2
E 2 n n Saturday, August 17, 2013 FYI: BUSINESS State rig count rises by one to 169 units The number of drilling rigs actively exploring for oil or natural gas in Oklahoma rose by one this week to 169, Baker Hughes Inc. reported Friday. The tally is down nearly 15 percent from a year ago, when it was 29 units higher at 198. Nationwide, the net number of active drilling rigs hit the highest level of 2013 this week, rising by 13 to 1,791, accord- ing to data on Houston-based Baker Hughes’ website. A year ago, the U.S. rig count was 1,914. Of the rigs operating this week across the country, 1,397 were exploring for oil, 388 for gas, and six were listed as miscellaneous. Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for September delivery gained 13 cents to settle at $107.46 a barrel. Oil rose 1.4 percent this week. Natural gas fell 5 cents to $3.37 per 1,000 cubic feet. —FROMSTAFF ANDWIRE REPORTS OKLAHOMA AGRICULTURE Oklahomamarkets The state D epartmentof Agriculture reportedthe following closing prices Friday. U.S. No 1 HARDREDWINTER WHEAT :.05 to .06 lower. 6.43-6.93. Davis6.43, Clinton, Hobart, Manchester,Shattuck,Weatherford 6.73, Alva, Bualo 6.74, Cherokee 6.77, Banner, El Reno, Geary, Medford, Okarche, Okeene, Ponca City, Watonga 6.78, Perry, Stillwater 6.80, Frederick, Lawton, Temple 6.83, Hooker 6.90, Eldorado, Keyes6.93, Gulf7.68. MILO:.14to 1.21 lower. 8.55-9.98. Shattuck8.55, Medford, Ponca City 8.64, Weatherford8.82, Manchester 9.36, Alva, Bualo 9.53, Hooker, Keyes 9.98. SOYBEANS:.06 to .07 lower. 12.14- 12.44. Shattuck12.14, Hooker, Medford, Ponca City 12.19, Stillwater 12.24, Alva, Bualo 12.44, Gulf14.14. CORN:.08 to .33 lower. 4.99-6.24 . Medford, Ponca City 4.99, Man- chester 5.74, Hooker 6.23, Keyes6.24, Gulf5.75. COTTON:Grade 41, Leaf4, Staple 34Cotton in southwestern Oklahoma averaged88.50 centsper pound. EGGS:Large 1.31;medium 1.11;small 82cents. Oklahoma active rig count Aug.16,2013 Source:Bloomberg Services Tu lsa Worl d 169 +1 150 100 200 4thQ 1st Q 2ndQ 3rdQ 2012 2013 Dow average has worst week of ’13 NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell Friday, closing out what was the worst week of the year for the Dow Jones industrial aver- age. The market was dragged lower by a weak perfor- mance from retailers and companies sensitive to higher interest rates. Homebuilders and banking stocks were among the best performers. Stocks had a decent start to the week, but investors were hit hard the last three days. The Dow retreated 2.2 percent for the week, its worst in 2013. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 in- dex lost 2.1 percent for the week, its second-worst per- formance of the year. The possibility of a cut- back in the Federal Re- serve’s massive bond-buy- ing program in September has roiled the bond market, which has spilled over into stocks. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.83 percent, its highest level since July 2011. A week ago, the yield was 2.58 percent. “When yields are going up like this, that’s scary for most equity investors,” said Brian Reynolds, chief mar- ket strategist at Rosenblatt Securities. Rising bond yields have a direct impact on the cost of borrowing for everyone, making them a potential long-term drag on the econ- omy. Both sides apparently feel they’re within reach of vic- tory, which will come in the form of a decision by the U.S. State Department. Several environmental im- pact reports so far have not found adverse impacts, de- spite the opposition’s fear of disastrous oil leaks such as those that occurred on En- bridge pipeline in Michigan three years ago and on the Mayflower line in Arkansas earlier this year. Those spills, and their $1 billion in cleanup costs, are being cited by both sides in the Keystone XL fight. TransCanada’s Prescott said those accidents highlight the need for the Keystone and other new pipeline projects. “Those were old pipe- lines, old materials, old tech- niques,” he said. “Things have changed in the last 50 years.” One thing giving the op- position greater hope is that President Barack Obama may have subtly changed the con- text of the arguments sur- rounding the Keystone XL. The prior concerns focused on potential for spills and damage to water systems, but on June 25 he warned that he will not approve the pipeline if building it would add to greenhouse gas emissions. “As a president, as a fa- ther, I’m here to say we need to act,” he told a crowd at Georgetown University. “I re- fuse to condemn your genera- tion and future generations to a planet that’s beyond fixing.” Obama’s comments struck some as a change in direction, while others might be a little unsure of what he meant. “Most folks would agree his statement was vague enough you could read what you want into it,” Prescott said. David Ocamb, who heads up the Oklahoma Chapter of the Sierra Club, said his side gained enormous comfort from Obama’s new bench- mark for the Keystone. “We’re very optimistic the president will make the right decision on the Keystone and reject it,” Ocamb said. The Sierra Club and oth- ers are ramping up their an- ti-Keystone activities while awaiting the State Depart- ment’s final environmental impact report. One of those events will be Sept. 21 in Stroud. Kleeb, up in Nebraska, also was happy about where she saw Obama taking the pipe- line debate. “That was a significant shift for President Obama,” she said. “Before the only ref- erence was to the Nebraska route. This has put the ball in Canada’s court; they don’t have a good track record of controlling greenhouse gas- es.” Calgary-based TransCan- ada has employed hundreds of people laying down and se- curing the Keystone XL from Cushing to the Gulf, Prescott noted. The Pipeliners Union local in Tulsa has held nu- merous rallies supporting the project. As the southern leg comes to completion, the only ques- tion that remains is wheth- er federal approval for the northern leg is imminent, delayed or will never happen. Prescott argued that Obama’s comments change nothing in the debate. “It doesn’t change the fact that every environmental impact statement out so far has been positive,” Prescott said. “It doesn’t change the fact that construction (on the XL’s southern leg and a pre- vious, middle portion from Steele City, Neb., to Cushing) has created thousands and thousands of jobs.” Pipeline opponents point out that tar sands oil is so thick and must be diluted with a solvent to flow through pipelines. They said spills such as Enbridge’s disaster in the Kalamazoo River wa- tershed in Michigan releases chemicals, such as benzine, into the atmosphere. The U.S. imports more oil from Canada than any other country. RodWalton918-581-8457 [email protected] fight among themselves.” American’s maintenance workers, including more than 4,600 employees in Tulsa, will continue to be represented by the Trans- port Workers Union. Amer- ican has about 6,500 em- ployees overall in Tulsa. New TWU Local 514 President Dale Danker said the union is relieved to not face a representation elec- tion, but leadership won’t forget the message sent by the Teamsters challenge. “We’ve voted in a whole slate of new ocers, so we believe the local mem- bership has spoken loud,” Danker said, referring to local elections held in July. “We want to do a better job getting out there and speak- ing to workers here.” Danker said the relation- shipwithAmericanAirlines leadership is still rocky and that the delay caused by the Justice Department law- suit only pushes back the changeover in the airline’s leadership. The Teamsters started collecting signatures at American in July 2012, eight months after parent com- pany AMR Corp. filed bank- ruptcy. The bankruptcy set o bitter contract renegotia- tions with the TWU, forcing concessions that included the freezing of all pensions. However, the union did manage to secure pay raises as part of the deal. Those negotiations and concessions stirred discon- tent among many union members, inviting the Teamsters — as well as the Aircraft Mechanics Frater- nal Association — to try to become the bargaining agent for American’s mechanics and related workers. The Teamsters said it has collected more than 6,000 signatures and submitted them to the National Me- diation Board in May. The federal labor agency has not given a determina- tion on those signatures. The Teamsters needed sig- natures from a majority of all American maintenance workers to force a vote on representation. AMFA failed to submit its signatures in time for consideration, according to National Mediation Board documents. The TWU had accused the Teamsters of submit- ting fraudulent signatures to the National Mediation Board. The Teamsters with- drawal presumably halts the release of any informa- tion from the board on the number of valid signatures collected or the forgery al- legations. “We’re pleased that the Teamsters realized that this raid of TWU members at American Airlines was both wasteful and divisive,” said TWU President Jim Little in a statement. “Now that we do not have the dis- traction of an unnecessary campaign among already organized workers, we can redouble our e orts on bat- tling the Department of Justice’s unjustified legal challenge to the proposed merger of American Air- lines and US Airways.” The TWU’s standing at American Airlines is safe for now. Labor rules pro- hibit another union to sub- mit a challenge for at least one year. The TWU and the IAM at US Airways have an agree- ment to jointly represent workers if American and US Airways are allowed to merge. The Teamsters also nar- rowly lost a bid to represent workers at US Airways last week. American Airlines and parent AMR Corp. have been in bankruptcy since Nov. 29, 2011. In a hearing Thursday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane declined to rule on the company’s re- organization plan until he could get more information about how the Justice De- partment’s lawsuit would impact the companies. KyleArnold 918-581-8380 [email protected] UNION FROME1 For instance, the average an- nual percentage yield on a one-year CD in Tulsa was 0.29 percent compared to 0.27 percent for the nation. A two-year CD yielded an aver- age APY of 0.54 percent ver- sus 0.43 percent nationwide. Although Tulsa’s average CD rates outperformed the nation, they fell below the av- erage for Oklahoma. Oklahoma’s average annual percentage yield on one-year and two-year CDs was 0.40 percent and 0.66 percent, re- spectively. “While CD rates all across the U.S. remain low and me- dian family net worth has plummeted by approximately 38.8 percent since 2007, cer- tificates of deposits are still a relatively safe place to store your savings,” said Amanda Garcia, local banking expert for GoBankingRates.com, in a statement. “What Tulsa depositors need to realize is that they could potentially maximize their interest gains by opening CDs with banks or credit unions in other parts of the state.” According to the report, TTCU The Credit Union, for- merly known as Tulsa Teach- ers Credit Union, locally was among those o ering the highest CD rates. Its six- month CD rate of 0.65 per- cent was the highest, while its two-year CD rate of 1 per- cent was the highest along with Communication Federal Credit Union. TTCU’s one-year CD rate of 0.70 percent slightly trailed that of Communica- tion Federal, which had a 0.75 percent rate. “We look at a variety of characteristics and, of course, competition is one,” said Doug Aldrich, execu- tive vice president of TTCU The Credit Union. “We con- tinue to set them based on the needs of the credit union itself. Are we in need of de- posits? Are we making more loans? What do we need to do to bring in funds, and how do we retain it?” The credit union also o ers a rewards dividend program whereby depositors of di er- ent levels can receive a quar- terly dividend in addition to the flat rate. The Federal Reserve has kept interest rates low as a way to get people and the economy going again. But there are signs that the Fed may be shifting its policy, Al- drich said, noting that rates on the 10-year Treasury bill and longer-term rates are ris- ing slightly. “They have wanted and have been successful in keep- ing rates low,” he said. “They may be easing up on some of that. Of course, when you see your deposit rates go up, you also see your loan rates go up.” LaurieWinslow918-581-8466 [email protected] with the rest of the body and makes the phone just slightly uncomfort able to hold. The Windows Phone op- erating system doesn’t vary much from model to model, and that’s still the case here. You’ll get the sa me animated live tiles that automatically give you new information or shift through photos on your phone or social networks. Everything runs smoothly, web pages pop up quickly and apps run without a hint of hitching or slowdown. It’s a solid phone. But that’s not what I’m here to write about. The phone not only sports a beefier camera, it has photo software more advanced than the stock Windows Phone app. The Nokia Pro Cam app gives you tighter control over things like white balance, shutter speed and other options you’d usu- ally find in cameras more advanced than point-and- shoot. Despite the added complexity , the single swipe menu for all the options was easy to use. Yes, you can set everything to automatic if you’d like, and you can even still use the stock Windows Phone cam- era app if you’d like — but it only takes pictures with about 5 megapixels. I asked World Photo Editor Christopher Smith what he thought about the camera’s capabilities, and he was floored by the amount of details it produces. You can zoom into pictures almost endlessly and they’ll still have an incredible amount of detail. Even the pictures I took with the camera looked great, and I’m a horrible shot. Yet he felt the ge neral tone of the pictures wasn’t quite as strong as a dedicated SLR camera. Keep in mind that modern cameras are about much more than megapixels. There’s a number of fac- tors, such as light processing capabilities and software, that can have a bigger e ect on photo quality than just megapixels. Despite the somewhat less-than-SLR quality, the shots the Lumia 1020 pro- duced were vastly better than anything Smith had seen on a smartphonebefore. The system has some quirks, though. Every picture you take produces two files — a 5-megapixel version and a 41-megapixel version. If you choose to email a photo or share it on social networks, the phone will send out the lower-resolution version, and I wasn’t able to find a way to send out the bigger file. The camera can zoom in a bit, but not by much — even the iPhone can zoom in much farther than the 1020. That’s an odd omission for a camera with detail to spare. Finally, the panorama function is almost completely worthless. You have to click the screen, wait for the cam- era to get ready and then pan it slightly to the right — and only the right — to a target dot, then wait for the phone to get ready to do it again. The result is a weirdly connected, low-res mess that doesn’t match what the iPhone and other panorama- enabled smartphones can do. And that’s assuming you can even get it to work. Two out of three times I got a “Where are you?” error warning that commanded me to try to aim the phone exactly where I had it at the start. But no matter. Even with the quirks, the Lumia 1020 takes better photos than any other smartphone on the market, and it nearly match- es the performance of typical SLRs at half the p rice. LUMIA FROME1 The Lumia 1020 produces impressive photos with its 41-mega- pixelcamera. CHRISTOPHE RSMITH/Tulsa World CD FROME1 Keystone XL timeline March 2011: Pipeline’s leg from Steele City, Neb., to Cushing becomes operational. November 2011: President Barack Obama delays decision on northern Keystone XL leg due to environmental concerns. March 2012: Obama visits pipe yard in Ripley, near Stillwater, and touts recent drilling success and future needs. July 2012: Keystone’s southern leg from Cushing to Gulf Coast approved by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. November 2012: TransCanada begins work on Oklahoma portion of southern leg. January: Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman approves new route around Sand Hills. Northern leg still needs federal approval. June: Obama speech ties decision on Keystone XL to whether it increases greenhouse gas emissions. Late summer 2013: Completion of southern leg’s construction is projected. Testing and line fill to follow. End of 2013: TransCanada hopes southern leg will be opera- tional. OIL FROME1 Jim Prescott of TransCanada Corp. uses a map to explain intricacies of the Keystone XL pipeline project to people touring a construction site earlier this year in Prague. MICHAELWYKE/Tulsa Worldfile
