Three Wells Coming Off Confidential List Today -- August 5, 2020

Stirring the pot: Trump to send high-level diplomatic team to Taiwan. Link to The New York Times.

Item: I don't subscribe to the NYT so I haven't seen a NYT article in a long time. Generally, I can find another source for the same article if I can't get to the NYT. I've always thought it was crazy. Sites like the NYT losing eyeballs because of the paywall. Maybe they've been doing for a long time and I simply had not noticed, but when going to the above link, the NYT said I create a free account to get access to some stories. And, no, I did not register for a free account.

That Beirut explosion, link here:

Lebanon's Prime Minister said the blast was caused by an estimated 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, stored in a warehouse at the port unsecured for years. Israeli officials denied they had any involvement in the horrific explosion, which also seemed to be repeated by Hezbollah officials.

The shockwave from the blast was so powerful (triggered a 3.5 magnitude earthquake), it caused widespread damage across the city, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless.

WTI: surges overnight. Up 3.43%; now trading at $43.13.

OPEC basket, link here: $44.27

SRE, Sempra Energy:

• Q2 Non-GAAP EPS of $1.65 beats by $0.10;
• GAAP EPS of $7.61 beats by $6.12. -- I'll be interested in what the analysts have to say, but I don't recall a beat / or miss this huge in a long, long time. EPS of $7.61 and a a beat of $6.12? Say what? Off the record, don't quote me on this, but I think the earnings "miss" is a bit of smoke and mirrors; it's almost as if non-adjusted earnings are being compared with adjusted earnings; SRE sold off ~ $6 billion (?) in South American assets, a one-time gain, and that greatly affected the earnings; be that as it may, it's nice to see an earnings report like this but it's probably not as spectacular as it first seems, but this is well above my "pay grade" as they say.
  
• Revenue of $2.53B (+13.5% Y/Y) misses by $10M.
• press release here;

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$43.13	8/5/2020	08/05/2019	08/05/2018	08/05/2017	08/05/2016
Active Rigs	12	59	64	58	34

Three wells coming off confidential list -- Wednesday, August 5, 2020: 11 for the month; 82 for the quarter, 528 for the year:

• 37160, drl/NC, Slawson, Motune Federal 1-10-15H, Big Bend,
  
• 36729, drl/A, CLR, Marshall 6-24H, Little Knife, t--; cum 70K 3 months; a 27K month;
  
• 35891, SI/A, Whiting, Sondrol 11-29H, Pembroke, t--; cum 96K 5 months; a 24K month;
  

RBN Energy: jet fuel production starts to recover, but there's a long way to go.

The global effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 brought the commercial aviation sector to its knees, and slashed demand for jet fuel to its lowest level in 50 years. That, combined with lower demand for motor gasoline and — to a lesser extent — diesel, forced refineries in the U.S. and elsewhere to substantially reduce their crude oil input and to make major changes in their operations, all with the aim of bringing refined product supply and demand into closer balance.

After a horrific spring, U.S. jet fuel production and demand have been rebounding somewhat in recent weeks, but getting back to pre-coronavirus levels may take a long time. Today, we review the flight from hell that the jet fuel market has suffered through so far this year, and how it is affecting refineries.