Market Sentiment Watch: Hope you had a great long weekend, I did although it was, as usual, labor intensive. Speaking of labor, the president unveiled a $50 billion planes, trains, and automobiles plan on Monday in an effort to get more out-of-work service industry types behind the wheels of cement mixers and asphalt rollers. Obama went on to say the $50 B for roads, runways and railways will be completely paid for by .... working with Congress to make sure that it is fully deficit neutral. Uh huh. This is stage 1 of a more comprehensive plan to be announced Wednesday and which will include an "infrastructure bank". Uh huh #2. I don't see it happening before (or after) the election, at least not in a deficit neutral manner. By the way, the only method of paying for this I've seen out of the Administration yet is to "close tax breaks for the E&P companies". In a separate report, 2010 is likely to be the first year in the last 6 that the wind energy industry will show negative growth. Gotta give the team in D.C. a big fat F on the "getting the U.S. off foreign oil" front. But there's more. Also on Wednesday, Obama will unveil plans to allow businesses to write down 100% of new plant and equipment investments through 2011, with the Administration saying this will effectively reduce taxes on businesses by $200 B over 2 years. The market will likely bid infrastructure plays higher this week as it salivates over a bigger and easily identifiable pool of fresh stimulus dollars but the broad market futures this morning are steadily drifting lower on lack of more eco data in the U.S. and more weak news out of Europe (PIGS).
BP Spill Watch:
- Coast Guard says "Macondo is secure and no longer a threat" - positive for the name.
- A new BOP will be attached to the well shortly and drilling of the relief well to be used in the bottom kill procedure will probably resume next week.
- BP reportedly to accelerate asset sales; now said to be looking for $40 B including $20 B for its stake in Prudhoe Bay - another modest positive for the name
- Probably going to see increased takeout speculation here again.
The Week Ahead: Light week on the eco-data front
- Tuesday 9/7: No data release scheduled
- Wednesday 9/8: Beige Book at 2pm EST, Consumer Credit at 3pm EST, Jefferies Global Shipping Conference
- Thursday 9/9: EIA Natural Storage Report, EIA Oil Inventory Report at 1 pm EST, jobless claims (F = 470,000), trade balance (F = -$47 B)
- Friday 9/10: Wholesale Inventories
In Today's Post:
- Holdings Watch
- Commodity Watch
- Stuff We Care About Today
- Odds & Ends
Holdings Watch: ZCAT (Zman Catalyst portfolio):
- $5,200
- 100% Cash
ZIM (Zman Inefficient Markets portfolio)
- $7,000
- 9% Cash
Commodity Watch:
Crude oil ended last week down 1%, closing at $74.60. The 12 month crude strip is now trading at $79.08. This morning crude is trading lower with equity futures but also with word China is going on a short term energy diet.
- OPEC Watch: Saudi lifts crude prices for all customers for October deliveries. This is probably a signal of more strict quota enforcement to be set at the group's October meeting.
- Iran Watch: Iran is back in the spotlight again for barring access by some IAEA inspectors and for announcing that it has increased the amount of enriched uranium it now holds.
Natural gas bounced 8% last week to close at $3.94 ending a string of four bad weeks. The 12 month strip is now trading at $4.48. This morning gas is trading off a dime.
- Tropics Watch: Three cloud piles are moving across the Atlantic with currently low percent chances of development in the next 2 days.
- LNG Watch: Japan reported LNG imports rose 9.5% in 1H10. Japan's July LNG price: $11.60/MMBtu. Wonder what happened to all the prognostications of an LNG tsunami hitting U.S. shores.
- Weather Watch:
- Week before last: Cooling Degree Days of 64 which yielded an injection of 54 Bcf in last Thursday's report.
- Last Week: CDDs crept back up to a balmy 72, vs 52 normal and 45 in the comparable week in 2009. Look for a move back below 50 for injections.
- This Week's Forecast: 48 CDDs. Look for temps to rebound next week.
Stuff We Care About Today
SSN D-Day
- Today is scheduled to be the day we see the Niobrara acreage sale completed - waiting on news.
Rumor Watch:
- Reliance may buy a U.S. shale player. Reuters story here talks about the Indian firm, having done three asset shales deals this year already, now being on the hunt for a whole company acquisition, and highlights KWK, and EOG as possible targets. Rumor flow on the Reliance deals this year has been surprisingly accurate.
Other Stuff:
- I'll have mini reports on GST and NBL this week, no ownership by me in either yet.
- CRED reported today, no call, but interesting, will be taking a look today.
Odds & Ends
Analyst Watch:
- BP - Benchmark ups target from $41 to $46, rating stays Buy
- PXD - FBR ups target from $60 to $85! Ups to Outperform
- Goldman calls HAL, SLB, NBR Best Ideas in service, avoids upping deep water drillers, also says WFT and BHI to "struggle".
- OXY - Susquehanna starts at Positive, target $98
BDI up a little
WLL on the tape with an acreage acquisition in the east Montana portion of the Williston.
90174 net acres, no price given, may abut the Lewis & Clark acreage.
In my book it's validation of BEXP and EOG efforts, among others in this newer area.
LINE news out re Permian acquisition and two more Granite Wash wells.
Crude down $1, NG down $0.14 as hype over a disturbance in the Gomex fades.
S&P Fut called down 6.80 DJIA down 54 with 10 minutes until the open. Market drifted up for lack of anything better to do on Friday, drifting down on lack of support, Europe etc today. No real eco data until Thursday.
Thanks John, had not spied it yet, back shortly.
Good morning! Back from The Wilds… looks like the PiiGS aren’t flying this morning. Concerns about Europe and Banks.
As HeadTrader says: “zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz”
LINE
Nice results in terms of IPs (37.2 and 26.2) from wells 3 and 4 (on Catalyst List). High liquids cuts.
Acquisition – $352 mm – Permian Basin, Wolfberry, oily, not enough data to compute a $/BOE as they lumped reserves here in with prior Permina acquisitions but you can bet they didn’t overpay for it.
Jerome — thank you so much for your assist on ATPG. Will start this short week by voting.
Morning BOP – how’s the TED hanging? Can we still talk TED or is it so far away from the worry zone now it’s not worth speaking about?
SSN bidding up, most else pretty red.
TED = snoozer. Corrected a bit off his lows (sub-15 bps) at the end of August. Now treading water at 16.2 bps. Anything below 20 bps is is just Snoozer-Ville.
Knee jerk drops in EOG and WLL over oil prices/market. Over-reaction in my book, and oil is now bouncing off the bottom.
SSN — missed that Train. And for no good reason other than laziness. Just never got AroundToIt. By bad. Your Good (and You’re Good!).
Thanks BOP. Good entry by the way on ATPG last week.
ATPG — now that Labor Day is done and gone, think the geniuses at GE Capital will get back to work and finish up on the ATPG Titan Platform monetization. Then it’s “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport” for the stock. Me thinks, anyway.
Re SSN – could be a BTRSTN event at this point ($1.43), especially if the deal is at the low end of the original price range as the current price is a hair above my low end NAV.
Spread on Brent crude to NYMEX crude is currently over $3/barrel.
EGY liftings (Gabon) are priced to Brent……and are as regular as rain (during monsoon).
Hearing lot’s of interest in the AngolaBlock 5 data room EGY has opened in Houston.
Seeing a number of press comments saying the Obama stimulus effort (#3 or #4 I can’t tell) will be DOA. I have to agree given the choice of funding and the fact that a number of Democrat held states are also big time hydrocarbon producers who won’t like seeing their “big oil tax cuts” get axed.
crys — thanks for the EGY update. I wrote off the Angolan escrow funds as a donut hole. If EGY can pull off an acceptable partner, that is pure upside. Any thoughts on when they could site a well with Total on the onshore concession? Or, aiming for 2011 for that. Since they aren’t shooting new seismic, I would think they could site a well (or two) any day now….
ATPG — holding green on a red open. That has GOT to be Highly Irritating to the Shorts.
heh, heh, heh….
BOP – Your and Reef’s GST took a pop on Friday.
West also pointed out REXX is on the move. Interesting to see so many of the middle and lower tier names getting a little traction after a long summer of being ignored.
GST — Reef did all the heavy lifting there… actually did the geologic work in the area. It will be interesting to see if good acreage trumps weak mngmt. Case Study in play here.
CRED have not read release yet, but talked to co. after announcing last buyback and thought stock valuation had already marked production and acres to market, ie, Bakken acres at $5,000/ was already priced in. But I’m all ears…
GST — Palo Alto out compeletely. Wow. They have been in the stock for ever and ever. Takes the selling pressure off… but hardly a Ringing Endorsement of the Management Team there.
crys – for the benefit of us that are not in the business, could u pls explain what a “data room” is and what they accomplish by opening one. i am long EGY
#20 — the Friday “pop” was just the absence of Palo Alto selling. Would think stock migrates back up to around $4.
RMD – thanks, not wild about the low profile they take with pr’s, rinky dink website, and lack of a call on results but sometimes those are the good ones, eh?
BOP – graphs sent to your other email. Thanks.
OK… have new song in head… from a different decade…
ATPG — “Burn, baby, burn… Disco Inferno (burn this Mother down)”. heh, heh, heh.
Sorry. Everytime i do the Happy Dance, it turns out poorly.
Just trying to get the blood flowing, on a do-nothing morning.
BOP – Have you heard anything new in CIGX’s test launch?
BOP – I can’t blame you at all for that. I resorted to cleaning my office on Friday just to stay awake. Market is in the process of taking back Friday’s drift up.
andy — data rooms are just that. A room that is set up with boxes of data and displays. Companies set them up to find partners, sell acreage, whatever. It allows a potential partner to come in and kick the tires. EGY has set up a data room in search of a partner for their shallow water Angola Block 5. They put all their maps and seismic and well data in a room. Then schedule prospective investors to come spend time, looking through anything they want behind a closed door, without the company looking over their shoulder.
WLT weak on China news about curbing steel production to meet energy consumption reduction targets.
Don’t expect any Total/EGY On-shore (Mutamba) drilling until 2011 due to Time required to permit & build roads in pure tropical swamp/jungle.
A data room is a tech library of all the petrophysical, seismic, geologic, geochemistry, etc. vaalco has collected about block 5 in Angola so prospective partners can assess the size and possible outcome of acquiring a 40 percent PSA
Anyone see an energy conference out there this week? I could swear there was a second tier firm holding one but I can’t seem to locate it.
ram — other than feeling like a total jackass in thinking the stock would move up on the launch. Nothing new. That is why the stock did NOT move up, I know now (in hindsite). CIGX mngmt has always said they would let the test market run for at least 90 days before concluding anything. In addition to “acceptance rate” they need to know the “reorder rate.” THAT is the key metric. Not how many people try it, but how many people reorder it. For results to make any sense, you just have to sit and wait. Like fishing. Could come up with a minnow. Could hook into a whale. But have to wait to see.
Mngmt sounds “upbeat” and positive. But they are very very careful not to spill any beans. inVentiv has been making a few happy squeeks tho… but everyone involved is trying to keep a lid on what is happening during this Test Phase. And they are doing a commendable job at that.
I still own ever share I ever bought.
#34 — much more concise (and correct) explanation. I might need more coffee….
HeadTrader has just pronounced today “not tradeable.” He thinks we drift. Just in no discernable direction….
Thanks. I still own every share. Just the testimonials here seem to point to a positive for the stock. I hope there is not a greed factor in the profit margin. It seems to be more benificial to have a price point where your potential customers could be the full spectrum.
bop – i thot both explanations very similar and helpful. re CIGX i bot 3 cartons to pass out to my customers and employees who i think are serious about quitting. so far have 6 in my “sample base”. they are starting today. am very curious what results are, and will keep u informed.
redjack – any results from your family?
BOP – asking him if it has anything to do with the fact that the most recent idea out of Washington is still the Civil Conservation Corp?
By the way BOP, I agree, a drifter of day but I think we close better than the current down 11 on the S&P. Just a feeling. Will see if I can find Nicky for a comment.
andy — way cool. Hearing it “works” on about 2/3rds of the smokers who really want to quit. That is a nice sample pool. Will be tres interesting to hear any results!!
ram — i think the price point is a bit high… they thought they could price it like a pack of cigarettes… but i don’t think that is correct. Having a very professional marketer/distributor adds to the cost. But, clearly, the margin is huge. And the market for “stop smoking aids” is enormous…
nah — he’s just eyeing the headlines for Europe and banking… and the credit indices are down. So, not seeing much incentive to buy.
that said, he doesn’t see incentive to sell either.
So, back-and-fill a bit today, i would think.
#41 Both the WSJ and Thomas Sowell had thoughtful macro pieces out today… on why Obama’s policies have not worked. They aren’t Mean Essays. Just simply state fact.
If the problem is too much debt, you have to let it unwind. Taking on MORE debt (and bashing Chrysler bondholders over the head for “greed”) is just not the way to drive outta the ditch.
z — you ever take any part in little minnow, EGY?
BOP – no, not yet, still looking there and GST and REXX and VQ and elsewhere in small cap ville, maybe soon as I went back to overweight on SSN in the 1.11 to teens area after the initial sale at 1.30. So I may raise some cash there soon that will need a home. It won’t be in a Bakken home as I have enough exposure there at the moment.
EXXI = 4FQ earnings out after close. Not sure what people “expect” as far as EPS. But I’ll take anything above $75mm in EBITDAX.
#41,45 I’m still thinking that Richard Fisher’s recent speech in San Antonio pretty well sums it up: business will sit on the sidelines until the craziness abates. Every time the WH comes out with another gimmick like a new CCC/WPA, it just means to us that they don’t get it and that the craziness will continue… until they are voted out of office.
“Until business operators are provided the clarity they need, they will continue to hoard their cash, limit their payrolls and constrain investment in new plant and equipment—none of which provides hope for the unemployed or will put us on a more forceful path to recovery.”
http://dallasfed.org/news/speeches/fisher/2010/fs100729.cfm
BOP – good point, was just noticing it bobbing green. I think the last mention of capacity there (from Enercom) was 26,000 boepd, will be interesting to see if Shiller gives an update on when that heads higher, and if he is mulling any offshore additions at this time.
Slow day… cute slideshow. Top 10 Dumbest and Smartest Dog Breeds.
http://cbs2chicago.com/slideshows/smartest.dumbest.dogs.20.696673.html
Morning all. Seeing what I believe is a wave iv correction this morning. 23% would come in at around 1090. 1081 would be 38% retrace.
Cycles point to a low early in the week either today or early tomorrow and then up into 11 – 13th September.
thanks. was hoping E21 “capacity” was getting back closer to 29k boed. But this is just back ground noise (but solid cash flow) as we wait for the Big Show to begin. BBEast, DJ#2, Lafitte permitted…
Thanks much for the guiding hand Nicky, always appreciated.
BOP – and he may have something to say on BB East in terms of sands, we’ll know if Jim Bob pops off a simultaneous ops update which could be any day now.
Z-any near term catalysts on TAT-I’m thinking about adding some as it as been beat down fairly well-thanks
Re TAT – We should get an important exploration test during 4Q, not exactly sure of timing so I left it off the catalyst list as it could slip to 1Q11. Will check and circle back by end of day.
more on EXXI near-term… PXP is selling their GoM assets. Speculation is that PXP will split the asset sale into two = deepwater and ultra-deep shelf. Depending on who PXP sells their ultra-deep shelf to, this could set up a move in operator MMR and partner EXXI.
PXP is probably “cheap” down here… but the Flores Thrill is just gone, gone, gone for me. Will be watching from the sidelines. But, could have positive implications for MMR/EXXI.
HK looks like it has found a buyer. It is about time.
Also natural gas is behaving like it has been beaten down enough.
Eld – yeah, probably due a further move on a better day. I thought it was way overdone on the downside when it broke $20 so $16 seems like bargain basement. But I also expected weakness for gas in the shoulder season and it came on faster and harder to the downside than I thought it would … should be close to spent. Have read about big supplies coming on in the August data from Robry and others and I have to say that if that was the case, and there is no historical precedent for the size of the increase these guys are talking, then we would not have seen injections skirting the low end of the range for July and August. Time will tell. Meanwhile, LNG continues to go anywhere but the U.S. due to low prices.
BOP – Yeah, HT had this day right, zzzzzz. Doing some reading.
PXP: waht would be really interesting = some of the existing partners buy PXP’s stake. Not hearing rumor, just musing.
RMD — wonder if they will just try to carve it up amongst themselves? On the other hand, MMR is going to need to bring in a Sugar Daddy… but hoping they don’t have to DO anything until BBE and DJ#2 get some solid formation data. So, maybe the chance to get grab a good position, cheap, will be to pick up PXP’s share.
JC reiterates a buy on WFT. Expects to beat 3d Q est of .16 by a few pennies.
apbd
Z: Read something that this summer was the warmest on record in terms of HDD. Records go back to 1950. Is it still true that cold winters burn about 3X as much NG as warm summers. Lightened up on some VNR today. Thanks. (I know you are not long)
RMD – EXXI has that history of adding to already held WI%s.
Thanks APBD – saw another comment on that in positive light this morning. Two in the same day for a name that rarely gets love. I liked their 2Q and I liked their 2Q comments re their outlook even more.
Tom – it’s more yes but the summers creep higher in terms of NG demand each year. We sort of have to expect a warmer winter in the wake of a hot summer, seems to be a usual pattern especially after a bitterly cold winter like we had last year. And all the long range forecasters are calling for a more moderate winter this year.
Re-listening to Gastar at Enercom
HAL trying to pop up off the floor here, most things just treading water. ATPG, EXXI, HK, SSN only green on my main screen.
Z – WH (a play of yours from a while back) with a 25% pop today. Any news there?
Jason – The China news on temporarily curbing steel production had all of the Chinese steel makers up last night as product prices shot up.
I take back all the “this is the most boring day of the year” comments prior to this one and declare that this is the most boring day of the year.
sssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh…. you’ll wake up HeadTrader….
For a boring day there have some pretty good moves off the bottom. Crude being one of them.
WLT recovered to green after a big opening swoon. Interesting as I would have thought China cutting back on steel production would have been seen as a normal bit of maneuvering by the Chinese to whack met coal import prices prior to contract negotiations in October and November.
ElD – agreed, was typing 74, before I saw 73, looking about a bit, I see plenty of them. This is mostly a throw away day, tomorrow may get a bit more bouncy but again no data so it could be a grinder higher.
Surprised LINE is getting no play on its Granite Wash deal. I’d bet money (and am) that their deal is acretive near term and with results like those in the Granite Wash you can just feel the approaching distribution hike. At Enercom they mentioned getting back into “lift the distribution” mode.
ZMAN – How influential is the distilate side that moves oil in the winter? Does it appear that an event that is not related to weather or economics is going to push oil up through the current trading range? Is it a lack of agressive recruiting that keeps Arkansas from contending in the SEC(football)?
CIGX holders …..Bloomberg just had a feature that the success of Anti-Smoking efforts are flat lined and that 24 percent of U.S. adults are still smoking….plenty of market potential for a an efficacious product!
77- ouch, now that is getting personal, just as the answers will be very personal and opinionated, a bit like “who has the best barbeque?”
crys — have had a few interesting conversations with a large institutional holder of CIGX. He gets almost giddy, when describing the potential there. The market is HUGE. And there is no other product like it. If it “works” on just a small segment of smokers who want to quit…. well… the numbers become quite large, quite fast.
Z..I’m totally with you re LINE added more today.
From today’s LINE release re the Wolfberry property acquisitions..
. Additionally, we expect these acquisitions to be immediately accretive to cash flow per unit upon closing.”
From today’s Granite Wash release
… The Granite Wash drilling program is a significant component of our organic growth strategy, which we believe will provide meaningful growth in our cash flow over the course of the next several years.”
Loops 24 should be 21
Things That Suck — coming back from spending August at your House in The Hamptons to find your junior PM did not cover that short position in ATPG yet.
heh, heh, heh
RMD – Questions were not to incite anything bad. Although, if ZMAN comes back with “ram, check your email”, then all bets are off.
RMD – Eastern North Carolina has the best barbeque.
ram — U R funny.
John – right, it’s not if but when the distribution gets lifted. In the meantime I am content to be paid to wait.
Re 77.
Part 1. Distillates pricing is important to winter crude pricing but not as important as gasoline is in the summer. This winter, the bloated nature of stocks of heating oil and diesel will do little good for crude pricing. If margins weaken (and I’m torn on whether or not they will because I think traders are likely to discount a bigger than normal refinery turn season) then I would expect refiners to resort to a longer turn season as well, depressing demand for crude. As to what takes crude out of the trading range … it’s got to be fundamental demand from the west, both the U.S. and Europe. Any “event” that does so is more than likely to a short lived. OPEC won’t risk cutting production and the wrath of eco anger. The efforts to get the US on renewables have been laughable and that’s their biggest fear so why mess with it. They’ll talk about stricter adherence to quotas but I don’t expect real change out of the Cartel. Other events like a Strait of Hormuz problem or a Nigeria offensive will likely get only passing notice until the global economy retightens. I see prices higher next year as we approach that, but not by a lot until things are more certain.
Part II. No. It is the gaping hole in the offensive line on the left side. Mallet was 21 for 24 so the kid can toss a ball.
(and i wasn’t refering to the BBQ)
I think Texas Brisket is pretty darn tasty!
I understand 84. Seems AR players are always capable of making bone-headed decisions late in the 4th quarter which cost them the close games.
And our Dfence looked outstanding.
#57- I can confirm that this is under discussion
ZMAN, thanks. It just seems that oil is stuck in a relative rut. It appears that only a stronger economic scenario will allow it to move higher with a stronger foundation.
Thanks Reef, good to know.
Ram – yep, I think anything else is a Chinese red herring.
Note that the S&P is off about 2% year to date and the 12 month strip on oil is off about 4%. So basically sideways until something real happens.
SSN – still no news though this is the deal day. Guessing tonight or tomorrow latest we get word or the stock will start pulling back.
VTZ – continued nice call on gold, new high today.
More Short Talk — borrow on ATPG shares is 21.4%. I’ve seen worse… but, still, that tells me there are a lot of unhappy Senior PMs getting back to the office today. And there is NO borrow (at least at GS) for CIGX.
visited western NC this spring and was very impressed. great thin sauce.
LINE:
RBC expects 1.24X coverage in 3Q10 with acquired volumes helping coverage for 4Q. Expects distribution increase of 3 cents (had been at 1 cent) in 4Q which still gives a 1.32X coverage in 4Q.
(This a new analyst.)
RMD; thanks
Once you have the meat and BBQ sauce …all you need is this puppy to put a smile on everyone’s face
http://www.komodokamado.com/
sorry Z but I was getting hungry with all this BBQ talk
#101 — kinda makes the Green Egg look dowright boring….
Thanks RMD, that seems about right, not looking for a giant increase but that’s pretty big.
Will have GST comments in the morning post.
Beerthirty.
Re 101. Wow. My barrel smoker with offset heat is quite the poor cousin to that.
BALT with a vessel run aground, sounds pretty minor.
Explosion at Mexico’s 3rd largest refinery.
Hard to beat the Big Green Egg
Geno — spoken like a true Green Egger. That said, shore makes some tasty BBQ.
Believe me, it beats the green Egg. The Egg is metal can…. compared to the Komodo, which is made of high tech refractory ceramics. I’m looking at it right outside my window as it cooks a 7 pound pork shoulder for 14 hours with only one helping of hardwood lump charcoal…..
http://www.komodokamado.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=61
z- this is after hours, so I know I may not hear back until tomorrow.
Is there a chance LINE will spring a secondary on us for this latest acquisition? I know they said it would be funded by their revolver, but ya never know.
Is their cash/revolver position such that this won’t make too big a dent?
#8 BOP, thank you much for the vote…
SSN announced that the majority of the planned acreage sales have closed for $63.7mm. A second piece will close around Sept 20th for $6.3mm and possibly (probably) another small piece for $4.4mm. So, total acreage sales planned at $74.4mm. If I added it all up right.
83.2mm ADS and $74.4mm proceeds = 89¢ per share. nice!
Samson on the tape with Goshen sale results… mostly done. Will have full details in the morning.
exxi out with a beat..ebitda 78.8 m..bop im sure is happy
Bill – yeah, they preannounced results in August, slight beat on EBITDA, bigger one on EPS. No guidance, nothing really new in the ops update. Call should be interesting. May or may not get a pr from Jim Bob in the next few weeks but I'd side with more than 50/50 that we do.
SSN – have run through the model, added some tweaks and will have a new table out in the morning. In a nutshell, I'm very pleased we are likely to come in near the high end of the range.
Robanks – I'll have that in the Stuff section tomorrow.
Choices – same re TAT.