Pruitt Doubles Down -- April 30, 2018

From Oilprice.com:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted an oil refinery owned by billionaire Carl Icahn a waiver from the biofuel blending regulations—a waiver typically given to companies in financial hardship.

Under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), oil refiners are required to blend growing amounts of renewable fuels into gasoline and diesel. Refiners that don’t have the infrastructure to blend biofuels must purchase tradeable blending credits known as Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs.

The EPA has the authority to grant waivers from the renewable fuel standard to refineries whose oil processing capacity is below 75,000 bpd if the companies owning the refinery can prove that the credits they must buy are causing them financial hardship.

The EPA waiver for the 74,500-bpd Wynnewood, Oklahoma, refinery owned by Icahn’s CVR Energy has been granted in recent months, Reuters sources said, without specifying exactly when the waiver was given.

“This one’s going to be hard for [Scott] Pruitt to explain,” Brooke Coleman, head of the Advanced Biofuels Business Council industry group, said in an email to Reuters on Friday, referring to the EPA administrator.

Is he required to provide an explanation?

"... if the companies owning the refinery can prove that the credits they must buy are causing them financial hardship." I assume any CFO worth his/her salt could show how RINs are causing financial hardship.

It depends on the definition of "financial hardship." Bill would know.

It will be interesting to see if this gets linked on the Drudge Report tomorrow.

Fast And Furious -- US Setting Weekly Crude Oil Production Records -- April 30, 2018

Updates

May 1, 2018: see first comment -- US oil production is now up 804,000 barrels per day year to date (from 12/29), so at that rate we'd see an increase of over 2.5 million barrels per day this year alone...putting that into perspective, the OPEC oil production cuts of 1.2 million barrels per day have been less than half of that...

Original Post 

Link here.

New weekly records coming fast and furious -- week after week, the US setting new crude oil production records:

I might be wrong -- I may have missed something, but it looks close.

The ten million bopd club: Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United States.

Angola -- Oh, Oh -- April 30, 2018

I have never paid attention to Angola. When I saw this story, I did not think it would amount to much, but then I checked the EIA import data.

From Bloomberg: OPEC cuts may go deeper as another member sees output slump. In addition to Venezuela, now it's Angola.

Angola, once Africa’s biggest crude producer, is suffering sharp declines at under-invested offshore fields, with output dropping almost three times as much as the nation pledged in an accord with fellow OPEC members. With the losses set to accelerate -- a shipping program seen by Bloomberg News shows crude exports will fall in June to the lowest since at least 2008 -- the cartel risks tightening supply too much.

“Angola has a serious problem, with its decline rates becoming increasingly visible,” said Richard Mallinson, an analyst at consultants Energy Aspects Ltd. in London. “The low figure in June doesn’t look like a pattern of maintenance but points to steeper, structural declines.”

Look at the EIA data. Since 1993 there have only been two times in which monthly imports dropped below the one-million-mark and even at that, one million bbls/month is incredibly low.

That's import data.

Here's the total production data from tradingeconomics:

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Don't Forget To Remember Me

<Don't Forget To Remember Me, The Bee Gees

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Notes to the Granddaughters

We were in Chicago this weekend. Chicago is the "friendly" side of NYC. Wow, the folks were incredibly nice. They appear to enjoy life and enjoy Chicago.

It was slightly on the cool side but no rain; the sun was out but inside the Loop it was sometimes hard to find.

We were in Chicago to attend our older daughter's graduation from Rush University with an advanced degree.

We arrived at O'Hare about 8:00 p.m. and all seven of us piled into an Uber Infinity and headed into Chicago. [Speaking of which: each of us had no more than an overnight bag except for our daughter with one checked bag. That made all the difference. Any additional luggage and a second Uber would have been needed. Recommendation: any trip less than 72 hours -- nothing more than an overnight bag -- makes traveling so much easier.]

Wow, it was a long ride. I assume it took about an hour from the airport to downtown Chicago.

Our son-in-law had planned that we would head directly to bed.

But after checking in at the Gwen Luxury someone suggested a late snack. The concierge suggested the Quartino, about three blocks away -- the best Italian restaurant in the US? Maybe. It was incredible. Known for its "small plates," we took advantage. Wow, we had so many small plates among the seven of us I quickly lost count.

Sophia loved the loud, energized, family-friendly environment; 10:00 o'clock at night and she was just getting started  -- wow, was it loud and fun! Sophia grabbed a slice of bread even before the waitress had a chance to place it on the table. After our first round of ordering, I took Sophia back to see the kitchen.

The pizza-chef was incredibly friendly. Sophia was "demanding" something she saw in the kitchen  -- I didn't know what she was "talking" about but the pizza-chef figured it out. She was looking at small meatball-like hors d'oeurves with a toothpick in them. She has had them before and loved them. So the pizza-chef brought a plate of the appetizers over to our table -- complimentary, of course, but we made sure that the waitress put them on the tab -- only to find out that they were not meatballs. They were dates wrapped in pancetta, stuffed with gorgonzola dolce and drizzled with honey. I loved them; Sophia did not. She had more bread.

[I can't say enough about the waitress. She seemed to be enjoying the evening as much as we were, and she had no problem with all the ordering, and then "stuff" coming directly from the kitchen per Sophia's requests. I really appreciate waitstaff that can immediately size up the party. I think she immediately knew that "specifics" were not important. Bring anything. No one was keeping "score." Somehow it will all work out. I don't think she could hear us over all the commotion; she could "read lips." LOL.

[It's funny how things work(ed) out. It was 10:00 p.m.; the place was packed, and yet, we were brought over to a huge round table that sat seven. Had one not known better, one would have guessed we had reservations. ]

The granddaughters and my wife had pizzas of various types. Our granddaughter had grilled octopus; our son-in-law had eggplant parmigiana. All the "small pates" would easily serve two -- I didn't have any eggplant but I had plenty of octopus. I'm looking forward to grilling octopus this summer. I think the octopus was on a plate of sauteed spinach, but I could be wrong. [I obviously knew what it was at the time, but I've since forgotten; all the small plates came with so many vegetables.]

There were so many choices of salumi I simply told the waitress to bring what she thought best. Wow, incredible. And green olives.

Everyone had water but I had a cocktail. If I recall correctly, a tailfeather.

My entree: Angus beef carpaccio. "Angus beef" on the menu simply jumped out at me. I've had steak tartare in Paris but never carpaccio. I loved it, but it's a woman's entree, to be honest. But as a "small plate," awesome.

We got back to the Gwen about midnight.

Our first two hours in Chicago. 40+ more to go.

Active Rigs Steady At 61; Minimal Permitting Activity -- Monday, April 30, 2018

Active rigs:

$68.57↑	4/30/2018	04/30/2017	04/30/2016	04/30/2015	04/30/2014
Active Rigs	61	49	29	86	187

No new permits.

Four permits reinstated:

• Slawson: two Wolf permits and two Badger permits, all in Mountrail County.

One permit renewed: a Whiting Kessel permit in Stark County.

And that was all. 

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My, My, My 

Delilah, Tom Jones

Market, Energy, Political Page, Part 5, T+61 -- April 30, 2018 -- Poetic Justice Or Irony -- The Province Blocking The Trans Mountain Pipeline Has The Highest-Priced Gasoline In North America -- Almost $8/Gallon

Updates

May 2, 2018: I obviously should have done the math ... the Daily Caller appears to have been so far off as to have been an idiot. The writer has gone back and corrected his mistakes, but he is still misleading the American reader. First, he doesn't make it clear that he is using "Canadian" dollars in the headline; and second, he doesn't make clear that he talking about the Canadian gallon which is very different than the American gallon.

1. From wiki: The US gallon is used in the United States and is equal to exactly 231 cubic inches or 3.785411784 liters. 

2. From gasbuddy.com today: Canadian$1.55/liter 

3. 3.785411784 x C$1.55 = C$5.86738

4. Conversion, C$ to US$: US$4.56 -- not much more than what it is in Los Angeles, CA

May 1, 2018: why $6/gallon gasoline of $8/gallon gasoline or even $12/gallon gasoline does not bother those living in British Columbia -- "an absolute gong show." Move over Vancouver. Whistler, two hours north of Vancouver, BC, is now Canada's craziest housing market. A detached house in Whistler is now $1.67 million, 4% more than in Vancouver, and businesses are buying properties to house employees as living costs drive out workers. Whistler is now the most expensive Canadian city to live in.

Benchmark property prices in Whistler, the ski town two hours north, have now surpassed those in the Pacific Coast city. Businesses are buying million-dollar properties to house employees as living costs drive out workers. The cost of visiting has also spiralled, with overnight rates during the winter peak topping anywhere else in the nation.

Later, 10:47 p.m. CDT: see first comment. Apparently someone over at The Daily Caller did the math incorrect. I don't know. I didn't do the math. Didn't want to get into Canadian vs US dollar. Five hundred-thirty-four comments (and counting) comments at the Daily Caller article.

Original Post 

From Daily Caller:

But that high price is offset by free medical care in Canada, so it all works out.

Oh, by the way, British Columbia, is fighting the Trans Mountain pipeline project.

What's the plural of doofus?

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Tesla
This Should Be Fascinating

Only two days from now, Tesla presents quarterly earnings. From twitter today, from something called "the credit strategist":

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here. If this is important to you, go to the source.

Disclaimer: I make a lot of simple arithmetic errors. I often see things that do not exist; I read quickly and miss important points. Sometimes it takes me days (maybe even weeks) to see where I was wrong.

I'm Sort Of Caught Up -- Off The Blog Until Later Today -- April 30, 2018

Chart of the day. Good luck to all. But to leave you with this. From Bloomberg, companies are beating earnings estimates at historic clip.

Whether it’s the U.S. tax cut or just poor forecasting by analysts, members of the S&P 500 Index have been delivering profits above estimates at the best pace on record -- with 80 percent of members topping forecasts so far.

Books: Might really be a good time to re-read:

Best tweet of the day:

Real leadership:

... and that's why Kanye West likes Trump  -- the latter tweets what is on his mind -- while he is alive and robust -- not when he is on his deathbed.

Joy Reid, way too short (not Joy, the clip):

Market, Energy, Political Page, Part 4, T+61 -- April 30, 2018

Just plain wrong: if the Iranians are desperate to save the deal, it tells you how bad the deal really is. And remember, the deal was made by Obama. Scott Adams has a great periscope on the Iran deal. From CNBC:

• French President Emmanuel Macron and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke by telephone on Sunday and agreed to work save the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement
• Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were in Washington last week, tyring (sic) to persuade President Trump not to pull out of the Iran deal.
• Trump sees three defects in the agreement, and he's repeatedly threatened to tear up the 2015 accord. 

Things heating up in the Mideast. That's what the pundits say. How does one really know? Check the spot price of WTI. It's up 19 cents. Ho-hum.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here. If this is important to you, go to the source.

Disclaimer: I make a lot of simple arithmetic errors. I often see things that do not exist; I read quickly and miss important points. Sometimes it takes me days (maybe even weeks) to see where I was wrong.

Honduran caravan: already off the Drudge Report banner. Short-lived. If anyone has ever been through TSA at Chicago's O'Hare, one knows the ICE will manage the southern border just fine. But had it been me, I would have removed ICE from along the San Diego-Tijuana border; let Jerry Brown manage it. A few hundred additional Central Americans in southern California would hardly be a problem.

Wow, wow, wow! How many times have I discussed this on the blog. No matter how much or how little oil the Saudi's produce, their reserves have never changed. Until now. An international independent auditor says:

... the oil reserves of Saudi Aramco has more than confirmed the official figures released by Riyadh for three decades, putting the number at 270 billion barrels.

The figure may come as something of a surprise because for thirty years, Aramco has been reporting unchanged reserves of about 261 billion barrels despite active production. Yet barrels are not the only factor considered in an oil company’s valuation as Bloomberg Gadfly’s Liam Denning noted in an analysis earlier this year, even though they are an important indicator of the company’s long-term viability and profitability.

Comment: 270 is a nice round number. Easy to remember. But the number would have been more believable had the reserves come in at 274.3 billion bbls or maybe even 269.75 billion bbls.

Uruguay not invited to the dance: Uruguay's first oil auction in seven years failed to attract any bids.

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The "studio version" is available, but I wanted to "see" Emmylou. The video is of poor quality, but until I find a better version, here it is:

Save The Last Dance For Me, Emmylou Harris

I have no idea if there is any connection between New Mexico and Emmylou Harris but whenever I see her, she reminds me of New Mexico. Linda Ronstadt? Arizona, of course.

From wiki:

Harris is from a career military family. Her father, Walter Harris (1921-1993), was a Marine Corps officer, and her mother, Eugenia (1921-2014), was a wartime military wife. Her father was reported missing in action in Korea in 1952 and spent ten months as a prisoner of war.

Hmmm. 1952. Sixty-six years later. 

The Market, Energy, Political Page, Part 2, T+61 -- April 30, 2018

EOG update, Filloon: FWIW -- Mike Filloon updates EOG's well results in the Permian. Let's see how they compare to those in the Bakken, shall we? Summary:

• EOG's oil production improvements per well from 2016 to 2017 are muted when compared to other Delaware operators
• EOG's results are still better than most other operators, and decreased improvement could be due to the high bar set in 2016
• EOG still has the best well design in the industry, and results should be watched closely as it best provides insight into where the industry is headed

These results are simply incredible:

We pulled the data on 199 EOG Delaware Basin locations completed in 2017. This was done as a comparison to provide an idea of whether it has seen an improvement per location. It's best performing location was in Loving County. It produced 413 MBO in the first 6 months of well life. Over 20 locations model to more than 300 MBO in the first year of well life. These results are excellent, especially when we consider only 34 have a lateral length above 9,000 feet.

EOG: wow, back up to $118. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here. If this is important to you, go to the source.

Disclaimer: I make a lot of simple arithmetic errors. I often see things that do not exist; I read quickly and miss important points. Sometimes it takes me days (maybe even weeks) to see where I was wrong.

We'll sort this out later:

Here's the WSJ story: says it's a $23 billion deal. Deal values Andeavor at $152/share; roughly 25% premium.


And huge:

For long term investors: don't get hung up on individual "plays" you may have missed -- follow the story lines.  Do you really think that MPC is the only one that sees the future?

The Market, Energy, Political Page, Part 3, T+61 -- April 30, 2018

Road to New England: Bostonians see the light? Potential closure of Boston power plant raises new concerns. From The Concord Monitor.

The threat by the owner of a huge gas-fired power plant near Boston to shut down unless it can make more money selling its power has added more urgency to a long debate about how to maintain the stability of the region’s power grid during winter, and how to get the six New England states to share the expense.

“The big elephant in the room is cost allocation. We’ve already said that we think this is a cost that is regional in nature. ... This is an energy shortage problem during the winter, that will affect the whole region,” said Gordon van Welie, president of ISO New England, the quasi-governmental group that oversees the region’s electric transmission system. “No one’s going to escape the effects of the problem, and so therefore we think the region as a whole should pay for this problem.”

To ensure reliable fuel supplies for Units 8 and 9, plant owner and Exelon subsidiary Exelon Generation Co. LLC is also buying ENGIE North America Inc.'s Distrigas liquefied natural gas import terminal in Boston during the rest of their operations.

Comment: I thought wind and solar had solved all of the energy problems for New England.

Comment: Reality sucks.

Comment: the problem is not whether there will be enough energy for New England; it's a matter of how much the middle class will be squeezed by incredibly high utility rates going forward. But, no, Beacon Street won't go dark. And Bostonians won't freeze -- but they will pay dearly for heat and light.

Crazy:

Crazy, Gnarls Barkley

OPEC. Unable to strategize successfully? Bloomberg Gadfly makes the case.

OPEC's multi-year attempt to steer the oil market by focusing on inventory levels was always like trying to drive a car while looking only in the rear view mirror. The inventory data is historical and reflects what the market was like a month or more ago. By the time OPEC gets the data, the world has already moved on.

If you thought that was a bad idea, wait until you hear this. 

The most important metric for OPEC and its friends, according to Saudi oil minister Khalid Al-Falih, is the level of investment in future oil production capacity. Speaking after the group’s gathering in Jeddah on April 20, he said they all need to promote confidence in the long-term market in order to attract capital, not to target price.

The world needs to add 4 million to 5 million barrels a day of new production capacity each year to meet rising demand and offset declines, he said. The industry is far from reaching that goal.

Comment: the big story in that article -- The world needs to add 4 million to 5 million barrels a day of new production capacity each year to meet rising demand and offset declines. If that's accurate, that speaks volumes. 

$300 oil. So scary, the tweet was deleted:

The Market, Energy, Political Page, T+61 -- April 30, 2018 -- This Is An Incredible Amount Of Red

Wow, wow, wow. The market is incredible. Too much stuff going on. Again, only some very quick notes.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here. If this is important to you, go to the source.

Disclaimer: I make a lot of simple arithmetic errors. I often see things that do not exist; I read quickly and miss important points. Sometimes it takes me days (maybe even weeks) to see where I was wrong.

Biggest energy story of the week (so far): MPC (error corrected; reader noted error; thank you) buying Endeavor. The latter is a refining company. Used to be known as Tesoro. Pacific Northwest look more and more like a loser in the 21st century global economy.

Pending: Apple could make huge announcement tomorrow. This is what I posted January 20, 2018. From CNBC today:

• Apple's plan on how it will repatriate its cash hoard of $285 billion to America is expected to be revealed on the May 1 earnings call.
• the company will start buying back even more of its shares as a first step, analysts say. It's already purchased 22 percent of its outstanding shares since 2012.
• bringing Apple funds back stateside could result in a big boost to the company's dividend.

CAFE: EPA will try to thwart Obama's rules, California's rules on gas mileage. We've talked about this before. Will end up in court. Won't be resolved until after Trump's first (only?) term. Could be argued before the court just as gasoline prices spiking (again). Ford, Gm making strategic decisions now that could be fatal. Or incredibly rewarding.

Honda has "car of the year." Can't sell it to Americans -- don't want it. Americans want SUVs and pickup trucks. Tesla? Has lots and lots of sedans for sale S&3. No pickups yet, and the crossover is not doing well.

Sales of the Accord are down 12% in the first three months of the year compared with the corresponding period last year, when dealers were selling the old model. Meanwhile sales of its main competitor, Toyota Motor Corp.’s Camry, are up around 9%. That endangers Honda’s strategy of trying to grab a larger share of the shrinking sedan market and offset its inability to make enough sport-utility vehicles.

Comment: I see why: the Honda Civic competes directly with the Honda Accord, and in that arena, the Civic is better bang for the buck. Counter-intuitive.  Disclaimer: I love our Honda Civic.

Quality is not Job #1 for Tesla. If I remember, I will get back to this with a screenshot.

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Updates

May 2, 2018: chart at original post has been updated based on estimate from an analyst's estimate after the conference call:

The analyst's estimate:

The graph:

May 2, 2018: chart at original post has been updated based on information from letter released by Tesla when it released its 1Q18 earnings:

According to the letter:

Cash outflow from operating activities in Q1 2018 was $398 million primarily due to an increase in inventory and accounts receivable balances as a result of the timing of deliveries. Higher number of Model S and Model X vehicles in transit at the end of Q1 2018 compared to Q4 2017 had a negative impact of about $120 million on our working capital. Additionally, due to a substantial increase in our deliveries in the last few days of the quarter, our accounts receivables negatively impacted our operating cash flow by $169 million in Q1. Both of these factors provided cash inflows during April. 

Apparently the company has about $2.5 billion cash on hand, and is burning about $1 billion / quarter.

Original Post

Speaking of Tesla: burns cash, not fuel. Anyone following this story closely is amazed that Musk Melon has not yet announced another capital raise. The company needs $2 to $4 billion. Yesterday. Why has Musk not announced a new capital raise. The twitter folks think that the SEC won't allow the company to issue more common shares -- standard practice when a company is under SEC investigation. Don't know but it certainly makes sense. There's a story out there (if I find it again, I will link it) -- that Tesla doesn't have enough cash on hand to outlast the year (2018). Also, if true about SEC investigation, it explains why CFO, others jumped ship earlier this year. From Bloomberg:

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Nissan Rogue: speaking of cars, the Nissan Rogue may surprise folks this year.

Relativity: Korean peninsula is "old news" but photo op in June will be top story for the month. But the real story, now? The Mideast. Trump moves at speed of light -- relative to Congress, media, alt-left. The first country Trump visited after taking office -- Saudi Arabia. Saudi is facing an existential crisis. The prince listened carefully to what the Trumps wanted (Jared and Donald). #1 supporter for the Palestinians? Saudi Arabia. Now this: Palestinians need to take what the US offers -- Saudi Crown Prince.

Monday, April 30, 2018

Quick takes:

• Nobel: SoKo's Moon says Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. The three that will share it -- Kim-Xi Moon. Pies.

• Korean summit: listening to NPR this morning, it's very clear the left (not just the alt-left) in our country will do what they can to derail the summit; scuttle success. It will be interesting if Scott Adams picks up on this.
• Mideast: everyone is focused on Iran. The story being missed: Palestinians. Trump, Israel and Saudi Arabia seem to be on same page. 
• Price of oil: forecasts all over the place -- some now saying oil will easily hit $100; could hit $300 (that tweet has been deleted, but a screenshot captured it). Others says price could collapse. 
• Oil supply / demand; the story for months -- too much supply; now, the story has changed -- too much demand; investors being played by the chatter.
• WHCD: will it play in Peoria? Nope. WHCD dead. Lack of civility -- reached new depths. It will be interesting if Scott Adams picks up on this. This is not how you persuade middle-of-the-roaders looking for reasons to vote against Trump. 
• Auto: environment changing fast. Ford, GM shutting down entire lines of sedans. Tesla is pretty much limited to sedans right now. 
• Most expensive driving season -- ever? Some are saying so. That may or may not be, but it will be close, and certainly makes no sense. All of a sudden folks are concerned about $68 oil when a) under previous administrations, oil hit $140/bbl or thereabouts; and, b) at one time, it was said that US shale couldn't survive on anything less than $70-oil.

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Back to the Bakken

Where Fracking Is Always In Fashion

Active rigs:

$67.34↓	4/30/2018	04/30/2017	04/30/2016	04/30/2015	04/30/2014
Active Rigs	62	49	29	86	187

RBN Energy: everything is UP! Crude oil prices up; crude oil and natural gas production up; but more midstream infrastructure needed.

Seems like just about everything to do with energy markets is up these days.  Crude oil prices are back to the levels of late 2014.  Crude production hit a 10.6 MMb/d record volume last week, while lower-48 natural gas has been bouncing around an 80 Bcf/d record level. Exports of crude, gas and NGLs are at all-time highs.  But all those hydrocarbon molecules must find their way from the wellhead to market.

Cleaning Out The In-Box -- April 29, 2018

Chevron vs Exxon: I've talked about this several times on the blog -- from Bloomberg, Exxon and Chevron battle for "American first."

Legacy has a lot to do with this. While both majors are born-again shale enthusiasts these days, Exxon has largely bought its way in, while Chevron is exploiting long-held acreage. The latter is the lower-cost option.

And Exxon's acquisitions included 2010's badly-timed XTO Energy Inc. deal, which has left it with a much bigger proportion of low-value natural gas in the mix. While Chevron's overall U.S. production is lower, its oil output is higher than Exxon's and increased 12.5 percent in the first quarter, year over year, versus just 2 percent for Exxon.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on anything you read here or think you may have read here.

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Germany And Renewable Energy

This is a most incredible news story. One you will not find in the mainstream media. From JoNova:
Climate Worriers have the most terrible luck.

All the runes were lined up for Solar power — it is nearly free, pours from heaven, and millions of people seem to need energy “pretty often”.  Plus universities and governments have gifted twenty years of free advertising about its Glorious Wonderfulness.  Solar power is also used by the Celebrity Saints of Gaia thus filling fashionable, spiritual, and tribal needs. On a good day, it fills some megawatt needs too.

Despite all this, without forced payments from unwilling and unwitting non-users of solar power, investors are fleeing and the solar industry in Germany is collapsing. How can that be?!

After the German government decided to reduce subsidies to the solar industry in 2012, the industry nose-dived. By this year, virtually every major German solar producer had gone under as new capacity declined by 90 per cent and new investment by 92 per cent. Some 80,000 workers — 70 per cent of the solar workforce — lost their jobs. Solar power’s market share is shrinking and solar panels, having outlived their usefulness, are being retired without being replaced.

Wind power faces a similar fate. Germany has some 29,000 wind turbines, almost all of which have been benefitting (sic) from a 20-year subsidy program that began in 2000.

Starting in 2020, when subsidies run out for some 5,700 wind turbines, thousands of them each year will lose government support, making the continued operation of most of them uneconomic based on current market prices.

To make matters worse, with many of the turbines failing and becoming uneconomic to maintain, they represent an environmental liability and pose the possibility of abandonment.

No funds have been set aside to dispose of the blades, which are unrecyclable, or to remove the turbines’ 3,000-tonne reinforced concrete bases, which reach depths of 20 metres, making them a hazard to the aquifers they pierce.

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Road Song

Radar Love, Golden Earring

Coming Up On Twelve Years In The Bakken, And Federal Regulators Still Trying To Get A Handle On The Flaring Problem On The Reservation -- April 29, 2018

Flaring. Federal regulators meet with industry, tribe to discuss flaring issues -- The Bismarck Tribune.

Representatives from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Land Management met with oil operators, state officials and leaders from the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation to discuss solutions.

North Dakota flared about 256 million cubic feet per day of natural gas in February due to inadequate pipelines and other infrastructure to capture the gas. The highest flaring rates typically occur on Fort Berthold, where wells produce a lot of gas and federal permitting processes take longer.

Miss Dalrymple forgot one adjective: "a lot."

That last sentence should read:

The highest flaring rates typically occur on Fort Berthold, where wells produce a lot of gas and federal permitting processes take a lot longer.

From twitter:

 

There is a solution.

$5 million donation. ETP makes largest donation ever to University of Mary's capital campaign -- The Bismarck Tribune.

From twitter:

A Rimrock Charging Eagle Well Has Produced In Excess Of 160K Bbls Crude Oil In First Four Months -- April 29, 2018

The Charging Eagle wells in Twin Buttes:

• 32537, loc, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 21-25-2TFH,
• 32536, A, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 21-25-2TFH, t--; cum 162K 2/18;
• 32535, loc, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 21-25H,
• 32534, loc, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 21-25TFH,
• 30879, loc, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 15-19-18-2H3,
• 30878, loc, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 15-19-18-2H,
• 30877, loc, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 15-19-18-3H3,
• 30876, loc, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 15-19-18-4H3,
• 30696, loc, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 15-21A-16-4H, see below;
• 30695, conf, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 15-21A-16-4H3,
• 30694, loc, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 15-21A-16-3H,
• 30602, loc, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 9-19-18-1H3A,
• 30601, PNC, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 9-19-18-1H,
• 30600, 1,247, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 9-19-18-1H3, t1/16; cum 115K 2/18;
• 30521, 1,588, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 9-19-18-2H3, t5/15; cum 146K 2/18;
• 30390, 653, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 10-14-11-3H3, t6/15; cum 132K 2/18;
• 30273, 1,642, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 10-14-11-3H, t6/15; cum 123K 2/18
• 25293, 1,909, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 10-14-11-2H3, t6/15; cum 127K 2/18;
• 25292, 2,079, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 10-14-11-2H, t6/15; cum 153K 2/18;
• 25289, 1,710, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 14-14-10-3H3, t12/13; cum 191K 2/18;
• 25288, 
• 25287, 2,109, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 14-14-10-2H3, t12/13; cum 237K 2/18;
• 23953, 2,022, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 16-21-16-1HA, t8/13; cum 218K 2/18;
• 23952, 2,010, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 16-21-16-1H3, Twin Buttes, t8/13; cum 178
  K 2/18;
• 23951, 2,246, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 16-21-16-1H, Twin Buttes, t9/13; cum 242K 2/18; 
• 23950, 2,411, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 15-21-16-2, t7/13; cum 315
  K 2/18;
• 23949, 2,298, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 15-21-16-2H, t7/13; cum 239
  K 2/18;
• 23948, 2,454, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 15-21-16-3HE, t7/13; cum 297
  K 2/18;
• 21069, 553, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 15-22-15-3H3, t11/11; cum 270K 2/18;
• 19925, 609, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 15-22-15-4H, t11/11; cum 300
  K 2/18;
• 19506, 1,595, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 15-14-24-16H, t3/13; cum 227
  K 2/18;
• 19505, 2,252, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 15-14-11-4H, t3/13; cum 349
  K 2/18;
• 17764, 769, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 1-22-23H, t10/09; cum 168
  K 2/18;
• 17600, 1,187, Rimrock Oil & Gas/KOG, Charging Eagle 1-22-10H, t10/09; cum 259
  K 2/18;

************************************************* 

The well:

• 30696, 3,218, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 15-21A-16-4H, Twin Buttes, a huge well, 44 stages; 12 million lbs, mesh/large; t11/17; cum 166K 2/18; 

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	2-2018	28	23553	23987	20855	15765	0	15199
BAKKEN	1-2018	31	32738	32876	28379	25015	0	24388
BAKKEN	12-2017	31	45901	45556	41813	27739	0	27739
BAKKEN	11-2017	30	63792	63376	72308	34146	0	34146
BAKKEN	10-2017	1	26	0	3729	0	0	0

Two CLR Oakdale Wells Will Come Off The Confidential List This Week -- April 29, 2018

This page will not be updated. 

I track the CLR Oakdale wells in Jim Creek oil field here. Two more Oakdale wells will be coming off the confidential list this week:

• 32803, conf, CLR, Oakdale 7-13H, Jim Creek, a huge well; 
• 32802, conf, CLR, Oakdale 6-13H1, Jim Creek,  huge well; 

Early production data has been released for these two wells.

32803:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
2-2018	33378	34526
1-2018	42842	43516
12-2017	16562	13603
11-2017	9	0
10-2017	967	0

32802:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
2-2018	11986	11249
1-2018	38937	37478
12-2017	13858	11116
11-2017	1044	0
10-2017	905	0

Wells That Will Be Coming Off The Confidential List This Next Week -- April 29, 2018

Friday, May 4, 2018:
None.

Thursday, May 3, 2018:
34104, SI/NC, MRO, Hammerberg USA 14-14H, Reunion Bay, no production data, 
33760, drl, Crescent Point Energy, CPEUSC Njos 2-26-35-157N-100W MBH, Marmon, no production data,

Wednesday, May 2, 2018:
34103, SI/NC, MRO, Dye USA 14-14TFH-2B, Reunion Bay, no production data, 
29276, 274, Drummond 55-1 42-21 6T, Missouri Ridge, Three Forks, 50 stages; 4 million lbs; mesh/resin coated medium/medium/large, t11/17; cum 53K 3/18;
29274, 603, Oasis, Drummond 5501 42-21 4T, Missouri Ridge, Three Forks, 43 stages; 3.4 million lbs; mesh/resin coated medium/medium/large, t11/17; cum 66K 3/18;
24049, SI/NC, Petro-Hunt, State 154-94-31C-32-4H, Charlson, no production data,

Tuesday, May 1, 2018:
34102, SI/NC, MRO, Julia Jones USA 13-14TFH, Reunion Bay, no production data, 
34101, drl, MRO, Briek USA 13-14H, Reunion Bay, no production data, 
33796, drl, Crescent Point Energy, CPEUSC Berner 8-19-18-157N-99W TFH, Lone Tree Lake, no production data, 
33795, drl, Crescent Point Energy, CPEUSC Nelson 8-30-31-157N-99W TFH, Lone Tree Lake, no production data, 
33369, 252, Statoil, Abe 3031 5H, Painted Woods, t11/17, 8.8 million lbs; typo on form regarding number of stages; cum 14K 2/18; constrained production;
32803, 1,360, CLR, Oakdale 7-13H, Jim Creek, 4 sections; 65 stages; 14.6 million lbs, a huge well; t1/18; cum 94K 2/18;
32802, 2,230, CLR, Oakdale 6-13H1, Jim Creek, Three Forks, 4 sections; 65 stages; 14.7 million lbs; huge well; t1/18; cum 67K 2/18;  constrained production;
30696, 3,218, Rimrock Oil & Gas, Charging Eagle 15-21A-16-4H, Twin Buttes, a huge well, 44 stages; 12 million lbs, mesh/large; t11/17; cum 166K 2/18; the Charging Eagle wells are tracked here; in 11/17 -- 63,792 bo plus 34,146 MCF natural gas = 69,482 boe in one month;

Monday, April, 30, 2018:
34100, SI/NC, MRO, Nora Jones 12-14TFH-2B, Reunion Bay, no production data,
31426, 2,325, CLR, Hayes 7-6H, Crazy Man Creek, 4 sections; 59 stages; 9.8 million lbs, t12/17; cum 68K 2/18;

Sunday, April 29, 2018:
33591, SI/NC, BR, Anderson Ranch 2C TFH, Camel Butte, no production data,

Saturday, April 28, 2018:
33590, SI/NC, BR, Anderson Ranch 2B MBH, Camel Butte, no production data,
29720, 43, Foundation Energy, Rojic 22-9, wildcat; a Red River well; t1/18; cum 1,000 bbls over two months;

Traveling -- Almost No Blogging Until Sunday Night -- April 28, 2018

Good luck to all. I don't think there's much going on, so a good time to take a break.

Week 17: April 22, 2018 -- April 28, 2018

Without question, the big story of the day, the week, the month, maybe the year: North Korea's Kim Jong Un comes across the DMZ to shake hands with Moon.

Earnings: CVX blew through earnings estimates; XOM, not so good.

Operations
Enerplus with permits for a 9-well "Greek" pad
Back up to 63 rigs in North Dakota
Random update of four CLR with significant jump in production

Pipelines
A Minnesota administrative judge rules in favor of the pipeline; rules against Enbridge
A must-read commentary on the DAPL over at "Say Anything Blog"

Other formations
Random look at a Madison well that Cobra is considering for re-entry; the well has produced 613,000 bbls of oil to date; drilled in 1982, celebrating its 36th birthday this year  

Miscellaneous
NOG to acquire 1,319 acres in perhaps the best Bakken for $49 million, mostly cash
Oasis transfers another 33 wells to White Rock Oil & Gas

Traveling -- Minimal Blogging Through The Weekend -- April 27, 2018

Active rigs:

$67.97→	4/27/2018	04/27/2017	04/27/2016	04/27/2015	04/27/2014
Active Rigs	62	48	27	85	182

Two new permits:

• Operators: BR; Lime Rock Resources
• Fields: Pershing (McKenzie); Murphy Creek (Dunn)
• Comments: 

Twelve permits renewed:

• XTO (9): six Bud permits in Williams County; and three Johnsrud permits in McKenzie County
• Rimrock Oil & Gas (3): three Two Shields Butte permits in Dunn County

Paddlefish Season To Open Next Week -- April 27, 2018

The Market, Energy, And Political Page, T+58 -- April 27, 2018; Hey, Jeff, You Didn't Build That -- Barack

XOM: I've said several time ExxonMobil completely missed the shale revolution. This is pretty much complete validation. Others are setting records. Exxon? Exxon misses despite higher oil prices; shares down 1.7%.

• EPS: $1.09 vs almost as much a year ago (95 cents)
• boe production down 6% -- wow
• what can I say? 

GDP: not sure what to make of the reporting; even less sure of what to make of the data -- first reading for 1Q18 GDP -- up 2.3% vs 2.0% but this is CNBC's take:

• the U.S. economy slowed in the first quarter as consumer spending grew at its weakest pace in nearly five years.
• the setback is likely temporary against the backdrop of a tightening labor market and large fiscal stimulus.
• gross domestic product increased at a 2.3 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said.

Amazon; wow, what can I say? Absolutely incredible.

• this is how one defines addiction -- Amazon Prime subscription rises 20% overnight -- from $99 to $119, and Wall Street knows it won't hurt Amazon's numbers
• Amazon hits all-time highs
• as someone pointed out: it took Jeff Bezos ten years -- behind the scenes, off the radar scope -- to put together the logistics infrastructure to pull this off -- and all that time, Sears, JC Penney, Target, Wal-Mart, and a gazillion other retailers had the opportunity to do what Jeff Bezos did -- and they didn't -- it's really, really hard for me to believe that Target teaming up with Microsoft could not have done this -- in hindsight, what were they thinking?
• Barack Obama to Jeff Bezos: you didn't build that
• I canceled my Prime subscription last year (but Amazon doesn't refund; one simply has the membership until it runs out); LOL - I renewed -- no lapse -- my wife, it turns out -- loves the free movies that stream over Prime
• I canceled because two-hour delivery was a problem when one lives in a gated community; but I worked around that, and in the meantime, Amazon improved the system
• and, unfortunately for B&N, the prices at Amazon are unbeatable -- I pay $25/year for a B&N membership; for that I get 10% off purchases. I'm looking at a $40-book over at bricks and mortar B&N with the 10% discount, $36 plus tax; over at Amazon, $27 plus tax (and tax on $27 is less than tax on $36); free shipping; and delivery to wherever I want to send the book (it it's a gift for our daughter in Portland, I saw another $8 in postage; this is not rocket science; the Amazon Prime credit card, 5% cash back for purchases at Amazon; less cash-back other locations
• return policy: unbeatable 
• I still think Amazon should enter the "Travelocity" business -- simply buy one of the travel sites; it seems to be a no-brainer
• of all the FANG CEOs, Jeff Bezos seems the least controversial -- think Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Schmidt (until 2017; Larry Page is still a blank page) 

PSX: beats

• 1Q18 earinngs better than expected
• EPS: surged 63% to 91 cents;
• revenue: jumping 23% to $29.23 billion (COP was only about $9 billion)

CVX: falls short; "blows through" all profit forecasts -- Bloomberg

• wow, huge beat on EPS, $1.90 vs estimates of $1.45
• global boe production rose 6% (Exxon production fell 6%)
• US boe production rose 9%
• statement: "oil and gas production is increasing, most notably in our Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG Projects in Australia, and our shale developments in the Permian Basin where production grew 65% from a year ago."

Pemex: struggling.

Interest in tie ups with Pemex has been lackluster, with presidential elections looming on 1 July, and expectations high that Andrés Manuel López Obrador, head of the newly created National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), will win the poll, after incumbent Enrique Peña Nieto barred from running.

Obrador—a key figure who has emerged as a defender of the rights of Mexico’s indigenous peoples—threatened to review more than 90 contracts signed since Mexico opened its oil market up to foreign investment. If elected, he has vowed to cancel the remaining auction plans.

TransMountain: BC digging in its heels.

**************************************

The Fashion Page

A huge "thank you" to  a reader for sending the photos --

As the reader said, "Wow, did we dodge a silver bullet!"

And a bad fashion choice.

The Salem Witch Trials: From Start To Finish, 9 Months -- And, Oh, Yes, The Bakken -- April 27, 2018

Quick takes:

• President Trump's staff, has again, lost a great opportunity to do the right thing with regard to the "Honduran caravan"
• perhaps the most historic meeting since 1945 took place this week and the mainstream media pretty much ignored it; the best way to kill a story? Ignore it. Ask Brenda James
• whether Rosalind Franklin should have shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine will be debated forever, but it was convenient for the committee that she did not meet the criteria: no more than three living individuals can share a Nobel prize
• for all the fracking in North Dakota, there certainly aren't many earthquakes. Knock on wood. 
• I think the Salem witch hunts took less time. Yes, from Stacy Schiff's The Witches: Salem, 1692, c. 2015: 1692: Massachusetts Bay Colony, executed fourteen women, five men, and two dogs for witchcraft; start to finish — 9 months

********************************

Back to the Bakken Where Fracking Is Always In Fashion

Active rigs:

$67.94→	4/27/2018	04/27/2017	04/27/2016	04/27/2015	04/27/2014
Active Rigs	62	48	27	85	182

RBN Energy: the growing and possibly enduring role of LNG imports in Mexico's gas market.

Wow! Is This Historic Or What! -- Sixteen Months Into Trump's Presidency -- Six Months Ago Pundits Worried About Trump Taking Us To War On The Korean Peninsula -- April 26, 2018

Add Xi.

Next year, Time magazine cover -- "men of the year."

Nobel peace prize: Kim-Xi Moon. Pies.

********************************

Flashback

Enerplus With Permits For A 9-Well "Greek" Pad; Twelve Permits Renewed; Two DUCs Reported As Completed -- April 26, 2018

Active rigs:

$68.19→	4/26/2018	04/26/2017	04/26/2016	04/26/2015	04/26/2014
Active Rigs	62	48	26	84	182

Nine new permits:

• Operator: Enerplus
• Field: Mandaree (Dunn)
• Comments: Enerplus has permits for a 9-well "Greek" pad in SWSE 33-149-93 (Eos, Nyx, Homer, Hera, Apollo, Zeus, Athena, Metis, Boreas); see graphic below;

Twelve permits renewed:

• Sinclair (4): two Yauch permits and two Forest USA permits, all in McKenzie County
• XTO (3): three Kenneth permits in Williams County
• Petro-Hunt: a CMNU permit in McKenzie County
• White Rock: one BSMU permit in Billings County -- a Madison well, most likely
• WPX: one Edward Goodbird permit in Dunn County
• EOG: one LIberty LR permit in Mountrail County

One permit canceled: Fram Operating canceled a Danny Funke permit in Renville County

Two producing wells completed:

• 33627, 1,636, Hess, BB-State-LW-151-96-3625H-1, Blue Buttes, 4 sections, t4/18; cum --
• 33632, 1,194, Hess, BB-State-151-96-3625H-7, Blue Buttes, t4/18; cum --

********************************

Proposed Enerplus Pad In Mandaree Oil Field