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When "Rumor Becomes Reality" - This Is The Devastation Across The US Oil Patch
"This is going to hurt, no question," fears a landowner in Santa Barbara with a dozen oil wells. Layoffs are "kind of like a death in the family," exclaims a geophysicist in the Permian Basin. Houstonians were hoping for a hiccup, says one restauranteir, but now "they're getting more cautious." As WSJ reports, rumor is becoming reality across America as "unambiguously good" news of low oil prices turns from a trickle to a deluge of job losses and insecurity. Cutbacks aren’t yet reflected in broad data on employment, home sales or tax collections. But fallout is beginning to affect people, starting with the legions working as suppliers to the energy industry.
The pain is just starting...
As The Wall Street Journal reports,
Trouble has been looming over the oil patch since crude prices began falling last summer, from over $100 a barrel to under $50 today. But only now are the long-feared effects of a bust starting to ripple through the complex energy ecosystem, affecting Houston executives, California landowners and oil old-timers in Oklahoma.
Chevron is not alone in mass layoffs...
Eric Herschap is chief operations officer at Exclusive Energy Services LLC, a private company in Orange Grove, Texas, that offers services, including equipment rentals, to exploration companies.
His customers are demanding price cuts of 15% to 25%, and Exclusive offers additional discounts beyond that, he says.
So the company laid off 10 of its 45 employees and is cutting bonuses for those who remain.
Mr. Herschap says his brightest engineers are now fielding phone calls from customers with technical questions.
Nonenergy companies that rely on roughnecks are also pulling in their horns.
Laredo, the company that closed its Dallas office, said it was laying off 75 employees, about 20% of the workforce at the company, which has a stock-market value of about $1.3 billion.
“While it is a necessary step due to the substantial drop in commodity prices and the resultant reduction in the company’s drilling activities, we do not take such actions lightly,” it said.
Mr. Silver, the geophysicist, says that after living through oil busts, he has saved for the bad times and could retire—though he doesn’t want to.
“Probably the scariest thing out there is all of a sudden being without health insurance,” Mr. Silver says. “Just being thrown in the marketplace, that’s tough.”
Danny and Kim Gallo moved from Connecticut to tiny Runge, Texas, last February to open Boom Town Food Trucks to serve the Eagle Ford Shale.
But the company operates just one truck and a kitchen in a trailer at the moment, and the Gallos, who have backgrounds in the hospitality industry, have decided against adding another truck for a while.
“You’re sitting there and saying, ‘Wow, did we miss the party?’” says Mr. Gallo, whose most expensive item is an $11 double chorizo burger.
Fancier establishments that cater to energy executives are taking action, too. Steve Zimmerman has owned a restaurant and boutique hotel in Houston for decades and remembers the oil crash of 1986. Back then, he began offering an “Oil Barrel Special,” a multicourse meal with a price pegged to the (falling) cost of crude.
This month, he resurrected the special in an effort to attract customers while showing that he feels their pain.
Menus like escargot, salmon and bread pudding are on offer for about $50, depending on the closing price of West Texas Intermediate.
As oil prices started to fall, Houstonians were hoping for a hiccup, he says. Now, “they’re getting more cautious.”
* * *
Not 'unambiguously good' at all!!
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I do not understand why zerohedge is playing bank lobby propaganda.
Here's is the rig quantity in perspective. Nothing apocalyptic.
https://twitter.com/TheStalwart/status/561890987883384832/photo/1
I am just perplexed. Who is zerohedge working for now? Bankers are using oil as collateral for derivatives?
...Iran, despite the ambiguity of its attitude toward Azerbaijan, similarly provides stabilizing support for the new political diversity of Central Asia. It dominates the eastern shoreline of the Persian Gulf, while its independence, irrespective of current Iranian hostility toward the United States, acts as a barrier to any long-term Russian threat to American interests in the Persian Gulf region...Iran's aspirations are vaguer still, but in the long run no less threatening to Russia's ambitions...Iran's role is likely to be even more problematic. A return to a pro-Western posture would certainly facilitate the stabilization and consolidation of the region, and it is therefore strategically desirable for America to encourage such a turn in Iran's conduct...In addition, it is not in America's interest to perpetuate American-Iranian hostility. Any eventual reconciliation should be based on the recognition of a mutual strategic interest in stabilizing what currently is a very volatile regional environment for Iran. Admittedly, any such reconciliation must be pursued by both sides and is not a favor granted by one to the other. A strong, even religiously motivated but not fanatically anti-Western Iran is in the U.S. interest, and ultimately even the Iranian political elite may recognize that reality...
For my students — to help them shape tomorrow's world (and the Obama administration is faithfully following that script despite strong opposition coming from the Arab countries and Israel)
The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperative
Zbigniew Brzezinski
The Islamic Republic of Iran committed an egregious strategic blunder by trying to renegotiate its nuclear program with the west. As a result of this shift in foreign policy, Israel and the Arabs (specifically Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE and Qatar) have envisioned a military alliance focused on destroying Iran's nuclear and military infrastructure (and place this country in a constant state of internal chaos). The upcoming war against Iran will be short and extremely intense for the type of non-conventional ordnance to be used by the IDF and the Arab militaries (mainly DU ammo), nevertheless it will not degenerate into a regional conflict.
Too bad that ordinary Iranians are not prepared for these events since their own government hasn't taken the precaution of training the civilian population for massive air raids and the needed evacuation from areas highly contaminated by radioactive materials.
The Russian Federation (and not the United States) has already given the green light to this military alliance to act in the event current negotiations pertaining to Irans' nuclear program are adverse to Moscow's agenda.
Less fracking of the eagle Ford shale, and fewer people coming here for jobs is ok with me. I lived in Houston from 1982 - 1986 and saw that price collapse. This cutback in drilling, leading to less oil in 2016 and after, and economic collapse are "the good guys", when it comes to weaning our species off this disappearing resource.
The "bad guys" are the 4 horsemen.
Everyone will just start moving out West to the gold mines when those jobs pick up - lower oil prices will do wonders for the profitability of mines that measure ore grades in grams of gold per ton and where diesel usage is measured in gallons per hour.
There is no comfort in your linked chart. The count is down 24% in a very short time and the entire build up over the last few years was the shale boom, which can't be sustained at these prices. Looking at that chart and thinking things aren't bad is like looking at an altitude chart of an aircraft which just had a wing fall off. Just because you haven't hit the ground yet doesn't mean you won't soon.
nothing can go up forever, there are always pullbacks
Why would doom about the U.S. oil industry qualify as bank lobby propaganda?
Banks cry for bailouts only after the egg is broken.
There are also "pull outs", but they are rarely successful.
The oil business is not an aircraft with a faulty wing. The ups and downs are cyclical and expected. The immediate cuts are good for the business because it shows they have the foresight to make the cuts when needed. The pilot has corrected and the aircraft is still on course. It will fly along at a lower altitude and slower speed. It might still crash but it hasn't yet and anyone who thinks that is already something that must happen is premature in thinking so. Zerohedge seems to have a lot of sympathy for the oil speculators. Not me.
+1 Same here.
as long as their ass is handed to them. above note of some geo-engineer worring about no healthcare-i haven't had healthcare for 7 years and have pocketed thousands. what a fucking looser. progessive thinker with no critical reasoning.
wawawa is all i say. deal with your issues and start solving your "health crisses" with preventative living. probably a fattie on meds...
let the fallout begin-welcome to the progessive new world order...
I agree the recent oil articles are just doing TBTJ bidding. But, in the opposite way you are suggesting. Supply will adjust quickly. Each oil rig now produces about 3X what it did in 2008... There's very modest excess capacity in the system, unlike the 80's.
Excellent question. ZH has lost its way. Look down the page where "Tyler" defends the offshoring of corporate profits and heaven forbid taxing the bastards that have billions tucked away free from taxation while enjoying the benefits afforded them being domiciled n the US.
And the oil posts have become tiresome. Oil has been a boom and bust business forever. Now we should be concerned about "landowners in Santa Barbara" and "Houston oil executives?" Really?
If we're really laissez faire capitalists here, then we should care about how lower oil prices affect us, and I like lower oil prices just fine. So to all the Houston oil executives and shareholders of Schlumberger and shale workers in North Dakota, tough shit.
That's a double-edge sword. Companies like Google and Apple could easily relocate and keep a subsidiary here. There is nothing keeping them here. Get what taxes you can or get nothing. The US is the only country in the world that taxes individuals and corporations on income made overseas.
Nobody is calling for higher oil prices. The article is pointing out that there will be mass layoffs and capex cuts in the energy industry, which will affect unemployment and GDP numbers. Is that something that's supposed to be ignored on a financial website?
>>>The US is the only country in the world that taxes individuals and corporations on income made overseas.
I don't know about corporate taxation but as to individuals, many, many countries - probably a majority - tax the worldwide income of individuals... if they are made aware of it.
In other words, as a rabid ZHer might say, your statement is incorrect on its face.
How does taking money from Exxon or Apple and giving it to Obama make you better off? Or anyone?
Your data is fuqqed up. Here's the site:
http://www.bakerhughes.com/
Here's the frackin count: US 1543 down by 90 from last week
But then again, real facts no longer matter.
And if you think that 1543 makes it all better, then realize that a year ago we were at 1800ish. The count is dropping exponentially every week now. Get your facts correct.
Area Count Change U.S. 1543 90 Canada 394 38 International 1313 11Yeah - the ski slope part is just a coupla months. That rig count drop was the biggest ever. By May it (BH rig count) will look like the 87 stock market crash. Given the build up over the past 5 years - mostly Shale related - nother thousand rigs could bite the dust by summer. In % and absolute numbers, the rig count drop will be far worse than the drop last time.
Each rig has from 100 - 150 direct jobs. Those peeps spend money on crap like food, etc. Oh and they pay taxes. The rigs are also taxed. As the unemployed oil workers start buying less crap, restaurants and stores lay other peeps off. And local tax revenues fall. And state tax revenues. (ND legislature is scrambling.) It is called a market. By Spring businesses that dealt with the oil industry will be laying off big time. Already hitting Texas and ND. Texas PMI numbers starting to fall.
May be nice to save 10 bucks on a fillup, but the economic impact will be fairly painful as it spills over.
Just another peg in the coming recession. Anyone notice the reduction to S & P earnings outlook for Q 1 & 2 2015? Now negative for both. Was positive at year end.
BTFD
http://bloom.bg/1CMpkgy
"Analysts now expect per-share earnings from S&P 500 companies to decline 2.1 percent in the first quarter and fall 1.1 percent over the following period, estimates compiled by Bloomberg show. Should the forecasts come true, it would be the first back-to-back profit contractions since 2009."
"At the end of 2014, analysts projected growth of at least 3.3 percent for each of the two quarters."
Let the buy the dips crowd (BTFD) chew on that for a bit.
Well I overpaid by $20 per fill-up for the last 7 years. Dip into that slush fund to tide them over for a few years. If you want sympathy from me because some guys work in an industry that can't survive with market(sorta) pricing, then tough shit. I am not here to subsidize rough neck whores, beer and pickup trucks.
Production from shale wells is a mere shadow of that from the gushers of American history. An outstanding shale well may produce only 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent when first fracked, and production rates fall quickly. The average new shale hole produces about 330 bpd oil (EIA Drilling Productivity Report Jan 12, 2015). I believe the average production of all holes (new and old) in the Bakken is about 125 Bpd oil.
In its November 5, 2013 Today in Energy report, the EIA gave figures for "Rigs needed to sustain prior month's production" of oil and gas as about 170 for the Bakken and 250 for Eagle Ford.
The production of the average shale hole falls about 60% in the first year, and has fallen by 85% to 90% after 36 months. Thus, if drilling in the shale plays stops, expect shale production to be miminal by 36 months later.
To maintain production levels in a shale field, 30% to 50% of wells have to be replaced each year. Hence a large number of drill rigs must be busy drilling all the time or the field's production will fall off. At the same time, the total production from a well often has not been sufficient to pay the money invested in drilling and fracking it, after connection costs and operating expenses are factored in. Shale patch companies kept drilling to get the initial rush of revenue that a new well provided, while their total debt burden rose. They pushed for exports, seeking the higher prices that the international market would have provided, as a way out of their dead-end trap of increasing debt and fast production rate fall-off.
The EIA slowly came to the conclusion that ultimate recovery from shale areas would only be a small fraction of what was originally envisioned (e.g. the estimate for total recoverable oil from the California Monterey shale was reduced by about 96%).
In many cases, rigs were contracted to drill before the prices of oil and gas tanked. No doubt there are rigs still operating because developers are contractually bound to employ the rigs. Also, holes that are nearing completion will be completed and fracked so the developers can get some income stream from the amounts invested. But as more and more rigs are idled, the clock will start to tick down for the shale fields.
The fall in production may lag the layoffs of rig crews by a year or so, but the loss of the high-paying jobs in the shale patch, and the loss of investment in the shale fields threatens a large loss of economic activity and much distress.
This could be important and I note RBOB up 15¢ on the news this morning.
30k refinery workers walk out on strike:
http://abc13.com/499708/
"HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Oil workers from coast to coast are on strike. They started to walk off the job around midnight when their union failed to reach a deal with the energy industry. It's not clear how many workers are on strike.
The contract in dispute covers about 30,000 workers at refineries, pipelines, oil terminals, and petrochemical plants across the country, including about 5,000 workers here in Houston. A representative for the United Steelworkers Association, which is the union for the workers, say there are work stoppage at these facilities in the Houston area: LyondellBasell in Houston, TX; Marathon Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, TX; Marathon Houston Green Cogeneration facility, Texas City, TX; Shell Deer Park Refinery, Deer Park, TX; and Shell Deer Park Chemical Plant, Deer Park, TX.
At the LyondellBasell plant in southeast Houston, workers started to protest around 6am. Last night, more than a dozen workers walked off the job shortly after midnight.
"It's about health, safety. It's about issues that confront our workers every day," said Director of the United Steelworkers, Ruben Garza."
Those oil workers picked a bad time to strike...
They can always get a job in the booming "green" industry.
(That was sarcasm for all ya'll red arrow mofo's)
The strike will drive inventories down and prices up. Sounds like a plan coming together to me...
"They can always get a job in the booming "green" industry. (That was sarcasm for all ya'll red arrow mofo's)"
Yeah, I must be a communist if I support an industry that could put an end to the need for Middle Eastern meddling by the US and the fascism it has created, destroy the Saudi Arabian Kingdom that owns us, etc. Go oil.
Let us know all about your credentials in science, engineering, and .... well...fucking reality. Then we can go from there.
Wait, I thought you guys thought scientists were all wet with global warming and such. Which is it? Do I have more or less credibility with you if I'm a scientist? I'll answer it for you -- I have credibility if I agree with you, otherwise not.
You have to agree with whoever is right in order to be right. You don't have to agree with anyone to argue. You have to show where you get your facts to be credible.
Zero Hedge's main premise about the correction in oil prices back down to what they were just a mere 10 years ago is that oil this "cheap" is uneconomical for the United States to drill.
Ok, if these guys are always talking about markets and invisible hands and other capitalist slogans, wouldn't their own theories reveal that alternative energy sources are now more economical than oil drilling?
The right-leaning libertarians are always whining about how wind, solar, geothermal, etc are unprofitable, yet fracking is obviously unprofitable when oil gets corrected back to where it should be compared to any historical oil chart. If all energy sources are unprofitable, than that means our economic theories are obsolete.
It's becoming more obvious by the day that our energy policy is beyond joke level to the point where the POTUS has to bow down to the Saudi King and kiss his ring.
It should be a national objective to research and develop a more practical energy source. Instead of wasting $3 trillion on middle eastern wars for oil and opium, imagine if that $3 trillion was spent on energy independence and a whole alternative energy source to fossil fuels. I digress because the "leaders" of this nation wouldn't want that as they like this archaic Rockefeller crony system. Nikola Tesla had the answers and JP Morgan made sure Tesla never got off the ground.
Amen, 9th doctor.
The9thDoctor; Yes, but are many ways that money is created out of thin air: Fiscal Policy, FED Policy, Wall Street Banking, etc.
No War Chest, no saving surplus tax revenue, no normal accounting, no conservative practices, I don't even think we know where all the money is created and used.
We don't even know if .gov stats are valid.
I guess the Neo-Con, CIA, Rockefeller Cronies are running these wars and the police state. I still think after CIA Scandals of 1973,74,75 they knew they had to get George H.W. Bush into the White House.
Well said. I don't know if Tesla really had a working method of extracting energy from the atmosphere, but it seems like there are other possibilities worth exploring - maybe something like algae that's bioengineered for more efficient photosynthesis, that could float on top of warm ocean water, reproduce to increase its numbers, and then get scooped up and processed by modified oil tankers.
Maybe that would work, and maybe it wouldn't. But I'd certainly vote to channel a significant portion of my tax dollars towards research that's aimed at solving the energy scarcity problem. That might not deliver world peace, but it would certainly help to take away one of the big reasons why we go to war and have billions of people on the planet living in third-world conditions.
Right on!
Are we talking about scientists or "scientists"?
Cause 'merica will stop its meddling then.
We'll still need whatever resource that one needs to make high end, efficient alt energy tech. Bet we keep bombing mother fuckers.
Good Point. Rockefeller created scarcity.
Our Corporations & Elites would create more scarcity even if it meant starting a war or Nuking the Oil Fields or Water Sources.
But I might be a little bit of cynic.
but what's more important, Empire Gladiator Games (aka super bowl) or this matter and all it's attendant intrigues? i'm listen' sheeple.
It is TBTJ institutions abusing asymmetric leverage, knowledge of positions and its effective control of the money supply to wreak havoc on actual producers in the real economy. They are trying to have their phantom and senior FRB claims take control of the truly scarce resources. The true glut is fraudulent financial assets from the unchecked fractional reserve banking ponzi.
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue. [/Steve McCroskey]
We fracked some folks.....
Wahhhhhhhhhhhh... we should be able to name our price for our particular commodity. NOT.
Fuck the oil patch and it's entitled corporations.
Hey retard, oil is everything...without energy, all but 2% of us starve.
Hey retard.. ... why is it everyone is all about supply and demand "free" market economics until THEIR ox is gored. Then it is straight to socialism. Hypocrites.
Every drop of oil below the ground of the US will eventually be extracted. Now is just not the time.
Was in Midland-Odessa this weekend...lots and lots of idled equipment and stuff for sale everywhere...and yes, 'slowimplosion' you don't know shit.
Green energy will save the day!!!! (or not)
Renewable energy 'simply won't work': Top Google engineers
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/21/renewable_energy_simply_wont_work_google_renewables_engineers/
http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/23/google-gives-up-on-green-tech-investment-initiative-rec/
Two highly qualified Google engineers who have spent years studying and trying to improve renewable energy technology have stated quite bluntly that renewables will never permit the human race to cut CO2 emissions to the levels demanded by climate activists. Whatever the future holds, it is not a renewables-powered civilisation: such a thing is impossible.
Both men are Stanford PhDs, Ross Koningstein having trained in aerospace engineering and David Fork in applied physics. These aren't guys who fiddle about with websites or data analytics or "technology" of that sort: they are real engineers who understand difficult maths and physics, and top-bracket even among that distinguished company. The duo were employed at Google on the RE<C project, which sought to enhance renewable technology to the point where it could produce energy more cheaply than coal.
Even if one were to electrify all of transport, industry, heating and so on, so much renewable generation and balancing/storage equipment would be needed to power it that astronomical new requirements for steel, concrete, copper, glass, carbon fibre, neodymium, shipping and haulage etc etc would appear.
All these things are made using mammoth amounts of energy: far from achieving massive energy savings, which most plans for a renewables future rely on implicitly, we would wind up needing far more energy, which would mean even more vast renewables farms – and even more materials and energy to make and maintain them and so on. The scale of the building would be like nothing ever attempted by the human race.
In reality, well before any such stage was reached, energy would become horrifyingly expensive – which means that everything would become horrifyingly expensive (even the present well-under-one-per-cent renewables level in the UK has pushed up utility bills very considerably).
Because those levels demanded are a joke.
Usually low prices are good for consumers and the public as a whole. This is one of those exceptions. The oil industry (especially fracking) used calcualtions and projections based on $80 and even $100 per barrel prices. The companies of course will have to cut costs drastically to come close to making their payments. It still won't be enough if the oil price remains this low. They will default on their loans.
How will the banks get their money? You know they won't just admit they made bad loans and accept their losses. They will get their money. It won't be tax payers bailing them out like we did in '08/'09. The will use the Cyprus bail-in method where they take dollars directly from bank accounts. They have these procedures on the books in November. Protect your wealth! Buy silver and gold. I recommend silver since its discounted at the moment. If you are bit nervous starting your collection, these candles with a real silver coin are a great way to begin your stacking: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ScentSavers?ref=hdr_shop_menu . The candles help educate people on the value of silver! A silver quarter is worth over $3.00! That's 12 times the face value. It clearly shows what inflation does to our purchasing power.
Buy The Fucking Reality!
Yes, absolutely buy the reality and its name is GOLD
tax receipts. Not to worry, Barry will juice them with a 14% tax on foreign income. I can hear it now - the largest reduction in the deficit in the history of USSA!
......I live up here on the Bakken.
Yes, the Baker Hughes drilling rig count is important. That said what you want to watch, and it is difficult to do so because they are much smaller companies, is the "service rigs deployed" number.............when the service rigs get laid down you know times are tough......the well operators won't even spend a dime to fix them if they break...............of the roughly 300 service rigs in North Dakota last year around 280 are still running.....but there have been
"meetings with the crews" so to speak......expect lay downs ...soon.
As usual, the hard working people have sweated, and risked all, to build with their hands, and backs, what the Zionist banksters will snap up in foreclosure with "printed theft.
Am I the only one that sees that as wrong?
The banksters need to repay us.
It usually happens that way, but then again most of the companies going out of business and which have heavy burdens of debt wouldn't have existed without borrowing to begin with.
Those that don't owe anything and have a bit of coin may weather this.
"...but then again most of the companies going out of business and which have heavy burdens of debt wouldn't have existed without borrowing to begin with."
Still doesn't change the fact that the banksters fueled an artificial boom with "printed theft that they are now able to convert into ownership and control.
They are thieves.
The banksters need to repay us.
When I was young they just started with credit cards, before that there was nothing. If you had to repair your car or buy groceries and didn't have coin, there were occasions the local mechanic or grocer would extend credit.
Going to a bank for a mortgage or loan was often a major ordeal which often didn't pan out.
Now people are up to their ears in it and have a ton of stuff they do not need.
You are right, banks precipitated this. People cannot quit their jobs as they need that pay to pay their bills.
It goes both ways, however if the banks would have held the line like they did back then, we would be seeing a different country.
Speaking of oil, I'm surprised nobody has mused about the strikes at 9 US oil refineries. The union and oil companies failed to sign before the deadline. All refinery workers are on rolling 24 hour contracts as of today.
So what... USO futures puts then? At what, 15/16? It's 17.50 or so now.
Short oil with DWTI if that is what you want to do. No futures puts on USO but you can sell it short. Check Oil prices (and other good stuff) here:
http://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?t=CL&p=m5
DWTI info:
http://etfdb.com/etf/DWTI/#charts
Think of all of this as a victory for planet Earth.
THIS IS OLD NEWS, BUT SOMEONE KNEW ABOUT THE DROP IN BOTH OIL AND NAT GAS PRICES BACK IN JULY 2014. Some only played the options out until August 2014 but the puts were out of the money when they placed them, now they're way in the money.
I'm not done analyzing data from that day. I wonder if the market maker and specialists know who they are..... hmmmm
http://economicasylum.blogspot.com/2015/02/somebody-knew-about-drop-in-o...
http://www.economic-undertow.com/2015/01/29/voting-with-empty-wallets/
Lower price due to lower demand.
For consequences, read the comments.
No wonder the 1% are panicking.
Like Kerry said, "There will be costs".... surely he can't be a total idiot, coss he's the US SoS ?? Oh yeah, I forgot, a president can never have a SoS who's smarter than him, so Kerry really must have won the "spot the thicky" competition. Can someone explain the Butterfly Effect to the muppets in the White House ??
When oil crashed, I assumed it would eventually go back up; I still think so.
Now, I am saving $$ on gas. I invested 750$ into a solar experiment. I have worked on solar applications so I did not go into it blind, but I learned how much I did not know.
For my investment, I am now powering a freezer and refrigerator off-grid. In a separate experiment, I replaced my lamps with LED bulbs.
But motors use a lot of current. My next experiment is to power my hot water heater with 12VDC heater elements. This will wait a while, as I have to add storage (battery) and two more panels.
I had two goals: get off-grid and prepare for emergencies. Having solar to protect 300$ in frozen food is a good feeling. I live in an area where we are prone to hurricanes. The system is designed to be quickly removed/set back up according to storm effects.
I am not trying at this point to go 100% off-grid, but to reduce power company bills and be prepared for an emergency. For my A/C and heat, I have a generator.
My next experiment will be to install a windmill, as being near the coast we get a lot of wind. I will feed this current into a common battery bank also.
I do not believe in the global climate change BS. I am doing it to try and have some independent power generating ability.
I do all the work myself. The goal is to reduce power company KwH and be able to have some AC power if there is a grid-down situation. Surprisingly, it has attracted the attention of many associates. For the time being, having a sort of hybrid system seems to be the best bet. I avoid the huge expense of trying to go all off-grid but retain the ability to power my most important units.
I have become convinced more experimentation for alternate power in these times is important. I mention this as a suggestion to ZHers many of whom are probably doing the same thing.
I am powering a freezer and refrigerator via solar array as well. With your capacity, I dont see how you can do it.
I did everything myself (I did hire someone to mount my 12 x 245w panels and send the 4 pair of 10ga down to my garage). NO prior experience with solar, I obtained all my info from watching youtube vids off/on for years.
I have 16 x 6v batteries in 4 strings x 4 configuration for 920ah @ 24v. My 3kw inverter has a surge of 6kw. You will find starting compressors take up to 50amps @110w for more than a few seconds. These two compressors generally take my batteries down to 70% over n ight.
I am not a believer in AGW or any of that carbon footprint junk science either. I did this for several reasons, tax shelter (~ 65% state + fed refund on all tools materials and paid labor) and for emergency backup.
I suppose the final step I would need to do is put the 4 charge controllers in some sort of faraday cage, to shield from EMP.
I stagger the motors of the two units; 1 off, 1 on as needed. I do need more battery units.
ok we are cutting rigs... horizontal rigs down 40% from a year ago while horizontal ones are unchanged from a year ago but down 5% from last week... Don't think that impact on shale will show up until summer and they can survive until then with cost cutting etc...
April and October are the months that banks traditionally recalculate the value of properties energy companies use as loan collateral. The process is known as the “redetermination of the borrowing base.” Last October, banks were using an $80-a-barrel level for oil in valuing companies’ assets.
http://winteractionables.com/?p=18146