Notes From All Over -- Mid-Morning Edition -- Part 1 -- June 14, 2021

Today's "photo of the day", link here:  photo pending.

Apple's "monopoly" on apps? Not so fast: Facebook says it may jump in. 

Brent: over the weekend, as a side note, I mentioned that Brent is "no long Brent." Today, over at twitter, one of the best energy tweeters:

Norway's Johan Sverdrup is being touted as an unlikely savior for Europe's light sweet market, following the recent abortive attempt to add WTI to Dated Brent. Link here. Link to source article here.

One hundred years in the Permian: the Oilman Magazine.

The first commercial discovery oil well in the Permian Basin was named for W.H. Abrams, leasing agent for the Texas & Pacific Land Trust. The well first produced oil in February 1920 at a depth of 450 feet; but in June 1920, a better showing of oil was found at 2345 – 2410 feet. On July 16th, 1920 the well was “shot” with nitroglycerin. 

As a crowd of 2000 people looked on, a great eruption of oil, gas, water, and smoke shot from the mouth of the well almost to the top of the derrick. Shortly after, the well flowed at a rate of 129 barrels daily, but soon settled down to 20 barrels per day. From this well and a well nearby, the Rio Grande Oil Company laid the first commercial oil pipeline in the Permian Basin. 

The first load of oil went through the pipeline on April 3, 1922. W.H. Abrams No. 1 was re-designated on May 1, 1968 as Westbrook Southeast Unit No. 701, formed to increase oil recovery from the Westbrook Oil Field by water flooding. This enhanced oil recovery technique has produced 67 million barrels of the more than 100 million barrels of oil recovered from this field. Designated as major fields, only a small number produce 100 million barrels of oil or more. 

Fifty-six major fields are located in the Permian Basin, the fourth largest oil producing area in the US. (1967, 1996).

Quick: which is bigger? Saudi Arabia's Ghawar or the Permian? Answer in the linked article above. 

According to the Texas Railroad Commission (RCC), which gets its figures from the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas, the greater Permian Basin now accounts for nearly 40 percent of all oil production in the United States and 15 percent of its natural gas. Last year, Forbes, based on numbers coming from Aramco, reported that the Permian had overtaken Ghawar in Saudi Arabia as the world’s top producing oil field in late 2018.

New Mexico (aka the Permian West): production of crude oil and natural gas in New Mexico reached new record in March, 2021. Link here, twitter. Direct link to original EIA article.

LNG: China's pivot to gas is fueling support in LNG demand.  

Chinese imports of LNG have seen a remarkable rebound during the past couple of months. Companies on the mainland imported 6.73 megatonnes in April alone which was the second-fastest annual growth since April 2019 and the third-biggest monthly volume ever. As inventories are being refilled and demand is set to soar due to warmer weather, imports are likely to increase.

The dreaded decline rate: Exxon sees US shale oil production decline per well. Lots of data, archived here.

Ten best dividend stocks to buy -- George Soros, link here. This article is dated June 11, 2021, but I think this article shows up periodically. Clickbait, perhaps, but some nice ideas.