Covid-19. Wow, wow, wow --
this was opined on the blog last year, now being supported by a scientific study -- a new analysis of blood samples from 24,000 Americans taken early last year (2020) is the largest study to date to suggest the coronavirus popped up in the US in December, 2019.
People in these five states had Covid-19 before any reporting last year: Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Link to The WSJ.Oil companies moving to renewables: low margins. And, boring, boring, boring.
Equinor, pivoting to renewable energy, has lowered its expected returns in renewables (mostly offshore wind) to 4 - 8%, down from 6 - 10% as recently as October 2020). Wow.Memo to self: stay away from energy companies pivoting to wind, solar. Double-down on companies like CVX whose CEO says he will stay the course.
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.
XOM: whispers -- dividend will be raised. I posted that note earlier this morning; it was an off-hand remark by Jim Cramer (?) on CNBC this a.m. Now this: XOM could rise 40% with big dividend growth.
Exxon took drastic measures last year to conserve cash, even temporarily suspending matching payments to some employee retirement accounts. The dividend cost the company $14.9 billion, a hefty sum in a year when it made just $14.7 billion in operating cash and spent $21.4 billion on capital and exploration expenses. Exxon borrowed substantially, ending the year with $20.1 billion more net debt than it had in 2019.
But that spending restraint and the recent increase in oil prices—to a two-and-a- half-year high—has changed Exxon’s fortunes this year. In the first quarter, Exxon was able to pay its dividend and capital expenses out of its cash flow.
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A Random Bakken Metric
Runs in Big Bend-Bakken oil field, April, 2021:
- MRO:
- wells: 4
- crude oil: 10,063 bbls
- per well: 2, 516 bbls/well
- Slawson:
- wells: 227
- crude oil: 1,615,595 bbls
- per well: 7,7117 bbls/well
- White Butte Operations, LLC
- wells: 2
- crude oil: 2,366 bbls
- per well: 1,183 bbls/well
- Whiting:
- wells: 2
- crude oil: 7,950
- bbls per well: 3,975 bbls/well
- Total:
- wells: 235
- crude oil: 1,635,974
- per well: 6,962 bbls/well
Runs in Grinnell-Bakken oil field, April, 2021:
- Whiting:
- wells: 4
- crude oil: 13,562
- per well: 3,391 bbls/well
- XTO:
- wells: 69
- crude oil: 59,532
- per well: 863 bbls/well
- Total:
- wells: 73
- crude oil: 73.094
- per well: 1,001 bbls/well
Runs in Reunion Bay, April, 2021:
- MRO:
- wells: 258
- crude oil: 983,409
- per well: 3,811 bbls/well
- WPX:
- wells: 67
- crude oil: 186,123
- per well: 2,778 bbls/well
- Total:
- wells: 325
- crude oil: 1,169,532
- per well: 3,599 bbls/well