It’s mid-morning in Williston, N.D., and all of 2° with an expected high of 27°. In the Bakken, the nation’s third-largest oil basin, polar conditions this time of year are nothing more than life and business as usual, especially for oilfield workers used to spending Christmas on the job. Whiners need not apply. This is about as far from the Permian and its face-melting summer heat as one can get. ...

Nothing goes more hand in glove this time of year like cold temps and natural gas. And when you happen to be the world’s largest gas producer finally seeing prices rise like a ghost from the boneyard, well, that might be a tickle on the belly but hardly the turnaround we need....