"If I see one more corporation declare itself 'green,' I'm going to start burning tires in my backyard." – Ed Hardiman, Bristow, Virginia

Eric’s Website

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=amrGyP3AIIAc&refer=energy

Fiction South

“In oil and gas, things are never as good as they appear, nor as bad -“ Richard Mason, publisher, Land Rig Newsletter.

Fiction South

How do you raise oil prices? Start a war in the Middle East.

Stocks pull back amid Middle East tensions - Yahoo! News.

Fiction South

This isn’t exactly about oil business, but these days all things are connected.

Book Review - 'Panic - The Story of Modern Financial Insanity,' Edited by Michael Lewis - Review - NYTimes.com.

Fiction South

A very interesting article.

Two bidders disrupt BLM lease sale in Utah - Oil & Gas Journal.

Fiction South

Marilyn and I recently purchased a new juicer and she is juicing practically every morning.  I began juicing years ago when my second wife Anne and I learned that she had cancer.

The two primary treatments for cancer are radiation and chemotherapy.  Both treatments harm a person’s entire body, as well as the cancer cells, and most patients soon lose their appetites and desire to eat.  Anne used to say that most food tasted like the working end of a ball peen hammer.

An oncologist told me once that many cancer patients die of malnutrition because ice cream and a few cold desserts are the only foods they can tolerate eating.  As Anne’s cancer progressed, this became a problem.

Some friends of ours had juiced for years and suggested that I get a juicer.  My cousin gave me a basic recipe that included soy protein, but it was much too bland and doughy.  I would not eat it myself, so I knew it was a lost cause trying it out on Anne.  I devised my own recipe instead and I began making it for her every morning.  It did not cure her cancer, but I feel strongly that it kept her alive, and with a better quality of life, for at least an extra six months.  Here is the recipe:

The Juice

2 apples, any variety

1 pear, any variety

3 carrots

1 broccoli stalk and crown

I would often add grapes, blackberries, blueberries, red bell peppers, etc.  Try these out for yourself.  I like to experiment, and sometimes the ingredients that I like make others wince.

Other Ingredients

½ cup of soy protein

½ cup of green stuff *

1 banana (a mango, papaya or other similar type fruit can be used instead – be creative)

½ blender of ice

• I think this product is Source of Life, but I cannot really remember.  It came in a large round can with a pop-off top.  The product itself was dry, like flour, and green.  It contained practically every nutrient, enzyme and vitamin known to humanity and was very expensive (about fifty bucks).  The product did not have an appetizing look and I don’t mind telling you that I thought about the movie Soylent Green every time I opened the package.

Put all the ingredients in the blender and then pulse until thoroughly blended.  Makes 2 large shakes.

Along with Anne, I drank variations of this concoction for over a year.  I never got sick during this time, not even a sniffle.  My blood pressure was perfect, as was my cholesterol, my body weight, etc.  I also had exceptional strength, and I believe I could have lifted the front end of a heavy car if I’d had to.

There is no good disease, and in the case of cancer, sometimes the side effects of the attempted cure are almost as horrible.  I am not a juicing spokesperson here, but if you are trying to care for a person with an appetite destroyed by radiation and chemo, try my shake on them.  If you are simply looking for a healthier life, try it yourself.  You might even like it.

Musings of a Dangerous Mind

Fear and indecision still abound in the crude market.

Oil rebounds from sharp fall in previous session - Yahoo! News.

Eric’s Website

The approach of every holiday seems to evoke memories for me, more so now than before.  This approaching Christmas caused me to remember an event that happened many years ago when I was a grunt in Vietnam.

My MOS, or Military Occupational Specialty (at least I think this is what it stands for) was 11-C - infantry mortar man.  When we changed areas of operation from the highlands to the flat plains, we got rid of our 81 mm mortar because it was too heavy to hump.  Since I was already used to carrying a twenty-three pound base plate our platoon sergeant chose me to carry the twenty-six pound M-60 machinegun.  The gun was a weapon that I had never even held in my hands, much less shot.

We were in a hot AO (area of operation) and everyone expected contact.  In a clearing, waiting for resupply, I extended the bipod of the gun and pointed it toward the tree line.  I was admiring my handiwork when a voice from behind disturbed my thoughts.

“Better lower the bipod.  If bullets start flying, you want to be as low to the ground as you can get.”

I turned to see a trooper named Denny.  He was white, but had dark black hair and a drooping handlebar moustache.  He was from Michigan, as were many of my fellow boonie rats.  Denny was a veteran of the recent Cambodian campaign and had participated in many firefights with the elusive enemy.

I lowered the bipod and thanked Denny for his sage advice.  Later that night, I could hear the moans of someone suffering horribly.  It was Denny.

“He has malaria,” the First Sergeant told me.  “The Medevac choppers won’t come get him till his temperature reaches a sustained one-oh-four.”

One-oh-four was a number someone in the rear had come up with to prevent troopers from faking illnesses.  The problem was, when a sky trooper’s temperature reached a sustained one-oh-four, he was already almost dead.

The night chopper carried Denny away, and everyone tried to forget that we had ever known him.  It was November, although it seemed more like summer in tropical Vietnam.  Latter that month I left the jungle for good.  I was a college graduate and got a job as a clerk-typist on Firebase Buttons in the rear.  Seems they needed someone that could type more than they needed a soldier that could pull a trigger.

When Christmas neared, the Company Sergeant asked me if I wanted to see the Bob Hope Christmas show.  The gig required spending a night on a forward firebase and none of my fellow clerks wanted to chance being that close to potential combat.  Fresh out of the jungle anyway, I of course said yes.

The night on the forward firebase went without incident, except that a reporter for Newsweek reported that we violated the Christmas truce when everyone on the firebase opened fire for what we called the “mad minute.”

Next day we took a Chinook helicopter to the hospital in Bien Hoa where we would see Bob Hope.  It was there that I saw Denny again.  He was wandering around the grounds in pajamas and a robe.  He did not recognize me.

Denny reminded me of Jack Nicholson in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest – after his full frontal lobotomy, that is.

I didn’t have a good seat and could not see much of the Bob Hope Christmas Show.  It did not matter much because I was thinking of Denny and the masses of other brain and soul-damaged soldiers wandering like wraiths across the grounds of the sprawling hospital.

That Christmas night, I watched the sunset from the back of a departing Chinook, and considered my own mortality.

Happy Holidays Everybody!

Eric’s Website

Unwelcome Christmas Eve news for the oil biz.

Crude oil steady below $39 a barrel - Oil & energy- msnbc.com.

Eric’s Web

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601104&sid=arOy7qPgrUBM

Eric’s Web

Bad news for the Midwest, good news for natural gas sellers.

Bitter cold, high winds chill Midwest, East - Yahoo! News.

Eric’s Website

Crude starts the short week on an upward note.

Oil rises as OPEC plans further output cuts - MarketWatch.

Eric’s Website

  Here is a picture taken south of Muldrow, Oklahoma on Highway 77.  It shows an interesting shot of a pumping unit framed by the metal structure of an old bridge across Beaver Creek.

Eric’s Web

Emailing: The Geologist's Top 100 (bucket) List - Inbox - Yahoo! Mail.

Eric’s Web

Quote of the Day: “It’s not just the price, but the uncertainty of where prices are going.  This creates the equivalent of investment paralysis.”  Larry Goldstein, Director of Energy Policy Research Foundation in Washington, D.C.  Talking about the massive, across-the-board exploration budget cuts by energy companies.

Second Quote of the Day: “Exploration will come to a screeching halt before this situation turns around.”  Jim Woodson, Geologist and former exploration manager for Samedan in Oklahoma.  Commenting on the dire situation facing energy companies.

Eric’s Website

My Aunt Dot Pourteau is a wonderful person and a wonderful cook. She recently published her second cookbook titled ALL THE FOODS WE'VE LOVED BEFORE that features recipes collected through the years from family, friends and various publications. I was drooling as I read through the recipes and happy to see that many were provided by my uncles, aunts, cousins, my grandmother and, yes, even my own mother. Here is one of Dot's personal recipes for southern pecan pie. I can't wait to try it!

3 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup sugar
1 dash of salt
1/2 cup white Karo
1/2 cup dark Karo
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup pecans, chopped or whole

Beat 3 eggs throughly with sugar, salt, dark and light Karo, melted butter. Add one cup of pecan halves. Pour into 9" unbaked pie shell. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) 50 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean. Cool.

http://www.ericwilder.com

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=azNDEp3EDPBc&refer=energy

Eric’s Web

Despite the recession, we burn lots of natural gas when the weather turns cold.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=am1aeaI9tbhE&refer=energy

Eric’s Web

A little good news for natural gas producers.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=ayr.jr6VDFn0&refer=energy

Eric’s Web

Perception is everything when it comes to trading commodities.

Ahead of the Bell: Natural gas reserve drop seen: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance.

Eric’s Web

OPEC gets serious! Quote of the day: "In terms of security of supply, you are much worse at $40 a barrel than at $75."  Olivier Jakob – Energy Analyst for Petromatrix of Switzerland.

OPEC likely to OK 2 million barrel oil output cut - Yahoo! News.

Eric’s Web

I am a big fan of Eric Felten’s weekly column in the Wall Street Journal.  Felten highlights cocktails and rather than just providing his many readers with instructions on how to build the perfect Zombie or Mai Tai, he tells a story that is always interesting and informative.  A recent column caused me to recall one of my own cocktail stories.

During the last oil boom, I began working as a geologist for Texas Oil & Gas, the most aggressive driller at the time and possibly since.  My first day on the job, I had lunch at a downtown restaurant called Over the Counter with the district geologist and another company man.

Having just left Cities Service, a conservative, old-line exploration company, I was used to brown bagging a sandwich washed down with coffee or iced tea.  Because of this, my lunch companion’s choice of beverages gave me a start.

Neither man actually had to order a drink.  Gerlinda, our very German waitress brought Larry a Bacardi and Coke and Roger a Crown and Seven.

“You are a new one,” Gerlinda said.  “What are you drinking?”

“Iced tea,” I answered.

Larry and Roger smiled when Gerlinda shook her head and said, “TXO geologists don’t drink tea.”

“A Coors then,” I said.

“There is no beer at Over the Counter.  What kind of cocktail would you like?”

Larry’s grinning shrug clued me that he expected no argument from me.

“Bourbon and water, I guess.”

“What kind of bourbon?”  It was my turn to shrug, and shake my head.  “TXO geologists don’t drink house liquor and you look like a Wild Turkey man to me,” she said.  “From now on I’ll bring you Wild Turkey and water.”

She did, three of them before we finished eating.

“Everyone drinks at lunch,” Larry informed me as I stumbled back to work.  “Turkey and water suits you, Wildman.”

“Thanks,” I said as I returned to my office and tried not to fall asleep at my desk.

Lunch was the beginning of my indoctrination as a TXO geologist.  I was instructed to put at least three-thousand dollars per month on my company expense account, even if I had to treat friends, cohorts and secretaries every meal.  The Company expected me to create at least one drilling prospect every single week, no mean feat even when you are sober, much less when you can hardly hold your head up off the desk after lunch.

I - or I should say my liver - slowly grew accustomed to the daily consumption of alcoholic beverages that often continued into the wee hours of nearly every night.  It did not seem to matter much as my seven-year marriage was already in shambles.  An underground concourse wove a dark maze beneath downtown Oklahoma City, a pathway populated by restaurants, bars, barbershops and jewelry stores.  The proprietors soon knew my name, and my poison of choice, greeting me happily when I stumbled through their door.

The last oil boom was populated by a cast of almost unbelievable characters – ex-used car salesmen sporting Rolex watches, diamond encrusted belt buckles and gold nugget necklaces, preying on the unwary investor, hungry to participate in the multitude of newfound riches and burning up with incurable cases of oil fever.  I bought my own gold necklace, a half moon with a diamond eye, from an eight-by-ten jewelry store in the concourse that catered to the newly rich.

I managed to survive almost two years with TXO, having almost a hundred of my prospects drilled during that time.  I do no remember if it was I that said uncle, or my liver.  Whichever, I moved down the road with my life.

All this brings me to my cocktail story.  Sometimes when I was simply too drunk to continue drinking Wild Turkey, I would switch to a drink called a Bullshot.  A Bullshot is beef bouillon and vodka.  I never learned the exact recipe although I tasted many varieties during my two years with TXO.  The one I liked best came from an eight-ounce can.  I cannot remember the company that produced it and I do not believe they are still in business.

The last oil boom is long gone, along with Penn Square Bank and thousands of drilling rigs cut up for scrap.  Oklahoma now has liquor by the drink instead of liquor by the wink, and you can no longer leave a bar with a roadie to tide you over until you get home.  Oklahoma City police no longer tolerate drunk drivers, nor should they.

An era of overindulgence died in Oklahoma City, along with the last oil boom.  What survived was a group that could smile when someone said, “Last one to leave the State, cut off the lights.”

That was nearly thirty years ago and the lights in the City are again burning brightly.  It has been nearly that long since I drank my last Bullshot.  Still, the cocktail helped me survive an era every bit as exciting as the Alaskan Gold Rush, and Felten’s column every week reminds me that mixed drinks are more than a bartender’s recipe.  They are an untold story.

Eric’s Web

  Here is a picture I found on the web.  Very interesting!

Eric’s Web

$50/barrel is the magic number.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=aXp2Rc3B4FSE&refer=energy

Eric’s Web

Oil industry stocks remain volatile.

Ahead of the Bell: Oil and gas pressure: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance.

Eric’s Web

My first wife’s family lived in Chalmette, a city south of New Orleans devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Gail and I would often leave work at night from our respective menial jobs and drive to Chalmette for the weekend. We would enter the old wood-framed structure quietly and go to sleep in the empty bedroom in back. At five, our nightly rest always ended with the booming bass voice of a distant cousin named Admiral.

"Hey Harvey, you and Lily gonna sleep all morning?"

Gail’s parents, Lily and Harvey were already awake, although barely, and Lily would let Admiral into the kitchen (he always came in the back door) and start a pot of strong coffee. Lily did not use a modern coffee pot. She made hers in a simple drip pot that she heated on the open natural gas flame of her little stove. Like many Cajuns, she used a blend of coffee and chicory that produced a strong, aromatic brew. I still remember the aroma of Lily’s Cajun coffee.

Admiral’s voice was so deep and booming, it actually shook the walls. At least it felt that way after only four hours of sleep. Soon, Gail and I would succumb to the cacophony, and stories about Fats Domino we had all heard before. She would roll out of bed, put on her robe and tread down the hall to the kitchen. Finally, I would rub my eyes, take a big whiff of the coffee aroma wafting from the kitchen, and follow her.

Two wives later, I still love coffee, but in all my travels I have never had a cup as good as Lily brewed, or smelled that wonderful aroma that can revive you fully from a hard day’s work, a long drive, and only four hours of sleep.

Eric’s Website

Aunt Dot sent me one of Anna Pourteau’s recipes.  Anna, Dot’s mother-in-law and Uncle Bertrand’s mother, was a wonderful cook.  It sounds great, and Dot - a wonderful cook as well - gives me her personal guarantee that it is.

Pork Chops, English Peas & Tomatoes with Steamed Rice
 4  pork chops, center cut                     ¼ cup canola or olive oil
14.5 oz tomatoes, diced                        15 oz LeSuer English peas, undrained
15 oz chicken broth (fat free)                ½ medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped                       2 cloves garlic, minced
½  c green bell pepper, chopped           ½ c red bell pepper, chopped
½ tsp sweet basil                                  2 tsps parsley
½ tsp oregano                                      ¼  tsp thyme  
½ tsp salt                                              ½ tsp pepper
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce                 ¼ tsp Louisiana hot sauce

Steamed Rice
1 c rice
2 ¼ cups water
½ tsp salt
              
Salt and pepper pork chops.  Put oil in large non-stick skillet.  Heat oil to a medium hot temperature, add pork chops and brown on both sides.  Remove from skillet.  Turn heat down to medium and add onion, celery, bell peppers and garlic.  Cook until limp.  Add tomatoes, chicken broth, basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, Worchester sauce and Louisiana hot sauce.

Stir, mixing all vegetables well.  Add pork chops back to skillet and cook until tender.  When chops are tender, add English peas.  Taste to see if you need to re-season.  Simmer approximately 10 to 15 minutes.  Cook rice and serve the pork chop with tomatoes and English Peas over the hot steamed rice.  Enjoy.

NOTE:  Cook rice according to directions.  Serve pork chops, tomatoes and vegetables over hot steamed rice.  Serves 4.

Eric’s Website

Find out why Paul Kedrosky, author of the blog Infectious Greed, calls oil “the most dangerous commodity in the world.”

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/144119/U.S.-Gasoline-Demand-Rising-as-Prices-Plunge

Eric’s Web

Interesting article.

Oil, gas industry cools off with rest of economy: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance.

Eric’s Web

An interesting article.

Norway lays plans to arrest production decline.

Eric’s Website

Gold and oil make for strange bed partners.

Gold futures rise for a third session as oil rallies - MarketWatch.

Eric’s Website

Traders begin to look favorably on energy again.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=a4VMLJMdjbYk&refer=energy

Eric’s Website

The present economic woes of the world cause me to think of something that happened nearly three decades ago.  Despite all my efforts, the company I had formed and fostered had gone “belly up” during the eighties oil bust.  It was an awful time in my life - not the worst, but in the top three.

My second wife Anne was my partner in the company and we spent six months trying to find a “white knight” to bail out the company.  We were not successful. Everyone - except of course the people that make a living in the industry - hates oil companies.  This is because crude oil is the number one commodity in the entire world.  No one can live without it.  When prices get high, for whatever reason, everyone feels the pinch.

Back in the eighties, oil companies began going “belly up” right and left.  Since the main industry in Oklahoma is oil, the state and everyone in it suffered direly.  Drilling rigs that had cost millions to build were first stacked (stored) and then cut up for scrap metal when it became apparent the bust would last longer than expected.  It lasted for more than a decade.

We are now into yet another recession, and the only good thing about it – for the oil industry, that is – is it signaled an end to President-elect Obama’s proposed windfall profits tax designed to punish the evil oil industry.  Well, he was much too young to remember the oil bust of the eighties and the adverse effect it had on thousands of everyday working people, or the fatalist saying, “Last one to leave the State, turn out the lights.”

I digress.  Anne and I were looking for a “white knight” to bail out our company.  A rich oily from Midland, Texas dropped by to hear my story and see if he could help.  He sat across the desk from me, listening to my sad tale when suddenly he got a big grin on his face.

“Did I say something funny?” I asked.

“You’re bringing back memories of when my own oil company went bankrupt.  I know it seems like the world has ended and that you will never recover, but you will.”  The man began grinning again.

“What?” I implored him.

“This is your first time around,” he said.  “You can never really call yourself an oil man until you have been bankrupt at least twice.”

I have yet to go “belly up” a second time but the old oilie informed me of something I probably should already have known.  There is no business on earth as risky as the oil business, and those that engage in it are truly the world’s greatest gamblers.

If you are an oilie, you also need to stand on your own two feet because – unlike Wall Street fat cats - you can bet that no matter how many people in your industry lose their jobs, their homes, their cars, and are unable to afford milk for their babies, Congress will NEVER bail you out.

Eric’s Website

Here is a recent pic taken in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, just south of the town of Noble. Eric’s Website

I grew up eating catfish at the many restaurants on Caddo Lake.  It didn’t matter which place you visited, the five courses were always the same: catfish, French fries, Cole slaw, green tomato relish, and hushpuppies.  I’m not saying that I liked the hushpuppies the best, but they are much like potato chips – you can’t eat just one.  Here is a recipe for jalapeno hushpuppies I think you will like.

2 cups cornmeal                                   1 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten                                      3 tsps baking powder

1 ½ tsps salt                                         1 small can cream corn

3 jalapeno peppers, chopped                ¼ bell pepper, chopped

1 small onion, minced                            buttermilk

A pinch of soda

Combine all ingredients using just enough buttermilk to create the consistency of cornbread batter.  Shape and drop into medium-hot oil and cook until golden brown.  Enjoy.

Eric’s Website

More bad news for the energy sector.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=aZ2HJQt0KNjQ&refer=energy

Eric’s Website

Storage figures greatly affect the price of natural gas.

Ahead of the Bell: Natural gas reserve drop seen - Yahoo! Finance.

Eric’s Website

Entrepreneurs find ways to capitalize on every economic situation, no matter how dire they might seem.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=aoFTA_anQoLs&refer=energy

Eric’s Website

OUOTE OF THE WEEK (and perhaps the decade): “There is no fair price. There is a price, which balances demand and supply.” – Christof Ruehl, Chief Economist of BP plc, commenting on King Abdullah’s comment that $75/barrel is a “fair” price for crude oil.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=alUGl1T0Rkbc&refer=energy

Eric’s Website

How low will it go?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=aDSaozP0Hfw4&refer=energy

Eric’s Web