Seven Wells Coming Off The Confidential List Today -- October 18, 2019

First things first: Stickley Furniture will announce it's "annual" collector edition piece today. Link here. 

First things first: Houston  -- one game away from the World Series, defeating NY last night, 8 - 3 or something like that. I did not see the NFL football game last night, although it was streaming on Amazon Prime. I was watching Perry Mason. 

Huge story being under-reported, re-posting: Rosneft (i.e., Russia, i.e., Putin) about to take control of world's largest oil reserves. It looks like it happen regardless of whether President Trump grants Chevron a waiver to continue operating in Venezuela, but if Trump's actions kick Chevron out of Venezuela, the world's largest oil reserves to go to Russia under Trump's watch. Collusion?

WTI: despite a 10-million-bbl build this week, WTI starts Friday at a pretty good place, just under $55. Most would agree except those heavily invested in oil that $50 - $55 for WTI is pretty much a sweet spot for everyone.

Market: Dow futures slightly red all night; just turned green (6:27 a.m. CT); up 21 points/

Palladium: I think I read somewhere that there are only three sites in the world (none of them in the US) where palladium is mined. One of them is in Russia. Palladium has appreciated 975% in a decade according to a twitter source. Later: I stand corrected. See first comment below. Apparently there is a palladium mine in Montana.


Watching: I find the technology amazing. Two days ago we reserved a rental car at Enterprise Rental down the street from us. Generally when we go out of town, we rent a car, for any number of reasons. All of a sudden I'm seeing car rental ads on twitter (where I seldom see car rental ads) and other social media and news sites, including YouTube. It's really quite remarkable. Doesn't bother me. Car ads from no-name discount "Priceline"-like car rental sites and Hertz. Speaking of Priceline -- does Priceline still exist? I haven't seen an ad in ages ... yup, there it is (google search).


China: appears to be doing just fine

• refineries processed 13.8 million bpd in September, a new record
• industrial output, for September, up 5.8% y/y; estimate: 5.0%; prior: 4.4%
• retail sales, September, up 7.8% y/y; estimate: 7.8%; prior: 7.5%
• GDP, 3Q19, y/y: 6.0%; estimate 6.1%; prior: 6.2%

F/AMZN:

• two years of complimentary (free) charging through Ford
• Ford Motor Company (F) will be partnering with Amazon (AMZN) in a bid to leverage the growth of electric cars. In announcing the partnership, Ford stated that it will create a network of charging stations throughout North America. Estimates suggest that the network will span 12,000 locations with 35,000 charging points for electric car owners. This charging network will be the largest network of charging stations in North America. Link here.
• Ford to invest $11 billion
• Ford will release EVs by 2022
• Volkswagen's Electrify America will also play a major role in Ford's plans
• fast DC chargers: minutes instead of hours
• 47-mile-charge in 10 minutes
• 80%-charge: 45 minutes
• Amazon Home Services: for residential charging units
• Amazon Home Services worked with Audi in 2018
• home-charging 
• on 120-volt plug: three miles for each hour of charge (overnight, 8 hours - 24 miles)
• on 240-volt plug: 22 miles per hour of charge (overnight, 175 miles)

Tankers: situation gradually improving. Link here. Seriously affected US exports, but that may have been somewhat temporary (less than one month).

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

Back to the Bakken

Seven wells coming off confidential list today -- Friday, October 18, 2019: 60 for the month; 60 for the quarter:

• 36018, SI/NC, WPX, Bison 27-34HA, Squaw Creek, no production data,
• 35988, SI/NC, Slawson, Moray Federal 1 SLH, Big Bend, no production data,
• 34972, 1,392, CLR, Rader 6-24H, Avoca, t7/19; cum 56K in two months;
• 34945, 1,312, Whiting, Moline 41-15-1TFH, Tyrone, t5/19; cum 88K 8/19;
• 33784, SI/NC, Crescent Point Energy, CPEUSC Lloyd 2-27-34-157N-100W TFH, Marmon, no production data,
• 30650, 1,722, CLR, Sorenson 3-16H, Alkali Creek, t5/19; cum 79K 8/19;
• 30646, 1,957, CLR, Sorenson 8-16H, Alkali Creek, t5/19; cum 116K 8/19;

Active rigs:

$54.38	10/18/2019	10/18/2018	10/18/2017	10/18/2016	10/18/2015
Active Rigs	60	70	55	32	67

RBN Energy: Uinta Basin crude producers and nearby refinery customers, part 2. Archived.

Each and every production region in the U.S. has its own unique geology, geography and hydrocarbon assets, but few, if any, are more unusual than the Uinta Basin in northeastern Utah. Physically isolated from all refining centers except Salt Lake City, the region boasts enormous reserves of waxy crude oil that’s been made accessible at a very low cost per barrel via horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. While Uinta Basin crude looks, smells and feels like shoe polish, it has many characteristics that refiners want, including medium-to-high API gravity and very low sulfur, acid and metal content. There are two snags to expanding production, though: waxy crude poses major transport challenges, and Salt Lake City refineries can only use so much of the stuff. So if Uinta Basin producers want to increase production by much, they’ll need to develop cost-effective ways to move large volumes of their waxy crude to faraway markets like the Gulf and West coasts. Today, we continue a series on the prospects for expanding waxy-oil output with a review of Uinta Basin producers and their customers in the close-by “City of the Saints.”