DOW Makeover -- August 24, 2020

IN:

• Salesforce (CRM)
  
• Amgen (AMGN)
  
• Honeywell (HON)
  

OUT:

• XOM -- an iconic company goes out. Wow.
  
• Raytheon (RTN)
  
• PFE

And, of course, the 4 - 1 AAPL split.

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Mideast Crude Oil

Iraq needs Trump's help. Unfortunately Iraq has too many ties to Iran -- won't make Trump happy. Again, from one of my favorite analysts over at OilPrice: Simon Watkins -- at least based on the few articles I've read by him. Archived.

The lede:

Former senior intelligence operative and now Iraq’s Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, spent last week in Washington trying to maintain his exceptionally dangerous balancing act between Iran and the U.S. 

On the one hand, Iraq has a multi-layered relationship with Middle East powerhouse, Iran, enforced by Tehran through its ongoing on-the-ground presence of political, economic, and military proxies. 

On the other hand, Iraq has a shorter but nonetheless highly eventful history with the world’s number one superpower, the U.S., which demands an increase in its own on-the-ground presence in the country, particularly relating to its oil and gas sectors, in return for not sanctioning Iraq and giving it financial support. 

The immediate concern of al-Kadhimi is to secure sufficient funding from the U.S. to avert another round of extensive protests, violence, bloodshed, and death. 

The latest short-but-disastrous oil price war instigated by the Saudis pushed Iraq’s financing firmly into the red, with its oil-related revenues falling by nearly 50 per cent. Its finances were further negatively impacted by the enduring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and by ongoing arguments with the government of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in the north over oil-for-budget disbursements. 

These factors forced Baghdad into proposing delaying foreign debt payments, introducing salary cuts of 60 per cent for various state sector employees, and reducing all non-essential spending.

If Iraq is in this much trouble, is Saudi Arabia far behind? XOM booted off the Dow. Saudi getting less than half what it needs on oil to balance its budget, and then this. Even if Venezuela and Iran don't "come back" within the next few years, it still looks bleak for OPEC.

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$42.43	8/24/2020	08/24/2019	08/24/2018	08/24/2017	08/24/2016
Active Rigs	11	64	62	54	31

And that's all.