A devastating tornado hit Oklahoma City midafternoon yesterday. The size was reported to be at least 2.2 miles long and move at about 300 mph.  The tornado had hit Moore, and by looking at the pictures of what was left, you couldn’t even tell where you were.

killing an untold number of people, leveling at least two elementary schools, and destroying countless homes and buildings in the process. The latest word out of the Oklahoma City suburb puts the official toll at 24, a figure well below Monday's official estimates. Still, things don't look good and the tally may still climb higher. "Numerous neighborhoods were completely leveled," Sgt. Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police Department told the New York Times by telephone. "Neighborhoods just wiped clean."

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/05/20/oklahoma_city_tornado_twister_touches_down_10_miles_south_of_city_live_video.html

Reports of more natural gas in Israel have spread across the nation. How much natural gas is still unknown but geologists report that it could be up to 2 million cubic feet of natural gas.

’A growing number of recent gas discoveries have made energy independence a possibility in the near future for Israel, according to the energy ministry. The discoveries have also pushed up the value of the shekel against the dollar as local companies no longer need as much foreign currency to purchase energy from abroad. “

http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/126525/Israel_Appears_to_Have_More_Natural_Gas

Once again North Dakota is booming with oil.. Could it be the next Texas? There are 7.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the western part of the state and extending into Montana, according to the latest estimate by the U.S. Geological Survey

 “The revised totals could make the North Dakota field the greatest oil and gas find ever in the continental United States, topping the fabled East Texas field that made Texas synonymous with oil wealth. And it would put North Dakota second to Prudhoe Bay as the largest oil producer in U.S. history.”

http://www.startribune.com/business/205468311.html?refer=y

After numerous requests from the Obama administration, TransCanada once again pushes its service date back to late 2014 or even 2015. As you can recall the Keystone XL “will be pumping around 700,000 barrels a day of crude oil from Alberta to Nebraska, where it would link to other pipelines bound for U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.”

“TransCanada said its $5.3 billion cost estimate for the project will rise, depending on the approval timing. At the end of the first quarter, it had spent $1.8 billion on the project.”

http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/126061/TransCanada_Pushes_Back_Proposed_Keystone_XL_InService_Date

Alaska has decided to reduce taxes for the oil production companies. Some of the companies that will benefit from the tax cut are ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil and BP.

“The legislation imposes a base tax rate of 35% on oil companies’ net profits in the state and makes some tax credits available. The new tax regime will replace a complex formula that started at 25% of net profits and escalated as oil prices rose.”

These new changes will create new investment opportunities as well as additional production from all the oil companies, as well as increase tourism.

http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/125814/Alaska_Lawmakers_Cut_Oil_Taxes

On March 19^th, ConocoPhillips had announced that they have discovered oil at the Shenandoah well. Yesterday, they had discovered another well in the Gulf of Mexico. ( The Coronado well).

"The Coronado discovery adds to our exploration success in the prolific Lower Tertiary Trend," said Larry Archibald, senior vice president, Exploration. "The exciting results from the Coronado and Shenandoah discoveries confirm the value of our portfolio in the Gulf of Mexico and provide visibility on our future plans to grow through organic exploration."

ConocoPhillips is one of the largest leaseholders in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico with approximately two million net acres. In 2013, the company plans to drill between five and eight wells, including the Ardennes prospect, which spud earlier this quarter, and the Thorn well, scheduled to spud in the second quarter of 2013.

http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/03/25/4721357/conocophillips-announces-second.html#storylink=cpy

ConocoPhillips has agreed to sell to Denbury Resources Inc, its properties in the Cedar Creek Anticline of North Dakota and Montana for $1.05 billion dollars.

“The deal includes about 86,000 net acres with 2012 net production of 13,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day through November.” The area in the Bakken region is not included. Denbury has announced that this deal will increase their average daily production by 7,700 barrels of oil per day this year alone."

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/denbury-buying-conocophillips-fields-for-105-bln-2013-01-15

“As of 2006, the state was only producing about 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day, putting it on par with other mid-tier oil producing states like Kansas, Colorado and Montana. But new hydraulic fracturing techniques and the opening of the massive Bakken formation to drilling changed all that, and as of January 2013 the state was producing an average of 770,000 barrels of crude per day, for a total of 23,834,000 barrels per month.”

It’s no wonder with all the oil in North Dakota that the state is ranked #3 in the US for producing the most oil, Texas of course being #1.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/wow-north-dakota-lot-oil-170648051.html

“Sanchez Energy will run a single rig on the liquids-rich spread while it assesses the full potential. It will focus on Eagle Ford development initially but noted that other operators are pursuing the Buda limestone and Pearsall shale that may provide Sanchez Energy with potential growth opportunities”

Sanchez Energy Corporation in Houston, Texas is buying the Eagle Ford shale in south Texas for $265 million dollars in cash! This deal will not only increase Sanchez energy producing well count but also will increase its acreage in the Eagle Ford shale as well

http://www.ogj.com/articles/2013/03/sanchez-energy-to-buy-hess-corp--eagle-ford-shale-assets.html

“US President Barack Obama in his second inaugural speech called for a $50 billion upgrade of the US transportation infrastructure, including rail that political analysts say will be hard to finance.”

 “The rapidly growing need for more rail transportation of crude has triggered sizeable investments in both loading and unloading facilities and soaring orders for tank cars “making movement of oil by rail a major growth market for North American railroads,” 

The rapid increase of North American crude production has resulted in pipeline bottlenecks in some areas, forcing more reliance on rail transportation to access some of the highest-value markets

http://www.ogj.com/articles/2013/02/working-on-the-railroads.html