Minnesota PUC Unanimously Approves Enbridge Line 3 -- June 28, 2018

The poll, will the Minnesota PUC approve the replacement of Enbridge Line 3?

• yes: 39%
• no: 61%

I was part of the 61%.

From Park Rapids Enterprise:

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved the Enbridge Line 3 replacement pipeline Thursday afternoon, June 28, in a decision certain to spark lawsuits and set off protests around the state.

Now, to the courts.

1Q18 Taxable Sales For The State Of North Dakota -- June 28, 2018

I thought I had posted this recently. I don't think. What I posted recently was taxable sales for CY 2017.

This is about taxable sales for 1Q18 -- seems like it took a long time to post the data for 1Q18 but ... whatever.

From The Bismarck Tribune:

“This 10 percent increase in the first quarter (1Q18) is the largest year-over-year growth we’ve seen since 2014,” Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger said. “We are continuing with positive gains as this is the fourth quarter in a row that we’ve seen growth in this report … The increase in oil activity in the western part of the state played a major role in moving this report to a double-digit positive again.”

Williams and McKenzie counties saw 33.29 percent and 37.32 percent increases respectively.

And more:

“Williston has moved back to having the second-largest taxable sales and purchases in the state, with Fargo holding at first,” Rauschenberger said.

Williston’s taxable sales and purchases were up 33.19 percent, while Fargo’s were down 1.96 percent.

Watford City, another oil field town had a taxable sales and purchases increase of 40.63 percent. Tioga was up 38.36 percent, New Town was up 28.15 percent and Dickinson was up 14.72 percent.

Other links:

• news
• press release 
• statistical

It wasn't that long ago that the East Coast mainstream media was "writing off" Williston. On June 29, 2015, The Atlantic Monthly famously said the Bakken boom was a bust (a blog post) or you can click on this link and go directly to the article.

Threat Or Opportunity; "What Business Are We In?" -- June 28, 2018

This is really cool.

Years ago I briefed senior USAF officers on "core competencies." One of the questions that needed answering when our executive team was developing a strategic plan for our overseas medical clinic was "what business are we in?"

This story from oilprice today:

Oil supermajor BP said on Thursday that it would buy the UK’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging company, Chargemaster, in the latest show of Big Oil’s move into EV charging networks.

Chargemaster, which has more 6,500 EV charging points across the UK, also designs, builds, sells, and maintains EV charging units for a wide range of locations, including for home charging.

After the acquisition is completed, Chargemaster will be re-branded to BP Chargemaster and will operate as a wholly owned BP entity. BP Chargemaster will combine Chargemaster’s EV charging network with BP’s 1,200 service stations in a move that will widen access to electric vehicle charging in the UK.

BP Chargemaster will rollout ultra-fast charging infrastructure, including 150 kW chargers capable of delivering 100 miles of range in 10 minutes.

This story from CNN back in 2017:

Royal Dutch Shell  revealed a deal on Thursday to acquire NewMotion, one of Europe's largest electric vehicle charging providers. NewMotion specializes in converting parking spots into electric charging stations. The Dutch firm has more than 30,000 electric charge points in Europe.

The acquisition, Shell's first in this space, shows how Big Oil is being forced to confront the long-term threat posed by electric cars and efforts to phase out gasoline and diesel vehicles. 

So, CNN suggests that Big Oil "is being forced to confront the long-term threat posed by electric cars and efforts to phase out gasoline and diesel vehicles."

I would argue that BP and Shell asked the question: "what business are we in" and came up with this answer: "we provide fuel to run cars and trucks." 

Hardly a "threat" as CNN would call it. The board of directors might call it a strategic opportunity. And answering the question, "what business are we in?"

Although I don't quite understand it, GE is betting on its own renewable energy program.

So, when I see GE, Shell, and BP getting into renewable energy, it makes me think I'm missing something. That's fine. I don't know how refrigerators work either, but I find them quite useful.

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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A Random Note

A Note to the Granddaughters

I'm blogging from a McDonald's while waiting for the older granddaughter to complete her water polo training tonight.

I do this four nights a week. The training locale has no wi-fi and it is located way too far away to drive back home and then come back and get her. So I hang out at the local McDonald's.

I love it. I have three hours of complete freedom. Peace and quiet. Time to read, blog.

But as I watch the tens of customers come and go each night, I count my blessings.

Mississippi, Pussycat

WTI Surges Into "Deep Backwardation" -- John Kemp -- Oil Futures Page -- June 28, 2018

Oil Futures Page 

Contracts, futures: light sweet oil. 

For newbies, and I hope I have this correct: when it comes to a commodity like crude oil that "should" deplete / become scarcer in the long term --

• contango is the normal state of affairs: the price of oil should go up in the future, all things being equal, since global oil should deplete over the long term; "contango" -- come dance with me; a pleasant experience;
• backwardation: is not the normal state of affairs; oil is getting cheaper in the future, not because there is going to be more oil in the long term, but there are geopolitical, economic, strength of the dollar, chokepoints, manmade, etc., reasons for the price of oil to be going down in the near future; barkwardation -- it even sounds unpleasant;

Updates

July 4, 2018: see a new comment -- You know what else? No one will want to hold or store crude with oil prices in backwardation. It would be like putting money in the bank and have the bank take 2% out every month. 

July 2, 2018: see new comment, again about futures -- very, very helpful --

Here's a better way of viewing that "deep backwardation" than looking at each contract separately: https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/energy/crude-oil/light-sweet-crude.html.

There you see August oil quoted at $74.66, September oil at $72.38, October oil at $69.08, and so forth all on the same page, quotes being updated as I speak...

What that means in practical terms for a producer is that although the price of oil may be quoted at $74 today, they can only contract for their future oil output at the futures price given for the month they expect their production to start...

June 29, 2018: I've brought the comment up here for easier access/browsing --

John Kemp is comparing future's contracts.

One can find pricing for August oil, what's currently being quoted at this link: https://www.barchart.com/futures/quotes/CLQ18/price-history/historical

Here is the pricing for oil contracts for February 19:https://www.barchart.com/futures/quotes/CLB19/price-history/historical

In those URLs, CL is for WTI. Q or B is the month code, and 18 or 19 is the year
to get futures prices for Brent.

To go from WTI to Brent, simply swap a "CB" for "CL", so for Feb 19 Brent:https://www.barchart.com/futures/quotes/CBB19/price-history/historical

I've probably made it more confusing, but those are the kinds of spreads he's graphing.

June 29, 2018: I replied, suggesting that "waiting for those Permian pipes to get built" -- that's at least a year from now, I would suspect. Bullish for US shale operators in the Bakken. And the reader replied: Yes and also for the Eagle Ford (that gets LLS pricing).

June 29, 2018: this comment from a reader was received overnight --

With regard to the graph, you have the correct understanding.

I think the way JK displays it is a little funky since a "backwarded" strip curve (of all the months prices) slopes down and contango slopes up.  

But JK shows backward (down sloping future expectation) as "up" in his chart.  Don't know if this is him or whole industry but it seems illogical.   Also contango (pricier over time) is the "normal" situation if everything were ideal (natural resources deplete over time).  So up for contango makes more sense on a graph than below axis.

As far as DUC completion, there's really not much spare frac capacity out there (in ND) and also the level of price was pretty high, regardless last few months.  Not much DUC backlog left also...just normal inventory.

I think the big insight is not really on DUCs (in Bakken).  When you look at price, it is the market waiting for those Permian pipes to get built...at which time WTI will go down.  Permian is the dog and WTI price (and the Bakken) are the tail.

Original Post

From this post back in May, 2018:

First some definitions, and comments, some taken from the article, "Crude oil the next five years":

• backwardation describes a market where spot and near-dated futures trade above longer-dated futures [higher prices today vs lower prices tomorrow]. The term structure is downward-sloping. An upward sloping term structure is called contango. Sometimes, part of the curve trades in contango and part of it in backwardation. In an environment of low inventories, the market typically trades in backwardation, and vice-versa. 

Now, look at the graph John Kemp posted today:

It's easy to see the delinking of WTI from Brent.

I "understand" how the y-axis is determined but don't understand the correlation with contango and backwardation. I'm probably the only one that can't figure this out. Whatever.

Backwardation, from the definition above, suggests that the surge in the price of WTI today (this week) will eventually turn around (decline).

In a perfect world, one would assume operators would complete some DUCs "today" and sell the oil at spot prices.

Again, I'm way beyond my headlights. I really don't understand this part of the oil sector.

Here's the link to the "Canada's Syncrude system" reference:  Canada Loses 10% Of Its Westen Canadian Production Due To "Technical Difficulties," As The Kuwaitis Would Say -- June 27, 2018 mentioned by John Kemp in the graphic above.

From wikipedia:

• The crude oil tanks around Cushing have approximately 85 million barrels of storage capacity.

Here's the current storage at Cushing:

Speculators, talking heads, GS analysts, others, can really make the oil market move but in the big scheme of things, does anyone really think that US oil companies can't respond with more oil if necessary, and certainly right now, there's no shortage of oil to drive WTI up 13% in one week.

By the way, if the dollar were not so strong, the 13% WTI surge would have been greater. A strong dollar mutes the price of WTI. 

History of SPR withdrawals at this link: 

• 2005 Hurricane Katrina: 30 million bbls

Currently, Cushing is at 30 million bbls in storage. If President Trump could magically move 30 million bbls overnight to Cushing -- pushing storage to 60 million bbls -- it would still be well below total Cushing capacity, and, would still be less than the 70 million bbls back in late 2016, during the Saudi Surge.

So, now with that bit of background, I can put a little better perspective into all that talk about President Trump possibly releasing SPR oil this autumn before the mid-term elections to keep the price of gasoline down. 

The last day of the summer driving season is early September (Labor Day weekend); the election is early November, two months later.

I Had No Idea -- High Voltage DC Transmission Lines In North Dakota -- June 28, 2018

First the graphic, look where the only US high voltage DC transmission lines are in the US:

The link: at the EIA --

A new study commissioned by EIA examines the role of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) lines in integrating renewables resources into the electric grid. The review indicates that, although applications in the current electric transmission network are limited, HVDC lines have a number of potential benefits including cost effectiveness, lower electricity losses, and the ability to handle overloads and prevent cascading failures. These attributes mean that HVDC lines could, if properly configured, help mitigate some operational issues associated with renewable generation.

Renewable resources can be categorized into two types of generating sources—dispatchable and non-dispatchable. Dispatchable generators can respond to real-time system operator instructions to increase or decrease output. Among renewable power plants, those fueled by geothermal and biomass resources are considered dispatchable.

Non-dispatchable renewables, such as those fueled by solar and wind energy, are dependent on the availability of naturally occurring resources. As a result, these technologies have a limited capability to respond to dispatch signals. Hydroelectric generators fall between these categories; they can typically respond to dispatch signals, but they often have seasonal operational limitations that prevent them from being completely dispatchable.

Go to the linked article to see why high voltage DC transmission lines are being considered for renewable energy.

Three New Permits; Another Day With No DUCs Reported As Completed -- June 28, 2018

Active rigs:

$73.36↑↑	6/28/2018	06/28/2017	06/28/2016	06/28/2015	06/28/2014
Active Rigs	66	58	30	75	19

LLS: DAPL-Bakken proxy -- $79.91

Three new permits:

• Operator: Whiting
• Field: Pembroke (McKenzie)
• Comments: Whiting has permits for a 3-well Stenehjem Federal pad in SESW 7-149-98;

Five permits renewed:

• Texakota (4): four H. Borstad permits in Williams County
• Resource Energy Can-Am: a Lincoln State permit in Divide Count

DUCs: another day without any DUCs reported as completed.

These were the two wells that came off the confidential list today:

• 30230, 1,006, Nine Point Energy, Simpson 151-102-5-8-4H, Elk, t1/18; cum 65K 5/18; taken off line as of 5/18 after strong production; fracked 11/11/17 - 12/9/17; 13.291 million gallons of water; 91.46% water; sand, 8.2%; two of the three neighboring wells showed a significant bump in production; the third neighboring well is still off-line;
• 24521, SI/NC Slawson, Gabriel 7-36-25TFH, North Tobacco Garden, no production data,

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Idle Figuring

The other day I suggested how one can go about calculating the amount of sand used before the NDIC posts the sundry form completion report using FracFocus data. See this post.

This is a real world example that I just did a few minutes ago. I did the calculations based on FracFocus data without looking at the sundry form completion report in the file report.

After I did the calculations, I looked at the sundry form completion report and compared the data.

A real world example --

Let's see how well the procedure at the linked site works, using a real world example. We will look at this well that came off the confidential list, today, June 28, 2018, FracFocus data embedded:

• 30230, 1,006, Nine Point Energy, Simpson 151-102-5-8-4H, Elk, t1/18; cum 65K 5/18; taken off line as of 5/18 after strong production; FracFocus data: fracked 11/11/17 - 12/9/17; 13.291 million gallons of water; 91.46% water; sand, 8.2%;

Calculations:

• 13.291 million gallons x 8.35 pounds = 110.98 million lbs
• 91.46% of what = 110.98 million lbs
• total frack mix weighed: 121.3425 million lbs
• of that, 0.082 x 121.3425 = 9.95 million lbs sand
• 9.95 million lbs / 200,000 lbs = 49.75 = 50 stages

Let's look at the frack report in the NDIC file report for this well, #30230:

• 50 stages; 10.02 million pounds sand (7 million lbs mesh; 3 million lbs medium)

The Political Page, T-28 -- June 28, 2018

Most (not all) the women in my life are snowflakes when it comes to Hillary - Trump. Many of them are also soccer fans.

From The Washington Times, Jared Kushner has now brokered or been involved with a growing list of deals:

• the emergence of a Middle East peace outline
• work bringing the 2028 Summer Olympics back to Los Angeles
• a $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia
• securing soccer's World Cup in North America in 2026 -- something even President Obama failed to do -- witt an expected 75% of the games being played in the US; the rest in Canada and Mexico
• bipartisan support for criminal justice reform
• behind-the-scenes role as Trump presidential campaign's CEO

I'm really quite excited to see new ideas put forth in the Mideast, regardless of whether anything comes of them.

Meanwhile, Jared is building up quite a Rolodex and LinkedIn database.

Time to twist in a bit of sobriety.

Twist In My Sobriety, Tanita Tikaram

Regarding The New IRS 1040 -- Important -- The IRS Offers A Phase-In -- June 28, 2018 -- In Canada, Meanwhile, Reality Sucks

Apparently the IRS will offer taxpayers the option of two forms as they phase in the new form. For those folks who are unsure about using a "post-card-sized" IRS form, the IRS will still accept the "standard-length" form. A copy is seen below.

An eagle-eyed reader noted line 4 on the long-form. It might be a bit hard to read, but this is Line 4:

• Trump is not your president. Check here if you wish to pay taxes at Obama administration rates.

 

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Meanwhile, In Toronto

Link here.

Screenshot:

Story:

Toronto Mayor John Tory has warned Canada's biggest city can no longer cope with the number of asylum seekers and refugees entering the country amid President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

"We have exhausted our available sites, our resources and our personnel," Tory said during a press conference on Tuesday, issuing a plea for assistance from provincial and federal governments.

Citing a report from Acting City Manager Giuliana Carbone, Tory said the "the City staff report reiterates our urgent request that the federal and provincial governments take immediate steps to initiate and lead a regional response to housing these populations."

Just one year ago, a deer in the headlights:

Too many asylum seekers -- illegal immigrants -- and not enough pipeline. What next?

The Market, Energy, And Political Page, T+28 -- June 28, 2018 -- LSS -- The DAPL-Bakken -- Now Flirting With $80/Bbl -- Jumps $3.68/Bbl -- We're Off To The Races

Note: DAPL-Bakken oil is now priced at a premium to every other oil I can find.

Oil operators have not reported a completed DUC in months. I assume they have reported a few, but if so, there haven't been many. Whatever the number of DUCs reported as completed in the past month or so, it's trivial. I think regular readers can connect the dots. I started talking about it a couple of weeks ago. 

Holy mackerel: WTI surges -- now over $73 -- who wudda thought. Remember, just a few months ago, trading around $55.

• WTI: $73.89
• Brent: $77.96
• West Canadian Select: $49.76
• Louisiana Light (LLS), a DAPL-Bakken proxy: $79.91
• OPEC basket: $74.31

But look at this, the jump in prices today:

• Louisiana Light (LLS), a DAPL-Bakken proxy: surges $3.68/bbl
• OPEC basket: up $1.62
• WTI: in comparison, jumps only 82 cents

The race is on:

The Race Is On, George Jones

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The Book Page 

Week 1: The Road Not Taken, Max Boot, c. 2018
Week 2: The Island That Disappeared: The Lost History of the Mayflower's Sister Ship and Its Rival Puritan Colony, Tom Feiling, c. 2017
Week 3: Spineless: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of a Growing a Backbone, Juli Berwald, c. 2017

A Reminder: CLR Sets A Bakken Record? -- June 28, 2018

A reminder to folks. Be ready to see the NDIC data on these wells; the data should be released any day now.

See this post: CLR sets a Bakken record?

Comment from a reader regarding those production numbers:

Those numbers come straight from the check stubs. Also of interest, the gross revenue on the two wells totaled about $9.95 million. This was before taxes and royalties, but it still shows that these wells will pay out for Continental after only a few months.

By the way, these are just the first two wells of almost a dozen that are going to be reported very, very soon. This will get the attention of the Saudis.

Do The Benefits Of Global Warming Outweigh The Risks -- For Oenophiles, Apparently, Yes -- June 28, 2018

The other day I asked this rhetorical question:

Speaking of which: do the benefits of global warming -- if it exists -- outweigh the risks?

Now today, this from The WSJ article on grapes, wines, and the Mosel River / Valley in Germany, near the French frontier:

Some Mosel vineyards, such as the famed Bernkasteler Doctor, are nearly 100 years old, while others are quite new. There has been a good deal of planting in the region of late, particularly of non-Riesling grapes. The day after my visit, Mr. Selbach was planting Pinot Noir, which has become more common in the Mosel recently thanks to a warming trend. “Nothing has changed in the Mosel,” he said. But then he allowed, “The climate has gotten better.”

The weather was certainly warm the week of my late-April visit, which happened to coincide with spargelzeit (asparagus season). This season is short—April-June—so every restaurant around had at least one and often two or three asparagus dishes on the menu.

When I arrived at the Zeltinger Hof Gasthaus des Rieslings, the modest but charming hotel where I stayed, I found the proprietor, Markus Reis, laboring over a large pile of asparagus, shaving the thick stalks down to a more manageable size. (I found him repeating the task at breakfast time the following morning and again later that day.)

The same is being said of North Dakota and Montana. North Dakota is growing more corn, and Montana wheat production is increasing -- some say due to changing weather. It's all good.

Especially the wine.

I learned to love asparagus after living in Germany. 

A Thousand Miles From Nowhere, Dwight Yoakim

A Little Nostalgia Over A Glass Of Wine -- June 28, 2018

Twin Peaks theme song:



The music really seems to fit my mood this morning, and fit the mood for this next story.

We were stationed in Germany for three tours (Bitburg, Bitburg, Rhein-Main). At Bitburg we were just a short drive away from the Mosel River, sort of a Napa wine region -- but much, much better on so many levels.

The WSJ has a feature on the Mosel River / Valley this week. The headline: the wine destination only the pros know. Either that's a fake headline or I'm a wine pro. LOL.

From the article:

American wine drinkers don’t visit German wine regions the same way they do those in Italy or France. And yet the Mosel is one of the oldest, most beautiful wine regions in the world, home to small, charming villages with half-timbered houses and spectacular Riesling vineyards. 

Some of the vineyards are so steep they’re practically vertical. “You learn to dig in your heels,” said Johannes Selbach, owner of Selbach Oster winery, as we stood at the edge of the vertiginous Zeltinger Sonnenuhr vineyard, above the town of Zeltingen. Mr. Selbach lives there, in a generations-old waterfront house that’s regularly inundated when the Mosel river floods.

Mr. Selbach produces some of the region’s greatest Rieslings, and his family is one of several who have been growing grapes in the Mosel for hundreds of years. Unlike Tuscany or Bordeaux or, increasingly, Burgundy, the Mosel is almost entirely populated by small, family-owned wineries, operated by the producers themselves.

While in Germany we went on one or two wine tastings as a group arranged by the fighter squadron to which I was assigned.

The wine tasting consisted of a full German meal with multiple wines paired with each course. The dinner / tasting started about 4:00 p.m. and went to about 2:00 a.m. The vintners were always prepared to go longer, but Americans, I guess, have difficulty partying all night long.

Every wine was excellent, but the dessert wines -- Eisweins -- were priceless. I could seldom afford to buy an Eiswein. 

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Speaking of Nostalgia

I finished Max Boot's The Road Not Taken.

I wear my emotions on my sleeves, as they say. My eyes teared up as I came to the end of the book.

I will leave it at that. I guess I mentioned that last night. I had forgotten.

Federal Tax Credits For EVs -- Death Watch -- GM, Tesla -- June 28, 2028

Maxing out on tax credits: Tesla and GM will soon max out at 200,000. Track data here.

Do a google search and pages of links to Tesla and GM as their tax credits soon to expire. 

How it works:

• full federal tax credit, for first 200,000 vehicles but "implemented" by quarter
• phase out after 200,000 vehicles sold by a given manufacturer; those late "to the table" which actually benefit by this crazy rule
• full federal tax credit for all EVs made by a given manufacturer through the quarter in which 200,000 vehicles are sold
• full federal tax credit extends through one additional quarter for all EVs sold by that manufacturer during that "add-on" quarter
• federal tax credit phases out over one full year
• when the phase-out begins, the credit is halved for two quarters; in the third quarter it is 25%  of the original amount 
• it comes out to four quarters because the first quarter after the 200,000 threshold is reached, there is no reduction in the federal credit but that's when the phase-out begins (typical bureaucratic obfuscation)

Everyone says the full tax credit is $7,500. Not true. The tax credit depends on the size of the vehicle and its battery capacity. The federal tax credit ranges from $2,500 to $7,500 per new EV purchased in the US.

Tesla and GM are down to their last couple of quarters. Any bet the US government will change the 200,000 threshold?

Meanwhile, rumor has it, Tesla won't meet its Model 3 goal -- Goldman Sachs story here. 

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Rumor Has It, Adele
A shout-out to KXT radio -- 91.7 FM --  in Fort Worth, TX -- perhaps the best music radio station ever. An "NPR" station.

New IRS Form -- June 28, 2018

This is it, a draft of the soon-to-be released Form 1040. One folds it in the middle and it is almost "postcard" size. Staggering.

Copies of old and new forms side-by-side at CBS News.

Front of post card: your name and signature.

Back of post card: send me all  your money.

And just think: all your identifying information -- social security number, address, dependents, etc., out in the open -- on a post card.

Thursday, June 28, 2018 -- North Dakota Active Rigs Up To 66

Wow, lots of stuff today. Since I have limited time at the moment, I'm just going to list the stories to which I need to return.

Top energy story of the day (so far): SRE will sell entire wind and solar portfolio. This is huge. Maybe Sempra Energy can sell entire portfolio to GE. Data points:

• announcement comes less than a month after activist investor got involved
• pressured by shareholders
• will sell several energy infrastructure assets, including its entire portfolio of US wind and solar assets, as well as certain US midstream assets 
• SRE jumped 17% at opening on June 11, 2018, when news of activist investor bought shares
• on this news, SRE up slightly on a day when the market is going to fall again (based on futures and final 1Q18 GDP reading)
• connecting the dots: note data point below -- US preparing for "century of natural gas supply"

Enbridge Line 3: latest news. It's a process. Regardless of the decision, it will end up in court. North Korean nuclear disarmament will happen faster.

New IRS form: postcard size. Pretty much. Too bad it's even more difficult to complete.

Trump: four recent court victories.

Iran sanctions: Trump winning. Last hold-out -- India -- appears to be preparing for cut in oil imports from Iran. Methinks Russia and Saudi Arabia are loving this.

Iran sanctions: Iran says removing oil from market by November as called for by US is impossible. Inshallah.  

Disappointing 1Q18 GDP: final reading -- 2.0% vs 2.2% reading expected. Futures down. Maybe that fourth rate hike scheduled for later this year not such a great idea.

Maxing out on tax credits: Tesla and GM will soon max out at 200,000. Track data here.

Capex on pipeline spending: Russia and the United States. Story here.

Jobs report (unemployment claims): link here. Forecast: 220K; actual, 227K.

US crude oil supply: dropping fast. From 30+ days of supply to 23 days in less than a couple of years.

US natural gas: "never" going to run out. Natural gas industry sees "century of supply" in US shale. Projected growth is staggering:

The United States currently produces about 72 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas each day, a figure that is expected to grow by 7 bcf per day this year. And within 20 years, U.S. shale gas output should grow an additional 60 percent.

Meanwhile, things not looking good in Europe: Groningen gas output falling faster than planned. 

DOA: the Biden rule. Senator Schumer suggested President Trump should follow the "Biden rule" with regard to nominating/confirming the next Supreme Court Justice. See poll at sidebar at the right.

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$72.46→	6/28/2018	06/28/2017	06/28/2016	06/28/2015	06/28/2014
Active Rigs	66	58	30	75	19

RBN Energy: dynamite! Kinder Morgan and EagleClaw Midstream's proposed Permian highway gas pipeline will be a monster.

Wells that should be coming off confidential list today:

• 30230, conf, Nine Point Energy, Simpson 151-102-5-8-4H, Elk, a nice well;
• 24521, conf, Slawson, Gabriel 7-36-25TFH, North Tobacco Garden, no production data,