Last Post For Awhile

So, what do we have so far today?

E-book ruling cements Amazon's virtual monopoly. 

COP raises its quarterly dividend to 69 cents. 

Oil is pulling back slightly -- okay, by a little bit -- over a dollar. Profit-taking. Obviously not much changed in 24 hours. I didn't link the article, but there was a story that gasoline prices are going to surge in a few day. Californians are noticing the jump in gasoline prices -- taxes on gasoline went up significantly on July 1 to make up for all that gasoline not being used. Too many Priuses being sold. So, now GMC and Ford owners can subsidize Prius owners. Nice.

BRK-B hit a new 52-week high today. Already. And the day has hardly started out here on the West Coast. But look at this: EOG blew through it's old 52-week (all-time?) high -- up over $3.00. Sweet. As in Bakken light, sweet crude oil. CVX would also be at a new high, except it dropped too much last week to make up that much ground this week. And this was just after a report that their second quarter production will be down (slightly) due to maintenance in Nigeria and elsewhere. Yeah, maintenance in Nigeria. Plugging all those holes in their pipelines. XOM did hit a new high; now $93, and some time ago some analysts said XOM was on its way to $100. Hard to believe when NGLs, which are so important to XOM, are so depressed. EEP traded at a new high, before pulling back a bit. EPD traded at a new 52-week high, and also raised its dividend for the 36th consecutive quarter. Thirty-six consecutive quarters of dividend raises. Sweet. Oasis came within 9 cents of a new 52-week high, but when news broke that Wall Street can't find a buyer for KOG, it pulled back. If KOG needs to issue more stock to pay for its recent pricey acquisition, there might be another buying opportunity. MDU traded at a 52-week high.

You have to love this alert on Twitter: short squeeze on Samson Oil & Gas: it's up $0.004. No typo. Up $0.004. Although less than haf-a-penny, it's still almost 1% of the current share price, I guess.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read here or what you think you might have read here. 

Back to oil. At some point, Americans might -- might -- start asking why gasoline prices are so high when there's so much oil in North America. Pretty good question. I certainly can't answer it. However, if gasoline prices surge next week, the odds are 10-1 the next headline we see regarding oil prices will include the word "speculator."

This is a story that needs to be read by everyone interested in the oil and gas industry and OPEC figures. The headline story was OPEC decreased production this past month: that was the narrative. In fact, when one looks at the tables submitted by OPEC, production from Angola was conveniently removed. If Angola's historical production was included, then OPEC production actually rose. This will be a stand-alone post. It's an important story. 

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A Note To The Granddaughters

Dollars per ounce of plastic, this is the most expensive car made in America today, the 1977 Monte Carlo.

But never a happier six-year-old, who turns seven this summer. Her first model. Hopefully not her last.

At the beach two days ago, we were the only one that brought a kite (or so we thought) -- one did not see a kite as far as one could see up the coast, or down the coast. And then the family next to us got out their kite -- it was identical to ours! What were the odds. I wish I had caught a photo. You will have to believe me.

I've never had such good kite-flying weather. We put this kite up and it stayed up for hours while attached to a beach chair. It was quite incredible.

California Dreaming.