The Market And Energy Page, T+60 -- March 21, 2017

Break-evens: this was a most surprising article to find break-evens in the Gulf of Mexico. This is an article on Shell drilling in the Gulf of Mexico Mars oil field. This is deep-water drilling, not shallow shore drilling. Implications for the Bakken. At The Wall Street Journal. There was only one thing that caught my eye in this article, and it may be the best story of the week or the month. From the article:

Shell is going back into old, deep wells and using them to drill out horizontally into shallower layers of oil-bearing rock. It is also using water to flood reservoirs once thought to be played out, hoping to flush more crude to the surface.

Shell can also produce oil for $10 to $15 a barrel by reopening old wells and using water and chemicals to flush more fuel out of the ground, Mr. McMahon said. The company is retapping a dozen wells near Mars in the first half of 2017, with another dozen tentatively scheduled for the second half of the year.  

Other data points:

When Shell initially discovered Mars in 1989, it was the largest find in the U.S. since oil was struck in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay in the 1960s.

But think about that: if an operator can produce oil fro $10 - $15 / bbl in deep-sea drilling, imagine what they can do in the Bakken.

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Other News

Deep doo-doo: in The Wall Street Journal, Saudi Arabia's oil supremacy falters.  

Pricing: under-$50 WTI will be short-lived -- Rigzone staff.

Apple: eagerly awaiting a "refresh" on the Apple page. By the way, it's up. Now to get the real story over on Macrumors. Here it is:

• Apple announces iPhone 7 (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition.
• Apple debuts new 9.7-inch iPad with A9 chip to replace iPad Air starting at $329. One word: wow. Perfect for those on the fence, not knowing whether to buy an iPad. I have to look at the size again -- Sophia is more than ready for an iPad. 

Saudi exports: Riyadh-based/supplied figures -- exports fall for second month to 7.713 million bopd in January, 2017. The graphic shows that exports in January, 2017, now only slightly higher than exports in October, 2016, a month before the cuts were announced. The reason fro the decrease in January was because of a huge increase in November, surging from 7.6 million bopd to 8.3 million bopd.  No link; over at Twitter from Platts.

Climbing a wall of worry: if one watches the news closely, this is really quite remarkable. So much "scary" news and the market is up about 40 points. Technology stocks are all at record highs. AAPL: up another dollar, now around $142.60. Headwinds:

• market with huge surge in last three months, from 18,000 to 21,000
• one talking head: the world looks like it is getting ready for war
• NOKO releases video taking out US a/c carrier with missile
• Saudi in fight for its life; Iran continues to increase oil production
• Trump has incredibly icy meeting with Germany's Merkel
• Comey hearings 
• Fed raised rates last week and is poised to raise rates twice more this year