North Dakota may be bigger oil player than Alaska

By LAUREN DONOVAN
Bismarck Tribune

A geologist who estimated the Bakken formation in western North Dakota has far more oil than the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge died before other scientists could authenticate his study.

Leigh Price, a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, published a study in 1999 that estimates the Bakken shales formation, which underlies much of several western and northwestern counties, may hold up to 400 billion barrels of oil.

By comparison, the Arctic refuge oil reserve is estimated at 16 billion barrels.

Now, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., is pushing the federal agency to complete scientific work on Price’s paper as part of a national inventory of the nation’s oil resources.

The Bakken formation is being developed to some extent in North Dakota, but with better success so far on the Montana side of the formation.

Recently, Marathon Oil, a major national and international oil developer, acquired 200,000 mineral acres from Billings to McKenzie counties and plans to drill as many as 300 wells into the Bakken in the next five years.

The company has leased office space in Dickinson and is being closely watched in hopes the expertise and knowledge it brings to bear on the field can unlock the key to successful production from the Bakken.

Price died in 2000 and his study was never peer reviewed, or compared to other studies of the Williston Basin.

Dorgan said the study could have major implications for future oil development in the state.

“If some of the estimates about the Bakken Shale are anywhere near accurate, there may be substantial new oil production in North Dakota’s future,” Dorgan said. “This could create a new, long-term boost to North Dakota’s economy and help move our country toward energy independence. I think USGS has an obligation to put the completion of this study on the fast track.”

Lynn Helms, director of the State Oil and Gas Division, said U.S. Geological Survey credibility coupled with Price’s original estimate could bring major oil activity into North Dakota, along with federal research dollars.

Helms said the state agency supports an estimate of around 200 billion barrels in the Bakken formation, still a huge number.

Patrick Leahy, acting director of the federal Geological Survey, said because of recent interest in Price’s report he has directed the agency to review Price’s conclusions and release appropriate data.

In the meantime, Leahy said it would be irresponsible for Price’s study to be disseminated. It is posted on the state Energy and Environmental Research Center’s Web site.

Leahy said the 2000 Energy Policy and Conservation Act, and amendments, call for creating a scientific inventory of all national oil reserves.

He said the next formal study and inventory of oil and gas in North Dakota’s Williston Basin — the overriding formation that includes the Bakken — is scheduled for 2007-08.

Leahy said the Bakken formation and Williston Basin inventory can’t be accelerated without disrupting other inventories that are well under way.

He said the estimates in Price’s study were not found with the same methods developed for the Energy Policy and Conservation Act inventory.

Oil Falls From Record After U.S. Supplies Grow for a Sixth Week
 

By Mark Shenk

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell after an Energy Department report showed that U.S. inventories rose more than expected last week, the sixth-straight increase.

Inventories climbed 4.2 million barrels to 305.3 million barrels, the highest since November, the report showed. A gain of 2.4 million barrels was forecast, according to the median of 12 responses in a Bloomberg News survey. Supplies of gasoline rose and stockpiles of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, dropped, the report showed.

``Gasoline supplies are near the highest level ever, and crude oil supplies are still gaining,'' said Kyle Cooper, director of research at IAF Advisors in Houston. ``Even though distillate supplies fell, the drop was smaller than a year ago so the deficit is falling.''

Crude oil for April delivery fell 32 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $99.38 a barrel at 11:19 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are up 65 percent from a year ago. Futures rose to a record $101.32 a barrel yesterday on signs OPEC may cut output and that U.S. interest rates may fall.

Brent crude for April settlement declined 39 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $98.03 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. Futures reached $99.22 a barrel yesterday, the highest since trading began in 1988.

The department released its weekly report on inventories today at 10:30 a.m. in Washington, a day later than usual because of the Presidents Day holiday on Feb. 18.

Crude-oil stockpiles have risen 22.4 million barrels, or 7.9 percent, in the past six weeks. Supplies last week were 1.9 percent above the five-year average for the period, the department said. Inventories were 1.2 percent above the five-year average a week earlier.

Refinery Operations

Refineries operated at 83.5 percent of capacity, down 1.6 percentage points from the prior week, the report showed. It was the lowest rate since March 2006.

``The low operating rates would be cause for concern if we had demand growth, but we don't,'' said Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citigroup Global Markets Inc. in New York. ``Refineries are curtailing output for economic reasons. There's weak product demand and they are responding by reducing output.''

Total implied fuel demand averaged 20.7 million barrels a day in the past four weeks, down 1.1 percent from a year earlier, the department said. Demand for distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, averaged 4.3 million barrels over the period, down 1.9 percent last year.

Gasoline demand averaged 9 million barrels a day over the period, up 0.5 percent from a year earlier.

The department measures shipments from refineries, pipelines and terminals to calculate demand.

``Oil is going to back off here in the second quarter,'' billionaire hedge-fund manager said in an interview on CNBC. ``It'll be back above $100 in the second half.''

Pickens, the founder and chairman of Dallas-based BP Capital LLC, told CNBC that he was short on both crude oil and natural gas. He didn't provide additional information on his positions. A short is a bet that prices will decline.

For the first time in my adult life I am really proud of my country

I can express hope, not for myself, but for a nation that has suffered more wars than any other. A Nation who in it's recent history has chained blacks to the back of pick-ups and dragged them to their deaths. Nailed homosexuals to a barbed wire fence in the middle of the winter and left them to die.

I can express hope that there may be an American future that does not include those disgraceful acts.

Mine is an authentic hope.

It does not make hero's of those who would do the job that is expected of them.  Such as President Carter who initiated the destruction of the Soviet Union and the resulting tearing down of the Berlin wall.

To do ones job is admirable.

But to recognize a change of heart for an entire nation. Is hope of an unmeasurable degree.

Reuters: U.S. military stretched dangerously thin by war: poll 

February 19, 2008 - The U.S. military has been stretched dangerously thin by the Iraq war, according to almost 90 percent of retired and current military officers polled on the state of America's armed forces.

Eighty percent said it would be unreasonable to expect the U.S. military to wage another major war successfully at this time, according to the poll by the Center for a New American Security think tank and Foreign Policy magazine.

More than 3,400 serving and retired officers took part in the poll, organizers said. Around 90 percent were retired officers, a large majority had combat experience and about 10 percent had served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The findings reflect concerns expressed publicly, although usually in less stark terms, by top U.S. military officers, who say frequent long deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan have put great stress on both troops and equipment.

"We are putting more strains on the all-volunteer force than it was ever designed to bear," Army Lt. Col. John Nagl, a prominent counterinsurgency expert, said at a panel discussion in Washington on Tuesday to announce the results of the survey.

Eighty-eight percent of respondents said the U.S. military had been stretched dangerously thin by Iraq. Sixty percent said the military was weaker than five years ago, 25 percent said it was stronger and 15 percent said it was about the same.

But 56 percent of the officers still said the military had not been broken by the war and 64 percent judged morale to be "somewhat high" or "very high."

The survey also showed sharp disagreements over the use of harsh interrogation techniques by the United States. Fifty-three percent of officers said torture was never acceptable but 44 percent disagreed.

About 46 percent said waterboarding was torture while 43 percent disagreed. Critics worldwide condemn waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning, as torture but the Bush administration does not define it as such.

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him? 

I got a million of them...

143 Million Pounds of Beef Recalled

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: February 17, 2008

The recall will affect beef products dating to Feb. 1, 2006, that came from Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., the federal agency

said.http://www.nytimes.com/apon...

They heard us Dean.

Thank -You..

We don't have a revenue problem. We have a spend problem.

So the solution is?

Cut taxes until we have both a spend problem and a revenue problem..

NOT!
 

The Laffer Curve. The bit of scribbling all the Reagan economist bow to. In no way endorses spending cuts or tax cuts. It endorse a equilibrium of the two. Never mind the total heights they reach.

The problem with the likes of the Reaganites is that they cut taxes without regard to where the economy sits on the curve.

There are programs such as Social Security and Medicare that are a fixture in America. They will not go away. And their elimination would not help the general tax fund revenue in any case. They are not paid for by the General tax fund.

Good luck eliminating Corporate welfare and farm subsidies. It aint going to happen.

You want to cut spending. Get our troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq. We can not afford them. Fighting there has Killed almost 4000 Americans now. And we are not any safer.

Our economy is under attack by foreign Nationals such as The Banks of China and multi national petro Corporations.

Of course isolationism is bad for the CEO and the foreign Nation Corporations. But it can't be any worse for the American worker. Than the place our economy is going now.

3.1 TRILLION Dollars. Not counting the price this year for the War in Iraq and Afghanistan.

All to fight a bunch of idiots that in 2001 totaled less than 2500 incompetent extremists.  The New York Police department is Many, Many times bigger than all of Al Qaeda.

President Carter's plan was to trick the USSR into a war in Afghanistan. He new it was going to be their V.N. He new that it would bankrupt the USSR. He was right and it led to the fall of the Berlin wall and the split up of the USSR.

AND AMERICA LEARNED N0THING...

Whether you want to accept it. The world will not accept imperialism. You can call the rejection of imperialism, isolationism if you wish.

But we must know by now. Occupation even of the lowly Somalia is a feat even the mightiest nation on the earth can not succeed at.

So back to the point.

It is a rejection of imperialism that will build our roads. It is the rejection of war that will build the hydrogen infrastructure. It is a dedication to the homeland that will build solar and wind farms.

It is right headedness. It is clear thinking. It is learning from our mistakes and recognizing the ability and resources this country is blessed with.

That will keep the terrorists out.

The cost we paid for the War in Iraq. Would have build the entire hydrogen infrastructure needed for Central and North America.

And put change in our pockets.

And Change to our environment.

Stop calling me dude. Shut your mouth I am talking to you! Somebody is going to kill you!

10 Years ago. This officer was decorated a hero...

Missing!!!

Heaven Forbid I should go the way of the Younger Bush Jr.

Scorpio

October 23 - November 21

If you are not careful there is a strong possibility that you will overindulge today, dear Scorpio. Your career frustrations may manifest themselves in the form of overeating, excess drinking or reckless spending. These are just symptoms that are masking the real problem. If you can take some time to meditate, you will find that your nerves calm and the root of your frustrations are revealed. Once you are working with the facts, it will be easier to devise an effective solution.

TK continues:

Pray that my greatest sin will be,

a little over blogging.

Just a bit excessive.

Only enough to put Justin over the abyss.

It's almost 8am. I'll have to sneak out and round up the neighbors newspaper off his driveway I suppose.

Jason is about to start playing with the internets again.

You all know the color of that picture.

Oh Nancy,

The Dale Anthem. Brought to you by TK. (Dale, as in the Scottish 'Dales', They are the upper crust 08'ers.)

I live over here in Holy Wood.

So I got plenty of time to defend both the 05'ers and the 08'ers.

If you get tired of defending the Dale this morning. Just ring me up.

Jcflores4,

Welcome back to Bakersfield.

Yea, It's only a blog. But it's still good to feel at home.

Spent 7.5 years roaming around in the army.

Bakersfield was always a part of my life.

Slow posting.

It is taking forever for Posts and comments to post. It makes it extremely difficult to converse.

Jason! Are you screening every post before posting? :>)

Rec, I will try again.

I Posted the photos. Then checked the post to make sure everything was ok. It was, so I deleted the Email.

My bad.

I think the photo's might be too large for the blog. And will not load. I might have to post them individually.

What does Mind your P's and Q's mean?

Mind your Ps and Qs can mean to be careful, vigilant, or, more often, polite. For example, a mother might mention that Aunt Gertrude is a stickler for manners and the children had better mind their Ps and Qs when she visits. There are several suggested origins for the phrase, which often differ from the way it is now used.

In the 17th century Ps and Qs stood for prime quality. Ps and Qs were often written as pees and kews. It is cited in the Oxford English Dictionary as having been used in a quote in Rowland’s Knave of Hearts. A character orders alcohol and asks that it be Pee and Kew, suggesting prime quality.

In the 19th century the term became associated with the difficulty of learning which way lower case Ps and Qs faced. Teachers told students to learn their Ps and Qs. This could have been similarly applied to other lower case letters like Bs and Ds, however. Also dance teachers may have enjoined students to remember their pieds and queues, two dance moves.

Another possible point of origin for “mind your Ps and Qs” is the practice of bartenders keeping marks on tabs of ale served in pints or quarts. A person with little money might enjoin the bartender to mind his Ps and Qs to avoid being overcharged. In fact a bartender who didn’t mind his Ps and Qs could be accused of cheating his customers.

Read more:

http://www.wisegeek.com/wha...

Florida Legislature set Democrat primary date. Not the Democrat Party.

It was the republican Florida legislature that has disenfranchised the Florida voter again.

Should this transgression go ignored.

The odd consequence of this misdeed may be to elect the Republicans toughest opponent , Obama.

Even if the Florida Republicans are force to live this disgrace. Would it allow the Florida voter their due rewards.

The inherent right to vote.

Gothgirl, (A Bakersfield girl), Plays the Tennessee Waltz.

Jaz McKay condemns Capitalism.

Redistribution of Wealth is not a liberal idea. It is a basic tenet of Capitalism.

If you condemn Redistribution of Wealth. You condemn Capitalism.

In order that an economy not resort to a fiefdom. There must be a redistribution of wealth. Money would all pool in the hands of one if capitalism did not hold close the practice of Redistribution of Wealth..

There are many forms of redistribution. All of them have as a purpose the betterment of society and therefore the benefit of the economy of the Capitalist society. Building of roads, parks, welfare, support for the needy, the ill, the disabled, the elderly, along with a tax in proportion to ones benefit from society. Are all examples of legitimate redistributions of wealth.

Capitalism can not exist outside of the law. Capitalism can not exist outside of regulation.

Capitalism can not exist outside of Society.

Capitalism can not exist outside the Redistribution of Wealth.

PERIOD

Jaz please read Adam Smith, 'Wealth of Nations'.

Why is Bush paying 100 dollars a barrel for Crude. Just to pump it into salt mines?

Does this make any sense?

American's have reduced their use of petro by unheard of levels.

Consumption of petro and Refinery usage has been going down for months

Refineries may soon have to shut down. Usage is at historically low levels of only 83%

We are shipping refined product out out the country. Because of a lack of storage.

The only thing that is propping up crude prices. Is Bush's opening up of MORE salt mines for storage.

If the salt mine shipments were closed for a few weeks.

The Price of Petro would fall faster than a 'bond insurance' stock price.

Is Inga Barks in Foreclosure?

A caller on the Inga show yesterday made reference to a report that indicated Inga was in some form of foreclosure. The Call was cut off in the middle of the callers sentence. And Inga went on to speak insignificantly and suggested that the caller was wrong.

I am sure she may be correct. But the fact that the call was cut off. Raises room for legitimate debate.

Without delving into individual characters.

What standard of morality should talk radio obtain?

Should each program have a forewarning.

Content may be fictitious and without substantiating fact.

The character and morality of each announcer self verified.

In order to keep myself abreast of the counter political argument. I have in the past dwelled in the gutters of Bakersfield talk radio.

Should I have to continue to dirty myself to stay informed.

What standards should I expect.

Name calling and hateful speech. Drunkenness. Financial immorality?

There is no doubt that there are those that can turn their life around and use their experiences to teach.

But would you suggest that while in the midst of their problems. These spokespeople should be given the podium to teach.

Street corners are for free speech.

Radio is a commercial enterprise.

Owners need to re-evaluate their programing.

Before advertisers do the re-evaluation for them.

Happy Dreams and Sad Dreams.

Sometimes it's hard to figure out which ones memories are.

Get right! Social Security is not part of the budget or the general tax fund.

TBC article on page A5 is extremely misleading. It is also very common.

Social Security and Medicare do not raise your income tax or any tax for that matter. They are paid for from completely different funds. FICA for Socials Security and the Medicare deduction.

FICA and Medicare funds are both in surplus today. And they will be in surplus for years to come.

We don't have a revenue problem. We have a spend problem.

So the solution is?

Cut taxes until we have both a spend problem and a revenue problem..

NOT!
 

The Laffer Curve. The bit of scribbling all the Reagan economist bow to. In no way endorses spending cuts or tax cuts. It endorse a equilibrium of the two. Never mind the total heights they reach.

The problem with the likes of the Reaganites is that they cut taxes without regard to where the economy sits on the curve.

There are programs such as Social Security and Medicare that are a fixture in America. They will not go away. And their elimination would not help the general tax fund revenue in any case. They are not paid for by the General tax fund.

Good luck eliminating Corporate welfare and farm subsidies. It aint going to happen.

You want to cut spending. Get our troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq. We can not afford them. Fighting there has Killed almost 4000 Americans now. And we are not any safer.

Our economy is under attack by foreign Nationals such as The Banks of China and multi national petro Corporations.

Of course isolationism is bad for the CEO and the foreign Nation Corporations. But it can't be any worse for the American worker. Than the place our economy is going now.

3.1 TRILLION Dollars. Not counting the price this year for the War in Iraq and Afghanistan.

All to fight a bunch of idiots that in 2001 totaled less than 2500 incompetent extremists.  The New York Police department is Many, Many times bigger than all of Al Qaeda.

President Carter's plan was to trick the USSR into a war in Afghanistan. He new it was going to be their V.N. He new that it would bankrupt the USSR. He was right and it led to the fall of the Berlin wall and the split up of the USSR.

AND AMERICA LEARNED N0THING...

Whether you want to accept it. The world will not accept imperialism. You can call the rejection of imperialism, isolationism if you wish.

But we must know by now. Occupation even of the lowly Somalia is a feat even the mightiest nation on the earth can not succeed at.

So back to the point.

It is a rejection of imperialism that will build our roads. It is the rejection of war that will build the hydrogen infrastructure. It is a dedication to the homeland that will build solar and wind farms.

It is right headedness. It is clear thinking. It is learning from our mistakes and recognizing the ability and resources this country is blessed with.

That will keep the terrorists out.

The cost we paid for the War in Iraq. Would have build the entire hydrogen infrastructure needed for Central and North America.

And put change in our pockets.

And Change to our environment.

Hey KERN 1410. How about a upgrade.

Keep the 8 hours of UFO reporting. But pencil in ole Scott for 16. Other than an inability to get a good gig.

And he is a bit rough around the edges.

He does seem to be fair in his commentary. (Let's all distinguish between reporting and gabbing into a Mic for 16 hours).

Now for those who may want to listen in to Ole Scott. Do as I do. Don't listen to 1410 while in the house. It leaves a stench and such a mess you wouldn't believe.

I drag the Motorola out to the back while cleaning up after Buster.

That way I only have to wash up once when I am done. :>)

I thought this was the last Time?

After VN I thought we learned. Yet we went back for more of the same in Iraq.

I suppose a hope for change, is pissing  into the wind.

But it's better than pissing on a sparkplug of an engine, to make it start.

Today these guys would have been called patriots and hero's. 

There is no question Change is called for.

That's all that needs to be said.

I took my posts to the psycologists today. He said the contents were bi-polar..

Before I learned to talk. There was only the music.

Music from the belly laugh to the broken heart..