Germany, Hess -- Cleaning Out The In-Box -- August 21, 2019

How do you solve a problem like Germany? -- WSJ, August 19, 2019 -- data points -- op-ed by the WSJ editorial board --

• Berlin prepares to cave to the Keynesians but could do so much better
• Germany might cautiously cobble together a Keynesian stimulus policy for its recession-enaced country
• IMF wants Germany to "use" its fiscal headroom to avert a recession; headroom?
• a balanced budget
• government debt below 60% of GDP
• but this is how they want to spend the stimulus money:
• public works
• lay more high-speed internet cables
• fill in potholes on the autobahn
• worst idea: some form of cash-for-clunkers tax handout to support the auto industry
• Germany's worst problem: regulations

This was what caught my attention:

A dishonorable mention goes to Mrs. Merkel’s Energiewende (energy transformation), which is driving up costs for businesses already struggling with trade war, taxes and regulation. The chemical industry, Germany’s fifth-largest in contribution to GDP, is in an eight-year slump owing in part to rapidly rising energy costs, as Deutsche Bank noted last week. Many medium-sized companies aren’t exempt from surcharges that subsidize renewables, which aren’t reliable enough to provide the steady power that chemical plants require.

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Hess

From The WSJ --

Hess Corp. has emerged as the best-performing U.S. oil company this year.

The reasons have little to do with the American fracking boom. Instead, Hess’s popularity with investors is rooted in a small South American nation.

The New York-based company holds a 30% stake in an immense offshore oil field being developed by Exxon Mobil Corp. in Guyana that appears poised to become one of the most lucrative megaprojects in years.

The company’s shares have surged more than 50% in 2019, the biggest increase of any major U.S. oil operator, excluding companies acquired in deals.

It is a peculiar scenario for Hess, one of the largest shale producers in North Dakota: shareholders are excited about a prized asset it has an interest in, but doesn’t control.

Hess acquired its stake in Guyana from Royal Dutch Shell PLC in 2014 for an undisclosed price.

The company initially estimated the resource total at about 500 million barrels of oil. Now it appears to be at least 12 times that amount, making it one of the most significant discoveries in decades.