Week 2: January 5, 2020 -- January 11, 2020

Top blog stories of the week:

• Outrigger-XOM deal.
• Gulf of Mexico hits record daily production;
• California-based utility to open regional HQ center in Houston;

Narrative: link here;

International non-energy story:

• Terrorist killed in fender-bender; plane crashes upon takeoff;

International energy story:

• Mideast erupts; WTI barely holds at $59;
• North American blowing away the rest of the world in new pipeline;
• Saudi Arabia foreign exchange reserves surge after IPO launched;

National non-energy story:

• US economy on fire; another incredible jobs report; Dow briefly touches 29,000 for first time ever (and that's despite the implosion of Boeing common stock); market rally likely to continue; ADP jobs report; market rally just getting started? private payroll growth surges;
• US trade deficit plunges to more than 3-year low;
• AAPL;

National energy story:

• Cost of renewables: apparently solar/wind is not free; can't "guarantee" stability of the grid;
• Making Texas great: the top largest planned petrochemical and plastics plants;
• US crude oil exports surge; up over 30% week-over-week; and, here;
• WPX acquires Felix Energy;

North Dakota non-energy story:

North Dakota energy story:

• Outrigger-XOM deal

Geoff Simon's top North Dakota stories:

• Trump to modernize the National Environment Policy Act (NEPA); to streamline permitting of infrastructure projects;
• Beams arrive for new Long X Bridge: 156-foot long pre-stressed concrete beams;
• Highway 85: carries more oversize truck traffic than either I-94 or I-29;

• NDPC's Ron Ness -- Bakken -- the best is yet to come;
• Six wind farms miss deadline for installing new tower lighting systems

Big wells:

• #30541, Bruin, Fort Berthold; 600,000 bbls in less than two years;
• #33412, MRO, Winona, half-a-million bbls in less than two years;
• Kraken Bigfoot wells in the Sanish;
• Newfield Hoffmann wells in Siverston oil field;

Operations:

• Hess reports great wells in Blue Buttes; 
• Two rigs on CLR's 18-well Angus Federal pad;
• CLR's Long Creek Unit updated; two rigs in play;
• Equinor reports completion of nine DUCs;

Fracking:

• Halo effect on many, many wells near the Kraken Bigfoot wells;
• 100-stage wells; 20+ million lbs of sand; 3-section long fracks;
• Halo effect: Newfield Siverston wells;
• CLR's Florida well: halo effect;
• Huge jump in production: Enerplus' Wind well in Mandaree oil field;

Refineries:

• ND $800-million, greenfield, Theodore-Roosevelt refinery in trouble;

Bakken 101:

• Cryogenic separation of NGLs explained in layman's language;
• Rig counts -- Rigzone commentary;

Other formations:

• Lodgepole well update;

Photography:

• Fargo, then and now;
• Hill AFB "elephant walk";

Miscellanous:

• Well permitted in 2012, finally drilled/completed eight years later;
• Geico Rock Award nominee. First for 2020: The Financial Times;

Humor:

• Democrats call for flags to be flown at half-mast to grieve death of Soleimani;