressed that the talks had been set up so that US government officials could "equip banks with information" about the dangers of allowing Iran to remain part of the international financial community.
Business leaders in the UK have grown increasingly worried that they might fall foul of US legal or regulatory censure for actions that take place in the UK or in another country. It emerged last month that American victims of terrorist attacks were pursuing civil actions against US subsidiaries of NatWest and Crédit Lyonnais on the grounds that their parent companies provided banking facilities in the UK and France for charities that the US Treasury Department believes has links to Hamas, the militant Palestinian organisation.
The US has imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran - because of its alleged support for international terrorism - and individuals found to have breached the economic restrictions face a fine of up to $250,000 (£126,000) and 20 years in jail.
news.independent.co.uk |
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