Best Day In A Long Time: Four Wells Coming Off Confidential List; Maybe NDIC Will Post Monday's Daily Activity Report This Morning; After Seemingly Good Stories Coming Out Of Canada Lately, Bad News -- RBN Energy -- WTI Slumps -- March 16, 2021

Three story lines this morning:

• retail sales collapse in February
• futures mixed
• Wall Street can't keep up with economy

Comments:

• about those retail sales numbers for February
• ZeroHedge has umpteen graphs; the only one that counts is the very last one posted at the very bottom of the page;
• by the time the US equity markets open, the retail sales story will be forgotten
• futures mixed: only because the Dow is only marginally down after record-setting closes; NASDAQ is up nicely
• retail sales down in February? Wall Street can't keep up with economy? One might want to look at what's happening off the LA coast.

Price of oil: as noted many times on the blog, it's a fool's errand to predict oil prices. WTI slumps 2%; could drop below $64 today.

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$64.06	3/16/2021	03/16/2020	03/16/2019	03/16/2018	03/16/2017
Active Rigs	15	57	65	58	47

Four wells coming off confidential list -- Tuesday, March 16, 2021: 17 for the month, 73 for the quarter, 73 for the year.

• 37035, F/A, Zavanna, Leopard 20-17 3H, Stony Creek, first production, 10/20; t--; cum 105K 1/21;
• 36246, drl/NC, BR, Maverick 2E TFH, Dimmick Lake, first production, t--; cum--;
• 36098, F/A, CLR, Gordon Federal 10-5H1, Haystack Butte, first production, 11/20; t--; cum 89K 1/21;
• 36097, F/A, CLR, Gordon Federal 11-5H, Haystack Butte, first production, 11/20; t--; cum 84K 1/21;

RBN Energy: Alberta's natural gas market faces new price uncertainties this summer. 

Last summer, Alberta natural gas prices staged a remarkable turnaround from the dismal lows and extreme volatility experienced the prior three summers. The price rise is widely credited to a temporary gas flow mechanism put in place by the operator of Alberta’s gas pipeline grid to combat congestion and oversupply issues associated with construction and maintenance during the summer of 2020. However, this temporary mechanism was just that — temporary — and will not be reinstated this summer. Without it, there is concern among Western Canadian gas producers that the weakness and volatility in gas prices seen during past summers might return this year. With warmer weather on the horizon, today we consider these issues and the potential for renewed price weakness in the Alberta natural gas market this year.