WTI Trending Toward $71; Brent To $73; MRO Reports One Well Coming Off The Confidential List --June 11, 2021

Apple: this is not a plug for Apple. I'm sure one can do this on all tablets, but what amazing technology. From the comfort of my bed I can surf the net. I can open the Schwab app and do all my banking/investing business without closing the other tabs. I can open Hulu -- either through the browser or through its app -- and watch / listen to "Squawk on the Street" in the background while reading / working on the other apps. The tablets are getting bigger and bigger in size (good -- more choices) and less and less expensive.

Schwab: I'm sure everyone "loves" their trading / investing platforms. I'm sure whatever one you are using is better than all the rest. At least that's what the ads say. But, wow, it's hard to believe there is any trading/investment app better than Schwab. The features are truly remarkable.

Wealth tax: I'm getting a kick out of news stories that the US Congress is considering a "wealth tax." Hellooo!! We already have a "wealth tax": they're called RMDs. If you don't make an RMD (and pay tax on the withdrawal), not only are you still liable for the tax, but a penalty as well. Could the IRS license Forbes methodology? I have no problem with a wealth tax; none at all. And, yes, there would be exceptions / deductions. 

Ammo Grrll; generally "Thoughts From The Ammo Line" are very, very good. Today's essay is particularly good. 

The market: even amid Fed rate hikes, stocks usually go up.  

Wow, they're reading the blog. Yesterday, there was a story about Saudi's crude oil production in May, around 8 million bbls per day and about 400,000 bopd over their stated objective. But as usual, the most important number not released: how much of that 8 million bopd was exported (and to where) and how much was burned domestically for air conditioning. Today, Irina Slav notes exactly that: a scorching hot middle east summer could send oil prices soaring. Again, it's not the price of oil per se, but the price of the last barrel of oil that matters.

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$70.83	6/11/2021	06/11/2020	06/11/2019	06/11/2018	06/11/2017
Active Rigs	20	12	63	63	52

One well coming off the confidential list:-- Friday, June 11, 2021:
37673, drl/NC, MRO, Herman USA 24-31TFH, Reunion Bay, no production data;

RBN Energy: shifting global dynamics affect Japanese LNG players with US supply contracts. Archived.

Of the 10 Bcf/d, or more than 75 MMtpa, of nameplate LNG export capacity currently operational in the Lower 48, Japanese companies form the largest single group lifting U.S. cargoes. Their commitments total ~2 Bcf/d of U.S. liquefaction capacity. However, Japan’s LNG consumption has been falling over the past two years, and in 2019 and 2020, U.S. LNG accounted for only 0.6 Bcf/d and 0.8 Bcf/d of Japanese imports, respectively, or about 20% of the country’s total LNG demand in each year. In other words, Japanese companies have made commitments for incremental LNG from their remotest supply option against a backdrop of falling domestic demand. I 

n all cases, the Japanese players have opted not to buy FOB from producer projects, but instead have booked capacity at the Cove Point, Cameron, and Freeport LNG export facilities — all plants that require offtakers to secure and transport the feedgas supply for LNG production. This type of arrangement carries with it the need to set up gas trading desks in the U.S., with front-, middle- and back-office personnel, plus operations staff, representing additional fixed costs. What was the motivation for these commitments, made by no less than seven of Japan’s major LNG buyers, how successful have they been, and what lies in store for these volumes that the country does not appear to need? Today, we look at where these volumetric commitments fit, not only in the portfolios of the capacity holders but within the broader context of LNG commerce and commoditization.