First, the good news…

U.S. oil company ExxonMobil is reporting a “potentially significant” gas discovery off the coast of Vietnam, stating in a press release, "We can confirm ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Vietnam Limited drilled its second exploration well offshore Danang in August 2011 and encountered hydrocarbons."

Well that didn't take long. Even in the face of better job estimates crude oil bulls have already begun to show their "nervousness" as they trade oil down as low as 88.10 in the overnight session. The lowest crude oil has traded since December 20th. And what do they blame it on? Blame it on the gasoline.

I received another scratchy, crackling cell phone call from my drilling buddy in the Texas natural gas fields today. You could almost choke from the dust on the line.

He told me that the BP Gulf disaster was turning the fundamental assumptions of the oil industry upside down, and that sharply higher oil prices were in the cards, probably $100/barrel by year end.

Two competing projects for a natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the lower 48 states put the cost somewhere between $32 billion and $40 billion, even as the explosion of shale gas production calls the whole enterprise into question.