Sunday, November 1, 2026

Monday Morning -- November 2, 2026

Locator: 52071B.  

Bakken analysis: link here. Link: https://share.google/aimode/GtwkwKaLsKJVOouxc. This is very, very long, but is as good as any other analysis. 

WTI: $100.40.

New wells reporting:

  • Wednesday, November 4, 2026: 4 for the month, 70 for the quarter, 569 for the year, 
    • 41909, conf, Devon Energy, Owan Trust North 29-28-27F 2H, 
  • Tuesday, November 3, 2026: 3 for the month, 69 for the quarter, 568 for the year, 
    • 42702, conf, WGO Resources, Moe 1-34,    
  • Monday, November 2: 2 for the month, 68 for the quarter, 567 for the year, 
    • 41484, conf, Devon Energy, Barbara 31-30F 4TFH, 
    • 41481, conf, Devon Energy, Barbara 31-30F 8TFH, 
  • Sunday, November 1 2026: 0 for the month, 66 for the quarter, 565 for the year,   
    • None. 
  • Saturday, October 31, 2026: 66 for the month, 66 for the quarter, 565 for the year,   
    • None

RBN Energy: Valero acquisition breathes new life into LyondellBasell's shuttered Houston refinery. Link here. Archived.

Valero Energy is paying $320.5 million to purchase LyondellBasell’s mothballed refinery on the Houston Ship Channel, with plans to restart 165 Mb/d of light, sweet crude processing at the site by the end of 2027. The deal, announced on October 30, comes after years of U.S. refinery closures and highlights the Gulf Coast’s advantages as a refining hub. Restarting an idled plant takes money, time and a clear operating plan, and Valero’s approach figures to be one of the fastest ways to add a substantial block of refining capacity at an economically justifiable cost. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss what it all means for Valero and the U.S. refining outlook.

LyondellBasell’s Houston refinery (see photo below) traces its roots to 1918, when Sinclair Refining Company, founded by oilman Harry Sinclair, acquired 710 acres along the Houston Ship Channel and began constructing the facility's first distillation units. Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) acquired Sinclair in 1969, and in 1985 formed Lyondell Chemical Company from a collection of refining and petrochemical assets, including the Houston refinery and its Channelview petrochemical complex. Lyondell became publicly traded in 1989, and ARCO subsequently divested its remaining ownership.

The Cowboys Manage To Do It Again -- Lose -- November 1, 2026

Locator: 52070COWBOYS.  

Looking at the box score, it's beyond the pale how the Cowboys could lose this game. Truly beyond the pale.

Saturday, October 31, 2026

The Book Page -- October 31, 2026

Locator: 52069GRAPHICNOVEL. 

For AI / agentic AI / tech investors: the five-year timeline -- link here. Link: https://share.google/aimode/I6glbOYZ72k0SwKdM. With Terafab, Baltra, the memory chip shortage, the LCD buildout, the Anthropic and OpenAI IPOs -- for investors which year between now (2026) and 2031 is likely to be a breakout year or are we just in for the "same old growth" or the "same old stories"?. 

Halloween: link here. Link: https://share.google/aimode/ZJsW49CbLrJpOupxw.  

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The Book Page

The best graphic novel ever?

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Etty Hillesum

The "adult" Anne Frank.

From an earlier post over at my literature blog: this softcover was packed away some years ago. 

Etty Hillesum: An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork, with a foreword by Eva Hoffman, c. 1996. 
---bought another copy at a used bookstore, Portland, OR, October 30, 2026, softcover, $5.
-- Eva Hoffman, born in Poland, 1945, about the time Etty Hillesum died
-- emigrated to Canada at age 13; Harvard graduate; ultimately the pinnacle of American writing. 
 

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CarPlay

Link. Link here: https://share.google/aimode/guQ2iuWFWEJzwdF12.

The Future Of AI --- Connecting The Dots -- October 31, 2026

Locator: 52068TECH. 

Update

For investors, a great review of the competition among NVDA, AMD, Marvell, and Broadcom, see this link. Link here: https://share.google/aimode/PWiXutU88cwdHjIUr.  

Apple's Baltra, by the way, has hit a timeline snag. What it means: link here. Link: https://share.google/aimode/N5qkckHjcAVttt2UD. Analysis suggests this delay is not "fatal" but it's an expensive delay for Apple. I wouldn't think an Apple investor would like to see the word "fatal" in any analysis of the company. 

Oracle: 

Google: link here. 

Original Note  

For investors, estimated 2027 P/Es: link here. 

For investors, this is the real question with regard to AI and the "stock market":

  • was this simply background noise that is always part of the market:
    • profit taking, reaction to exuberance, and end-of-year actions by the mutual and hedge funds; or, 
  • was it a "reset" for the entire AI sector. 

My hunch: a combination of both -- a reset (or at least a re-evaluation of how the AI sector build-out is progressing ... at the end of the day, one can howl at the wind, but AI is here to stay. 

The fear-greed meter reminds us: investors are always greedy; no matter how good it is, they want more. If not fearful, they would not be successful investors.  

The fear-greed meter is not the same as a gasoline gauge in one's car: when the gasoline gauge needle gets to the far left, the driver has only one choice if she wants to continue driving. On the other hand, the investor has many, many choices when the fear-greed needle gets to the far left (fear).  

Amazon (AMZN): perhaps this summarizes the status of AI right now -- link here. Link: https://x.com/StockSavvyShay/status/2115957138132804069. 

That pace is roughly 6,000 accelerators a day, and customers are absorbing it almost as fast as it comes online. 
Two other details from the call add context: AWS backlog is $578B, up over 100% YoY, and inference is now well over half of AWS's AI revenue. [To put that backlog in perspective, Boeing's backlog is $750 billion. Boeing's backlog one year ago was pretty much the same, at $640 billion.]
Inference demand recurs every day, which makes this spending look less like a one-time build-out.  

Inference (this is really, really important): Inference is the core computational process of running a trained AI model to generate a single output or answer, whereas agentic behavior (or agentic AI) is a multi-step, autonomous framework that uses inference repeatedly to plan, use tools, and solve complex goals. Link here. Link: https://share.google/aimode/ZzOxCV5BL697TKOyK. 

For investors right now, moving into the last two months of the year:

  • where are the safe havens?
  • where are the huge opportunities? 
  • where to place new money between now and December 31st?
  • reminders: 
    • RMDs by the end of the year;
    • 4Q26 quarterly estimate not due until January 15, 2027. 

Centers of gravity:

  • Elon Musk's xAI and SpaceX;
  • Oracle;
  • Broadcom.

Links here:

Query to ChatGPT: what to follow. 

Reply: it was a very, very long reply, but it suggests I'm on the right track -- link here. Link: https://chatgpt.com/s/t_6ae615fd65788191a97961c994c47d1a. 

Same query to Gemini resulted in this reply -- link here. Link: https://share.google/aimode/HuF4JVzqbP4rvoTGO. 

What is the status of Colossus 2 right now. Link here. Link: https://share.google/aimode/NZKfSVivL2Vf3OPWZ. 

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Disclaimer

Briefly: 

  • I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken and I am often well out front of my headlights. I am often appropriately accused of hyperbole when it comes to the Bakken.
  • I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.
  • I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple.
  • See disclaimer. This is not an investment site. 
  • Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If something appears wrong, it probably is. Feel free to fact check everything.
  • If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them. 
  • Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken, US economy, and the US market.
  • I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 
  • And now, Nvidia, also. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Nvidia. Nvidia is a metonym for AI and/or the sixth industrial revolution. 
  • I've now added Broadcom to the disclaimer. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom. Now, I've added Amazon. And QCOM. Nothing on this site should be seen as recommendations for the general public. On the other hand, I have no problem if members of my extended family "see" recommendations I might be making - but only members of my extended family, limited to my children and my grandchildren.
  • Longer version here.
  • Friday, October 30, 2026

    A Musical Interlude -- Spirit In The Sky -- October 30, 2026

    Locator: 52067MUSIC. 

    So many personal story lines.  

    Link here.

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    Venus

    Link here. 

     **********************
    Gypsy

    Link here. 


    When I feel overwhelmed in life, I often turn to this song. The song seems to explain something personal for me. When I feel overwhelmed in life, I often turn to this song. I did not know the background for this song and I never really listened to the words until tonight. I was in graduate school, soon to get married, when this song first came out and when I first heard it. How I wish I could go back to experience those "feelings" and days once again.