Dow Just A New All-Time Record -- January 14, 2021

Updates

Later, 12:00 noon: Fed chairman Jay Powell just said:

• no rate hikes any time soon;
• we need 2% inflation

Original Post

Dow: I forgot where I posted it but either in an e-mail last night to a reader or somewhere on the blog, I mentioned that the Dow came within a hundred points or so of hitting an all-time record yesterday. 

Question: why is CNBC still quoting McConnell as the guy making US Senate decisions with regard to the calendar and the impeachment trial? Isn't Schumer now in charge?

Irony: CNBC is reporting that President Trump has a list of executive orders and a longer list of pardons ... but crickets from the White House. Banned from twitter and every other social media outlet, we have no idea what Trump is thinking. For the life of me, why can't twitter, et al, simply moderate all comments from certain parties that "might" be of concern? I do that on the blog. Makes a huge difference. Outlets that don't moderate comments are asking for trouble. This is not rocket science. Hey ... remember newspapers? Remember "letters to the editor"? Newspapers did not print every letter they got; they selected which ones they want to print. Same with The New Yorker: magazines print selected letters. 

Fireside chats: likewise I am amazed that Trump is not having "fireside chats." He would have any number of radio / television outlets eager to air his "conversations." 

Unemployment numbers: no longer mean anything on a week-to-week basis. May expand on this later.

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Back To The Bakken

Director's Cut scheduled to be released tomorrow, Friday, January 15, 2021, afternoon: link here. 

Active rigs:

$52.80	1/14/2021	01/14/2020	01/14/2019	01/14/2018	01/14/2017
Active Rigs	11	51	67	55	36

One new oil & gas well reporting  -- Thursday, January 14, 2021: 18 for the month, 18 for the quarter, 18 for the year.

• 37061, drl/A, Hess, EN-Labar-154-94-1003H-4, Alkali Creek, first production, 7/20; t--; cum 131K 11/20;
  

RBN Energy: FERC's decision on the oil pipeline rate index is a win for midstreamers. 

Just before the holidays, the Federal Regulatory Commission issued its final decision on the oil pipeline index rate for the next five years. The what?? Well, once rates for interstate oil pipelines are set and accepted by FERC, the rates can move around to match the market, but any increases are capped by an annual index announced by the FERC each year. The index is equal to the current year’s inflation rate, plus an “adder” that is calculated by the FERC every five years based on an examination of the industry’s results from the previous five years. In today’s blog, we explain how a few tweaks in the way FERC calculates the cost-of-service-based adder will significantly affect how much liquids pipeline rates can rise through the first half of the 2020s.