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Thursday, November 12, 2020

Updating An Old MRO Quale Well In Four Bears -- November 12, 2020

Posted earlier as an update:

  • November 20, 2019: #26575, #19251, #26576, #23799, recent neighboring wells fracked; #19251 did show a "halo" effect; mentioned in passing in a blog post;

Curious. How is #19251 doing? Take a look.

Some things to note:

  • original IP, back in 2011: a lousy "406";
  • as of 2018, a 7-year-old well barely producing 1,000 bbls/month;
  • then, earlier this year, 2/20, jumps from 1,000 bbls/month to 9,000 bbls/month
  • this is what makes the Bakken exciting
  • according to Hubbert's peak oil theory this is not supposed to happen

The well:

  • 19251, 406, MRO, Quale USA 31-20H, Four Bears, t2/11; cum 267K 9/20; recent production:
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN9-20203041524105122752624505343
BAKKEN8-20203141804133133757304811497
BAKKEN7-20203148434896151563245623244
BAKKEN6-20203045474614147558764974470
BAKKEN5-20203154555526185966765625556
BAKKEN4-20203070357024255189877780631
BAKKEN3-2020318952884635101145196511113
BAKKEN2-202020604559272941720756461117
BAKKEN1-202011045032031
BAKKEN12-20190000000
BAKKEN11-20190000000
BAKKEN10-20190000000
BAKKEN9-20190000000
BAKKEN8-20190000000
BAKKEN7-20190000000
BAKKEN6-20193831581593070
BAKKEN5-2019311020921202143901188
BAKKEN4-2019309989842031380231113
BAKKEN3-20193110501089216151801265
BAKKEN2-201928908930190130441078
BAKKEN1-201931112110912211505763485
BAKKEN12-201831109410712191537123943
BAKKEN11-2018301049103021614851139159
BAKKEN10-201831110611722441558706657

Update On A Remarkable Hess Well In Blue Buttes -- November 12, 2020

I've written about this well a number of times, most recently in this note. From a well that looked completely dead, this is quite a change. Some mom-and-pop mineral owners must be quite happy and .. surprised! Good for them. This is what makes the Bakken so exciting.

The well:

  • 18250, 1,230, Hess, BB-Federal B-151-95-2122H-1, Blue Buttes, open hole frack back in 2010, t5/10; cum 305K 9/20; recent production:
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN9-202026679566603033848084800
BAKKEN8-202023512452912564623862380
BAKKEN7-202011358134161247410341030
BAKKEN6-2020813111092745152215220
BAKKEN5-2020112600000
BAKKEN4-20200000000
BAKKEN3-2020002160000
BAKKEN2-2020282015660
BAKKEN1-20205724471756206200
BAKKEN12-20191207605532142140
BAKKEN11-20191018131678677158015800
BAKKEN10-20192543424735985980
BAKKEN9-20190000000
BAKKEN8-20190000000
BAKKEN7-20190000000
BAKKEN6-2019002130000
BAKKEN5-20192211083563560

Calcasieu Pass -- November 12, 2020

Updates

November 13, 2020: see reader's comments at this post.

Original Post

This is so cool. I have around 35,000 posts over almost twelve years, and yet there are only a handful that I really, really remember well. One was the October 12, 2016, post: list of potential US LNG export facilities. I remember it well; I was blown away by it. A reader, on the other hand was not, suggesting the US LNG export story was over-rated. Whatever. 

Look at the list provided at the original post as well as updates. Was "Venture Global Calcasieu Pass" listed anywhere on that page? Is it there under a different name? I don't know. Whatever.

But here we go, another LNG export facility in the news. The Venture Global LNG website is here

The update is over at Rigzone: Baker Hughes ships LNG trains to Calcasieu Pass. Link here

The first two factory-fabricated liquefaction trains have arrived at the Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility in Cameron Parish, La., project developer Venture Global LNG, Inc. reported Tuesday.

Venture Global pointed out the two midscale, modular liquefaction trains and mixed refrigerant compressor skids were shipped to Louisiana from Baker Hughes’ (NYSE: BKR) manufacturing facility in Avenza, Italy more than two months ahead of the contractual delivery date. Each train boasts a capacity of 0.6 million tonnes per annum.

Look how much is yet to be done:

“Venture Global LNG is proud to demonstrate continued execution of the strategy we pioneered,” remarked Mike Sabel, executive co-chairman and CEO of the company. “Our factory-fabricated, modular liquefaction trains enable us to deliver the fastest construction schedule in the LNG industry while driving dramatic risk reduction across the entire project. We look forward to the successful delivery of Calcasieu Pass trains 3 through 18 and then 36 identical trains for (the) Plaquemines LNG (project along the Mississippi River south of New Orleans).”

According to Venture Global, the first two trains reached Calcasieu Pass “complete and ready to install.” The company stated that each unit was unloaded, transported to the site and positioned on its foundations in less than a day. It pointed out the trains will be connected to their respective Chart (NASDAQ: GTLS) brazed aluminum heat exchangers – also known as “cold boxes.” Eight cold boxes have already been installed, the firm added.

Venture Global observed the first pair of liquefaction trains arrived onsite less than 15 months after the final investment decision for Calcasieu Pass. The company expects the LNG facility to begin commercial operations in 2022.

More importantly, how to pronounce Calcasieu: link here -- 'calca-shoe.'

Meaning?

The name Calcasieu comes from the Atakapan word, "quelqueshue,” meaning "crying eagle.” It was originally the name of an Atakapa chief, but became the name given to what was formerly the Rio Hondo River (Rio Stondo or "Deep River"), now the Calcasieu River. The parish then inherited this name.

Oasis: Court Approves Pre-Packaged Restructuring Plan -- November 12, 2020

Updates

January 4, 2021: unless I missed it, the link below to the Oasis press release did not address the issue of warrants. Here is the rest of the story, brought to my attention by a reader, at this link:

  • Equity allocated to unsecured note holders: Approximately 20 million shares of common stock outstanding
  • Shares authorized at emergence: 60 million shares
  • Shares reserved for Long Term Incentive Plan, which constitutes the Management Incentive Plan: approximately 2.4 million shares
  • Warrants to current Oasis Petroleum shareholders: Approximately 1.6 million warrants exercisable for one share of common stock at an initial exercise price of $94.57, expiring on November 19, 2024. [As noted below in the original post: "a lot of thoughts but not worth posting."]

Original Note 

Link here. No surprise. Highlights:

  • Reducing annual interest expense by $112.5 million through the elimination of $1.8 billion of senior unsecured notes.
  • Oasis has aggressively hedged during the Company's restructuring process and currently has 29 mbopd swapped at $42.09 in 2021, 19 mbopd swapped at $42.74 in 2022, and 14 mbopd swapped at $43.68 in 2023.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. 

A lot of thoughts but not worth posting. 

*****************************************
Creeque Alley

Creeque Alley, The Mamas and The Papas

Top US Energy Story Of The Week -- Natural Gas -- Who Wudda Thought? -- November 12, 2020

I'm too  tired to go back and find all the links and all the recent postings but it looks like it may be time to track the price of natural gas for awhile. A reader suggests tracking San Juan Basin Royalty Trust (SJT), link here

Up almost 8% today. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. 

PBT? Another one? Permain Basin Trust Royalty? Dropped 7% today but we're talking very, very small changes in actual pennies and nickels and dimes. PBT pays almost 6%. 

The San Juan Basin is tracked here but I haven't paid much attention to it in years. 

Natural gas is trading at $2.961, down 1.5 cents for the day; I assume this is at the Henry Hub but I wouldn't know for sure.

*******************************
Rambling -- Nothing About The Bakken

Wow, talk about lame. I turned to Thursday Night NFL on Fox -- I lasted about ten minutes. I'm not interested in re-watching the highlights of the first day of the Masters.   

Depressing. It's going to be a long winter.

Wow, We Talked About This Two Years Ago -- Or Whenever It Was -- Folks Overpaid To Get Into The Permian -- November 12, 2020

From SeekingAlpha:

Summary:

  • Drilling rights in the Permian Basin averaged $24K/acre in recent deals, down 67% from 2018, and the average price across all U.S. shale has plummeted to ~$5K/acre from $17K two years ago, Rystad Energy reports. 
  • The plunge in acreage prices is a sign of the crisis facing U.S. oil and gas explorers, who are trying to survive a pandemic-driven decline in crude demand after more than a decade of debt-fueled production growth. 
  • In ConocoPhillips' proposed $9.7B purchase of Concho Resources, Concho's drilling rights were valued at $10,471/acre compared with $75,504/acre for Concho's 2018 acquisition of RSP Permian, according to Bloomberg
  • Industry-wide costs for drilling and completing wells will probably drop as much as 5% next year because of consolidation, increased standardization and lower service costs, Rystad says.

5%? That's a rounding era. Means nothing. It's that third bullet that's staggering.

Flashback: December 3, 2018 -- the various Bakken periods

Bakken 2.0: 

  • October 19, 2016: the beginning of Bakken 2.0
    • the event that triggered the Bakken 2.0 designation: the SM Energy announcement that it was selling some Bakken acreage/assets to Oasis
    • it appears Permian Shale 2.0 began with the WPX, Noble, and XOM announcements regarding acquisitions in the Permian -- late 2016/early 2017

From the outside, from an investment point of view, operators started getting interested in unconventional oil in the Permian in late October, 2016. 

From my perspective, and I talked about it often on the back in 2017 - 2018, operators really overpaid to get into the Bakken. Now we have a contributor over at SeekingAlpha showing just how much they overpaid.  

But look at that: Concho's drilling rights were valued at $10,471/acre compared with $75,504/acre for Concho's 2018 acquisition of RSP Permian.

Natural Gas Update -- Things Moving More Quickly Than Predicted (?) -- November 12, 2020

Getting real exciting really, really fast. We'll get the graphic tomorrow.

Link here.

Early winter demand has arrived in California, dipping into storage fields earlier than normal, and pushing SoCal Gas, city-gate prices above the benchmark Henry Hub as lower production in the Permian Basin looks to likely limit supply to the region during the withdrawal season.

Weaker inflows and stumbling production are expected to drive tighter Western US balances winter over winter, particularly in the US Southwest, despite declining demand as risks to additional production cuts and potentially underperforming imports from Western Canada loom, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.

Platts Analytics data implies Southwestern production will shrink this winter over last by approximately 438 MMcf/d, slated to average 4.4 Bcf/d.

The bulk of the reduction will come from the Permian's Delaware Basin in New Mexico, which is set to lose 370 MMcf/d, or about 12%.

Should WTI prices continue to weaken, this could prompt operators in the basin to temporarily shut-in wells similar to what occurred at the height of the ongoing pandemic this past summer, tightening balances beyond current projections.

In addition to regional production declines, a bleak production outlook in the Rockies and West Texas will likely shrink how much supply is able to move toward Southwestern markets.

Platts Analytics forecasts show US Southwestern inflows from the Rockies and Texas will decrease winter over winter by approximately 312 MMcf/d and 1.1 Bcf/d, respectively.

Not only will stumbling production play a large role in tightening Southwestern balances this winter, but so could the Permian Highway Pipeline, especially if the pipeline enters service or ramps up months ahead of its estimated in-service date of April 2021. Any incremental competition and pull of Permian supply along this pipeline will likely come at the expense of westbound and northbound flows out of the Permian, unless Southwestern pricing strengthens to retain inflows.



MRO WIth Two New Permits; Twenty-Five Permits Renewed In The Bakken -- November 12, 2020

Active rigs:

$40.64
11/12/202011/12/201911/12/201811/12/201711/12/2016
Active Rigs1554665238

Two new permits, #37972 - #37973, inclusive --

  • Operator: MRO
  • Field: McGregory Buttes
  • Comments:
    • MRO has permits for two wells on this pad in NWNE 4-147-94, but one of the permits is suspended; see below;
      • one permit, Little Swallow USA 41-4TFH, file #37972, see below;
      • one permit, Edyth USA 41-4H, file #39793, see below;
    • One permit on that pad was suspended; I have never seen this before. I do not know what it means to be "suspended." The file report is not confidential but there is nothing there to explain this. The file report says the permit has been approved.
    • The file report shows Edyth USA 41-4H (file #37973) and scout ticket shows the surface site: 510 N 1520 E whereas the daily activity reports says 510' FNL and 1520' FWL
    • The file report shows LIttle Swallow (37972) and scout ticket shows the surface site: 550N 1521 E whereas the daily activity report shows 550' FNL 1521' FWL.
    • The permit, file report, and scout ticket are correct; the daily activity report is wrong.

Twenty-five permits renewed:

  • CLR (13): seven Durham permits in McKenzie County and two Sacramento permits in Williams County; four Lancaster permits in McKenzie County;
  • EOG (6): six Hawkeye permits in McKenzie County;
  • BR (2): two State Dodge permits in McKenzie County
  • MRO (2): one Levi USA permit and one Kottke permit, both in Dunn County
  • Oasis: one McCowan permit in Burke County
  • Whiting: one Klose permit in McKenzie County

Notes From All Over -- All Day Edition -- November 12, 2020

Well database: a new app has been linked at the sidebar at the right -- "well database."

MDU increased dividend by 2.4% to $0.2125.

Oil demand, from twitter earlier today:


Gasoline demand
: link here, unremarkable. Baseline has simply been reset.


US homes
: prices increase twelve percent, fastest rate since 2013. Joe Biden is going to inherit a booming economy. We've talked about this at length before -- not so many a net increase in homes but rather a mass migration of folks from undesirable areas to desirable areas. Absolutely fascinating. Link here.

Rumor
: Biden-Harris want to impose a 35% tax on all homeowners -- 35% federal tax on the value of all homes annually starting in 2022. This would be a tax on the elite -- only the elite in American can afford to own homes any more. Germany also looking at an "elite" tax. Germany is looking at a more reasonable 5% federal tax on all those working from home, again because only the elite can work from home. Some consider working from home a luxury so maybe "we" can look forward three new taxes in the next few years:

  • a "wealth" tax;
  • a "luxury" tax for those who work from home;
  • an "elite" tax on homeowners

 ..... what a great country!

Economy: Joe Biden will inherit an incredibly strong economy. But there will be tectonic changes in how things get done. We've talked about this before. Most recently, see "the 'pandemic' and western civilization" at this link. Now this, Dollar General will build an $85-million distribution center in Nebraska. Link here.

  • Blair, NE
  • 800,000-square-foot-facility (a typical Walmart: about one million square feet)
  • will employ 400 people
  • will serve 1,500 stores across the region

Long haul trucking, regional trucking, and last-mile delivery will surge by 2025. I think this is fascinating. The big question is to what degree railroads will play? Coal is gone.  Later: see first note -- a) container shipments; and, b) all trucks will be EVs.

*************************************
The Internet Frontier
Remote Learning -- Studying Texas History

US Implied Oil Demand At Highest Level Since March, 2020 -- November 12, 2020

I've often said that if allowed only one metric to measure the economy of the US, it would be crude oil demand. 

From twitter today:


Production Data For Wells Coming Off Confidential List Today -- Hess Will Report A Huge Big Butte Well -- November 12, 2020

Thursday, November 12, 2020:

Of note, Hess has a great well on confidential list. The well:

  • 36381, conf, Hess, EN-Enger-156-94-1423H-5, Big Butte, first month, 42K bbls;

WTI, OPEC Basket Continue To Climb -- Three Wells Coming Off Confidential List -- November 12, 2020

Weekly EIA petroleum report, link here. Because of the holiday, this report will be released a day later than usual, later this morning:

  • US crude oil in storage increased by 4.3 million bbls;
  • US crude oil in storage now stands at 488.7 million bbls, about 6% above the already-fat-five--year average;
  • refiners operating at 74.5% of their operable capacity;
  • distillate fuel inventories decreased by 5.4 million bls last week but are still 15% above an already-fat-five-year average;
  • US crude oil imports averaged 5.5 million bopd, up about a half million bopd; the four-week average is about 13% less than same four-week period last year;
  • jet fuel supplied was down 43.5% compared with same four-week period last year

 *******************************
Update On COP / Norway

From yesterday:

From today, the Oil & Gas Journal:

ConocoPhillips will further appraise a Norwegian Sea gas condensate discovery to determine potential flow rates, the reservoir’s ultimate resource recovery, and plans for development. 
Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery at 50-190 million bbl of recoverable oil equivalent. 
Well 6507/4-1 (Warka)—the first in PL 1009—was drilled by the Leiv Eiriksson drilling rig 22 miles northwest of Heidrun field and 150 miles from the coast of Norway in 1,312 ft of water to a total depth of 16,355 ft. It was terminated in the Lange formation from the Early Cretaceous Age. 
Primary and secondary exploration targets were rocks from Albian and Aptian Ages, respectively, in the Early Cretaceous (Intra Lange formation sandstones), the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said. 
According to NPD, in the primary exploration target, the well encountered an 88-ft gas column in Lange formation sandstone layers, with moderate but uncertain reservoir quality. Gas-water contact was not encountered, and no reservoir rocks were encountered in the secondary target. The well has been permanently plugged.

OPEC basket, link here: surges. Up 4%. Trading at $43.42.

For the archives: looking for $5.00-gasoline under the Biden administration. Never fails.

**************************************
Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$42.08
11/12/202011/12/201911/12/201811/12/201711/12/2016
Active Rigs1554665238

Three wells coming off the confidential list -- Thursday, November 12, 2020:

RBN Energy: new LNG-fueled ships and LNG bunkering infrastructure coming online, part 2.

A few years ago, the most damning things skeptics could say about using LNG as a fuel for large ocean-going ships were that very few ships were fitted with LNG storage tanks and that there was little or no infrastructure in place at most ports to load the fuel. Well, they can’t say that anymore. About 170 large, LNG-powered vessels already are in operation around the world — including a French containership that just set a world record for carrying the most containers — and another 220 or so are on order. Just as important, the vast majority of key ports either have robust LNG bunkering operations in place or are in advanced stages of developing them. Today, we continue our series with a look at LNG’s growing acceptance and use as a ship fuel.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) governs the safety, security, and environmental performance of the more than 50,000 tankers, dry bulkers, container ships, and other commercial vessels that ply international waters. For more than a decade now, IMO has been ratcheting down the limits on sulfur emissions from these ships, most recently on January 1, 2020, when the cap on allowable sulfur content in bunker fuel was slashed to 0.5% from the old 3.5% limit. [An even stricter 0.1%-sulfur cap remains in place in the IMO’s Emission Control Areas (ECAs), which started with Europe’s Baltic and North seas, then was adopted in areas within 200 nautical miles of the U.S. and Canadian coasts.] As we said in Part 1, there are three ways that shipowners and charterers can comply with the new 0.5% rule, which is commonly known as IMO 2020: (1) switch to very-low-sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO) or marine gasoil, (2) continue using high-sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) and install scrubbers to remove sulfur from the exhaust gases, and (3) use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as bunker fuel, typically with VLSFO as a dual-fuel option.

Our understanding is that using LNG as bunker fuel offers a number of important benefits. Perhaps the most compelling is that, in addition to easily meeting the sulfur-related requirements of IMO 2020, fueling ships with LNG generates about 20% less carbon dioxide (CO2, a key greenhouse gas, or GHG) than fueling them with VLSFO or scrubber-mitigated HSFO. That is significant because, in addition to implementing tougher and tougher rules on sulfur emissions, the IMO is requiring that ocean-going vessels significantly improve their energy efficiency and in 2023 is expected to implement requirements to reduce the international shipping sector’s GHG emissions by at least 40% below their 2008 level by 2030 and as much as 70% by 2050. So, by investing in LNG-powered ships now, shipping companies would, in essence, be preparing for compliance with anticipated GHG mandates. We should note here (as we did last time) that LNG is viewed by some as a sort of transition shipping fuel to zero-carbon alternatives such as liquefied biomethane (LBM) and liquefied synthetic methane (LSM), either of which could use the same bunkering infrastructure and on-ship fuel storage and engines as LNG.

Tiger Woods Documentary With Two-Hour Delay -- November 12, 2020

Alert: snarkiness and "meanness," adult content may follow:

  • the Augusta, Georgia, golf tournament delayed two hours due to weather; I just tuned in at 9:24 a.m. CT;
  • first three things I noted:
    • opened with a "woke" advertisement
    • in the practice area: lots of spitting and no masks by anyone other than a few officials
    • no live video from the course; only video of the star of the show practicing driving

And, so we move in. It's going to be a long day.

Later: not an auspicious start. Weather delay: two hours. Later starters did not finish their first round today. I watched some of it. Overall: incredibly boring. 

*********************************
Toobin Fired From The New Yorker

Link here. Still with CNN

**********************
For The Archives
The 2020 Election

JPM: the "blue tide" went out. Link here.

Apple's New Chip Is Apparently "The Real Deal" -- November 12, 2020

Note: there will be more typographical errors, content errors, grammatical errors, and just plain poor writing than usual this morning due to "situations" beyond my control. I will come back to fix these errors later this morning. 

This is way too geeky for me, way above my pay grade, and I would not have posted it, except for the comments in social media regarding this story.

The other day, Apple held its third of three events in the past two months. This event was to announce the new chip that Apple itself is manufacturing after it broke away from Intel. 

Apple, of course, said it was their fastest chip ever. And they are releasing the chip first in their lower-end computers, which are now available for ordering. 

Normally, when and where these announcements are made, Apple is attacked for various reasons. But not this time.

 Apparently this is a big, big deal. Apparently these are really fast chips. 

The link is here. I'm not sure if you will get much out of the article. I certainly did not. But the comments were quite enlightening, to say the least. 

But look at that headline: the new Apple chip, the "Apple Silicon M1" chip, or simply the "M1" chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro.

That is simply astounding. The MacBook Air is "low-end." Something high school students and college-bound students might use.

But for professionals? Give me a break. They won't be caught dead with a MacBook Air. They "need" a high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro.

By the way, as an aside, over the weekend I held a high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro in my hands for the first time ever the other day. 

It was so much lighter (and thinner) than the MacBook Pro I had years ago. After problems with that MacBook Pro (hard drive problems) I went to the MacBook Air exclusively and never looked back.

The MacBook Pro may now be completely solid-state, no hard drive, I don't know. If so, then that's no longer an issue. 

But I still maintain that for the masses, the MacBook Air is a much, much better deal than the MacBook Pro. 

Wow, what a digression.

Go to the article at the link. Breeze through it. Then read the comments. 

************************************
My Background

A lot of newbies are probably curious who I am, how I can possibly know so much, where I was educated, if I really was a veteran, how much I'm currently worth, etc. 

I'm sure a lot of newbies do a "Duck Duck Go" search to find out who I really am. I was curious (there's a longer story to this but .... whatever).

Anyway, if you "DuckDuckGo" or google me, you will eventually come to a site that for a few dollars you can find out all about me. 

According to the site:

  • I enlisted in the US Marine Corps in 1977 at Camp Pendleton and served until 2007 (I wish)
    • elsewhere it says "right now Bruce is an Enlisted at USMC"
  • my current address is wrong; don't send money to that address if you want it to go to me
  • I'm African-American (LOL -- you've all seen my Scandinavian paleface on the blog)
  • Grapevine, TX, is listed as a previous address; that's where I am now, nothing "previous" about it;
  • the aliases listed are all correct
  • I was completely unaware that I am registered with the Republican Party (I guess I had to when I voted some years ago) -- for the record I am no longer affiliated with that party; have never donated to that party, and must have registered only so I could vote and collect the $10 someone paid me to stand in line for them, and vote straight ticket Republican -- yes, it all comes back to me now -- that summer when I was really down and out, living from handout-to-handout;
  • I am said to be single and have no kids (that will be news to my wife, and two daughters, and five grandchildren, as well as to the state of Nevada -- perhaps that's the problem -- maybe we never filed the marriage certificate -- LOL -- no, we did -- I have two certified copies from Clark County, Nevada, where Las Vegas is located);
  • my favorite: education -- Harvard Business School (again, I wish)
  • my annual income is "about $10 - $19,999; with a net worth that tops less than $1." No typos. I wish I could convince the IRS this information is accurate;
  • my current status: homeless: I kid you not. My current address is listed as a vacant lot. But at least I know what that vacant lot is currently worth. LOL.
  • the area code, but not my whole telephone number, is posted. I could look it up, but I won't, so I can honestly say I have no idea where that area code resides. I assume San Antonio, TX, or Prattrville, AL, or Boston, MA. 
  • not once, does the site mention my birthplace or relationship with North Dakota. Not once.
  • the Bakken? LOL. They didn't even mention my website.

*****************************************
Corky

This is pretty funny. Calvin had Hobbes. Our six-year-old granddaughter has Corky.

Fairly frequently, Corky goes missing. Sophia is never concerned. She says Corky is traveling. For the past two weeks none of us have seen Corky. We are concerned that this time she really is lost. Sophia simply tells us that Corky, a stuffed animal, a pig, is visiting her parents in Chicago. 

Earlier today a reader wrote to tell met that Apple had paid its quarterly dividend. I checked. It was not in my account. The reader suggested I talk to Sophia who is my editor and in that capacity has the passwords to my smartphone, other mobile devices, my desktop, and by extension, all accounts that need passwords.

My hunch is that Sophia will tell me that she has no idea what I'm talking about but that if there's a problem it probably has to do with Corky. 

Regardless, Sophia did tell me last week that it was Corky's birthday this week, and even if Corky is not here, we will celebrate her birthday anyway with cupcakes, as we always do, about every three or four weeks.

Fast And Furious -- Fifteen Minutes -- November 12, 2020

Note: there will more typographical errors and content errors than usual this morning due to "situations" beyond my control. I will come back to fix these errors later this morning.

Weekly EIA petroleum report, link here. Because of the holiday, this report will be released a day later than usual, later this morning:

  • US crude oil in storage increased by 4.3 million bbls;
  • US crude oil in storage now stands at 488.7 million bbls, about 6% above the already-fat-five--year average;
  • refiners operating at 74.5% of their operable capacity;
  • distillate fuel inventories decreased by 5.4 million bls last week but are still 15% above an already-fat-five-year average;
  • US crude oil imports averaged 5.5 million bopd, up about a half million bopd; the four-week average is about 13% less than same four-week period last year;
  • jet fuel supplied was down 43.5% compared with same four-week period last year

**********************************
Did You All Notice This?

Why I Love To BlogYesterday, almost as a throwaway, I posted the following:

At oilprice, the Murban price has a one-day delay. Currently Murban is priced at $42.89, up $2.11, right in line WTI yesterday. See Murban at wiki. Almost identical to WTI, but not as light as Bakken.

  • Bakken: 36° to 44° (link here)
  • Murban: 40.2°
  • WTI: 39.6°
  • Brent blend: 38.3°
  • Light Louisiana Sweet: 35.6°
  • Saudi Arabia light: 34°

Notice, inside the box: "preferred oils." I had not seen that anywhere else -- again, another first for the blog. Wow. Love it.

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Globally, US Crude: Preferred
Singapore: Plentiful WTI Midland, Bakken Crude To Arrive

Link here. Graphic pending.

By the way, did you all note that it's not just "WTI" any more, but now it's "WTI Midland." We discussed tthat some months ago. I'll provide the link later, if I remember. 

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Chinese Flu, Overnight

Lockdowns don't work, but we all knew that. What we did not know -- populations with smokers do better than populations without smokers. Link here. This was published in the #1 medical journal in the world, the London-based Lancet.  As soon as you see the link, you will "ignore it," and move on. Despite the fact it comes from the Lancet. It was published in July, 2020.

Lockdowns don't work, according to JPM. Link here.

Lockdowns don't work: Dr Faust says masks, social distancing just as good as lockdowns.

India: apparently not enough smokers. India in recession for first time ever in that nation's history, due to the Chinese flu. Link here

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College Football
 

Updates

November 21, 2020: It just got worse. A whole lot worse

Original Post

 Last night I said this year's college season was dead. It was a bit harsh the way I said it. I wasn't sure I should have posted it. But I left it up. I'm glad I did.

Overnight, this story: college football limps toward the pandemic season's conclusion. From, of all places, The WSJ. Even The WSJ knows this season has been a joke. The season is in shambles. I may sound too harsh, but sometimes the truth hurts. No sugar coating this debacle. Wait until we start seeing stories of how much money the universities and colleges lost this year.

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And Finally This: Another Tech Entrepreneu Flees California
Headed For .... Texas

Link here: https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/palantir-co-founder-on-moving-company-from-california-to-texas. 

I wasn't able to find a link to corroborate this story. Stories from earlier this summer said the company was moving to Denver. We'll sort this out later. All we know "for sure" is that the company is fleeing California. 

Okay, here it is, deeper in the linked story:

“I’m a builder,” he responded. “I’ve been lucky to help build over ten successful companies, we invest in a lot more and when you try to hire someone in California you pay them $250,000 a year to come there and they feel poor.” 
“You pay them that here and they are living really well,” he added, referring to Texas. “ 
So as someone who builds and has to hire a lot people, [I would] much rather do that in a place with a reasonable cost of living, that’s easy to do business.” 
Lonsdale and his investment firm reportedly moved to Austin, Texas. from San Francisco, California, driven out of The Golden State by taxes and other concerns. 
Lonsdale has followed the lead of his co-founders at the controversial data analytics firm Palantir, which also recently moved its headquarters.
In August, Palantir, which recently went public, confirmed its plans to relocate its corporate headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Denver, Colorado. The company moved to Colorado just before its IPO, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

So, if I understand this correctly, the company moved to Denver, but one of the founders has personally moved to Austin, most likely to start new companies.