This is Idris…

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Austin-based Brigham Exploration Co. has agreed to be acquired by Norway-based petroleum giant Statoil ASA for $4.4 billion in cash.

The sale price is one of the largest ever for an Austin-based company.

Brigham has about 100 employees in Austin and a strong position in the Bakken and Three Forks “tight oil” plays in the Williston Basin of North Dakota and Montana.

Brigham said its board of directors has unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the offer, which is for $36.50 a share.

“We are positioning ourselves as a leading player in the fast growing U.S. onshore oil and gas industry,” said Statoil CEO Helge Lund.

The transaction will provide Statoil with more than 375,000 acres in the Williston Basin, which holds potential for oil production from the Bakken and Three Forks formations. The early estimate for oil reserves under company property is believed to be between 300 million and 500 million barrels of oil. Brigham’s properties currently produce about 21,000 barrels of oil a day.

The Bakken and Three Forks formations are among the most promising oil fields in the United States. Various estimates have said the recoverable oil in the formations is between 5 billion and 24 billion barrels.

“A bigger enterprise with a larger balance sheet will be better positioned to take advantage of our large and growing inventory of Williston Basin drilling locations and the associated assets,” said Brigham CEO Ben “Bud” Brigham. “We are excited to see this transaction completed and look forward to having our assets and employees integrate with the Statoil organization.”

Based on company disclosure statements, Brigham, who founded the company in 1990, would receive more than $81 million from the proceeds of the sale.

Bill Maloney, executive vice president for Statoil North America, said his company plans to keep Brigham’s operations in Austin and potentially expand them over time. Statoil already employs 1,200 workers in North America and it is actively developing fields in the Gulf of Mexico, on the east coast of Canada, in Alaska, in the Eagleford shale field in South Texas and in the Marcellus shale field in Pennsylvania.

Maloney said Statoil wants to expand its global oil production to 2.5 million barrels a day by 2020, with North America accounting for about one fifth of that total. His company did a study of North American oil exploration companies, and Brigham ranked high on the list.

“They are virtually a pure Bakken player and one who likes technology and likes to bring it into play,” he said. “We thought an acquisition with Brigham was doable. We met with them and proceeded to talk for a number of months.”

Although global oil prices have softened in recent weeks, Maloney said his company regards its potential Brigham wells as profitable when the price of oil is in the “mid-fifties” per barrel. The spot price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was $86.80 a barrel.

Tight oil refers to oil that is locked in formations and doesn’t rise to the surface naturally. Tight oil reservoirs are being developed with long lateral wells that are hydraulically fractured in a manner that is similar to shale gas recovery.

Statoil is the largest oil company in Norway, and most of its stock continues to be owned by the Norwegian government. According to Fortune, Statoil was ranked as the world’s 13th largest oil and gas company in 2010.

The company signed an agreement in September to back $5 million worth of research over five years at the University of Texas. The research effort will focus on geology, geophysics and petroleum engineering.

The acquisition is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.

kladendorf; 445-3622

http://www.statesman.com/business/norway-based-oil-giant-to-buy-austin-oil-1919876.html

May his family find solace in the fact his legacy will live on for generations.

Rest in peace sir.

05_30_11Podcast.mp3

Fairykingdom86

All the 2005+ doctors and his companions.

zombiesatemyhampster

Love this version!

The class system, while giving you several layers of creativity, leads you on a quest to understand how the damn thing works to begin with.  I am well versed in how MMOs function, and the class system seems really very similar.  However, the never ending questions in chat related to how to set up a character from the lower level chat leads me to believe there needs to be more of a tutorial in the lower levels.

The fighting animations are the best I have seen for an MMO.  However, this is a button mashing game.  Sad to see it go that direction.  I was really hoping for less button mashing and more interaction with the target while playing.  Instead, I spend a lot of my time looking at the icons and waiting for them to be available to mash again.

Not having a home city until almost 20 is frustrating. There were so many events going on, I could not travel anywhere to participate in them.  Which leads me to the rifts…

Ok.  The Rift idea is awesome.  Live events, that you can make happen, create at will.  Such an awesome concept.  Until… everyone and their mother is opening a Rift every few minutes.  And its the same Rift event, over and over.  It was tiresome, and honestly took away from the quests that were available without the Rift.  There should be some sort of time delay.  15 minutes at least.  Give folks time to go into an area do some non rift things, and get out before the next (errr same) Rift is opened again.

I guess, the concept is great, execution is ok.  If only an MMORPG would do the things I want.

• Entry level combat/raids
• Mentoring up and down
• Travel to and from at least one major city from the get go
• Less button mashing and more complex encounters.
• Housing based on location (room and board at your bind city)
• Class system based on experiences in the world, not chosen, but developed
• Anyone can play with anyone else, no good/evil until you are a master.
• Quests that tell a story, not a delivery service for lazy NPCs.
• Hardcore raids/quests are defined not by the gear you can get or have.
• All gear is created by others, never dropped by NPCs.  Raids and quests would give status and coin which can be traded for created items.  All items decay over time and must be repaired by a craftsman.  The best gear in the game will be determined not by killing the same boss over and over, but how your status with the citizens is kept.  In doing so, a tailor can be held in high regard by the most mighty warrior.
• Those with the highest status will be given the ability to create their own planes of existence where they can be the master of their own population.  The master could then be a might fighter, or a highly recognized sculptor or any of several careers.  Either would be the master of their own destiny.

Anyway, those are just a few of my ideas for a fantastic world where you can be your own master, your own leader, your own hermit, or even your own slave.  Its up to you.  You make the game, the game doesn’t make you.

Damn you SyFy!!

Weep not for me though I am gone into that gentle night.
Grieve if you will, but not for long upon my soul’s sweet flight.
I am at peace, my souls at rest.
There is no need for tears.
For with your love I was so blessed.
For all those many years.
There is no pain, I suffer not,
The fear now all is gone.
Put now these things out of your thoughts,
In your memory I live on.
Remember not my fight for breath
Remember not the strife.
Please do not dwell upon my death,
But celebrate my life.

-unknown

Then a  post from Craig Engler as @SyFy.  His profile reads: “I’m a senior executive at Syfy. I talk about what it’s like to work at the channel, pass along news and answer questions. I often give stuff away”.  The twitter post reads:  ”Excluding syfy.com, what do you think are the best/biggest places with sci-fi message boards? (Not comment sections, actual boards)“

Well, anyone that knows me can attest I am pissed about the whole Caprica cancellation as well as the news of SGU being canned.  The resulting Friday line up will be reruns of old Star Trek episodes and Wrestling.  So I replied to the tweet in under 140 characters, and held my tongue as best I could muster.  My tweet read: “@Syfy seriously, you had to exclude syfy? you dont even run sci-fi television anymore. why would we post on your boards? #boycottsyfy“

Well, that must have festered or something, or at least just ended up one of the many returned tweets that Craig decided to respond to this evening.  So needless to say, I was a bit surprised that he would bother to respond to me.  A direct response at that.

Syfy: Our schedules has Star Trek (Movies, TNG, Enterprise) Dr Who, Stargate SG1, SGA, Twilight Zone, Invaders…seems like sci-fi to me

Its hot, boring, and I’m turning into a cat lady.  Sound interesting?  Come listen!

I own my own home, have a great job with people I love to work with. I have no debt besides my house, and I am living the life I have always wanted. No worries about money, no worries about much of anything.

Yes, things could change, I could loose my job, I could loose a lot of things. However, I have the support now I never had before, and the love that keeps me smiling.

Thank you to everyone in my life, even those that helped me get to where I am, and the assholes that stepped in my way. All the things that have happened to me up till this time has led to this moment. The good and the bad. The happy and the horrible. It is who I am, and I love who I am today!!

-Jennifer

Now to make it out of wood!

The Feb. 27 magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile may have shortened the length of each Earth day.

JPL research scientist Richard Gross computed how Earth’s rotation should have changed as a result of the Feb. 27 quake. Using a complex model, he and fellow scientists came up with a preliminary calculation that the quake should have shortened the length of an Earth day by about 1.26 microseconds (a microsecond is one millionth of a second).

Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth’s axis. Gross calculates the quake should have moved Earth’s figure axis (the axis about which Earth’s mass is balanced) by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters, or 3 inches). Earth’s figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis; they are offset by about 10 meters (about 33 feet).

By comparison, Gross said the same model estimated the 2004 magnitude 9.1 Sumatran earthquake should have shortened the length of day by 6.8 microseconds and shifted Earth’s axis by 2.32 milliarcseconds (about 7 centimeters, or 2.76 inches).

Gross said that even though the Chilean earthquake is much smaller than the Sumatran quake, it is predicted to have changed the position of the figure axis by a bit more for two reasons. First, unlike the 2004 Sumatran earthquake, which was located near the equator, the 2010 Chilean earthquake was located in Earth’s mid-latitudes, which makes it more effective in shifting Earth’s figure axis. Second, the fault responsible for the 2010 Chiliean earthquake dips into Earth at a slightly steeper angle than does the fault responsible for the 2004 Sumatran earthquake. This makes the Chile fault more effective in moving Earth’s mass vertically and hence more effective in shifting Earth’s figure axis.

Gross said the Chile predictions will likely change as data on the quake are further refined.

Alan Buis
818-354-0880
alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov