Notes From All Over -- The Salmagundi Edition -- Enerplus Reports A Very Nice Mandaree Well -- April 22, 2021

Jobless claims: unexpected; huge decline.

US transportation:

• gasoline demand: at 93% pre-pandemic levels;
• diesel at 100% pre-pandemic levels;
• source? Valero

Apple, Inc: first to reach $2 trillion; which two companies will be next? 
what to know about Apple's recently announced new hardware -- Joanna Stern in WSJ;
after opening in the "red" this morning, turned "green" by 10:00 a.m. CDT;

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. 

Fast and furious:

• Coal, earth day: the key driver of the expected rise in emissions is coal, for which demand is set to grow by 4.5% this year, surpassing its 2019 level and approaching its all-time peak from 2014. Source: IEA.
• oil demand to peak in 2026 -- Rystad;
• US cancels all 2Q21 oil, gas lease sales;
• wind: Germany expects too little interest in next wind power auction; cuts capacity;
  

US equity markets:

• making biggest moves pre-market;
• Ma Bell is back!
• link here, WSJ;
• link here, MarketWatch;
• dividends: five best value dividend stocks -- Warren Buffett; and, here;
• profit-taking today; intra-day yesterday (?);
• UNP to report TAS today;
• TAS: transfer agent system; communicates the earnings to all shareholders of record;KMI: posts blowout profit on Texas winter storm; whoo-hoo!
• DFS: story on earnings must have been written by a robot;
• Chipotle: same customer experience as McDonald's; truly amazing; customers want the product; they don't want the experience;
• F: prolongs shutdowns; chip shortage; will affect the F-150; WSJ;
• American Airlines: it's not over until the fat lady sings -- AAL posts a $1.25 billion loss; will delay buying new jets; burned through $27 million each day in 1Q20;
• down from $30 million/day in 4Q20 -- call me naive, but I don't see a lot of difference between $27 million /day and $30 million / day -- and they say drilling a Bakken well is expensive; oh, give me a break;
• rest of story: can't make a purse out of sow's ear, as they say in some parts of the country
  

Oldest profession:

• legalized in NYC; WSJ;
• quotes: Camille Paglia;
• provocations: Camille Paglia;

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$61.09	4/22/2021	04/22/2020	04/22/2019	04/22/2018	04/22/2017
Active Rigs	16	29	62	59	49

One well coming off the confidential list --Thursday, April 22, 2021: 18 for the month, 18 for the quarter, 99 for the year:

• 35800, F/A, Enerplus, Frost 149-93-07A-12H-TF-LL, Mandaree, first production, 11/20; t--; cum 109K 2/21;

RBN Energy: renewable natural gas and its possible role in hydrogen production. Excuse me while I laugh. 

We’ve been writing on hydrogen for a few months now, covering everything from its physical properties to production methods and economics. Given the newness of the subject to most folks, who have spent their careers following traditional hydrocarbon markets, we have attempted to move methodically when it comes to hydrogen. However, we think that things may get more complicated in the months ahead. 

Why, you may ask. 

Well, the development of a hydrogen market — or “economy”, if you will — is going to be far from straightforward, we believe. Not only will hydrogen need some serious policy and regulatory help to gain a footing, the new fuel will have to become well-integrated into not only existing hydrocarbon markets, but also some established “green” markets, such as renewable natural gas, or RNG. So understanding how renewable natural gas is produced and valued is probably relevant for hydrogen market observers. In today’s blog, we take a look at the possible intersection of natural gas, particularly RNG, and hydrogen.