The Market, Energy, And Political Page, T+16, May 26, 2018 -- May 26, 2018

WTI: price dropped below $70 yesterday; market panics; folks expect price of gasoline to collapse on Tuesday, May 28, 2018, just in time for driving season.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do now make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on anything you read here or think you may have read here. For example, it is highly unlikely that the price of gasoline is going to collapse any time soon, and certainly not by next week.

Apparently "size matters": from Bloomberg via Rigzone --

Darren Woods is mounting a strong defense of his plan to rescue Exxon Mobil Corp. from its share-price slump with $200 billion of investment over seven years that’s at odds with the belt-tightening undertaken by rivals.

Woods’ solution, outlined in a Wednesday interview, is to invest heavily in mega-projects that he says are so low cost they’ll dominate oil and natural gas markets for decades to come.

Share buybacks will come only if there’s excess cash, the chief executive officer said, ahead of a speech on the company’s strategy at Exxon’s annual meeting on May 30.

Now his job is to persuade skeptical investors his plan will work, a hard sell so far. Since Woods became CEO in 2017, Exxon has fallen 9 percent, compared with an 18 percent gain for its biggest rival, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

The CEO said he sees “a little bit of a disconnect” between the market’s short-term expectations and Exxon’s long-term planning.

But he remains confident. [He should have said, "size does matter."]

Heidi now seen everywhere, from Williston Economic Center newsletter:

City leaders from Midland, Texas will be in Williston May 31 through June 1 to learn about Williston's response to the challenges of the recent oil boom.

The group will bring a total of five representatives to North Dakota including Midland Mayor Jerry Morales.

Like Williston, Midland has strong ties to the energy industry and has experienced the same ebbs and flows including recent rapid population growth. (Midland was the fastest growing region from 2010 to 2015 according to the US Census Bureau.)  The first day of the session will be held at the Center for Development. U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp is scheduled to welcome the guests and open the discussion.

Bakken economy, from Williston Economic Center newsletter:

• new Burger King to open in Sidney
• New Town breaks ground on new fire station