Notes From All Over -- August 13, 2021

Most fascinating energy story today: pay attention to the real crisis brewing. It's not crude oil. Link here.  

• East Texas and southeast spot natural gas hit seven-year summer highs in June. We're gonna see the same in July, August, and September.

$6 gasoline? We're there. Link here. The good news, credit card spending will increase; retail spending data will be higher in July, 2021, than it otherwise would have been. And think of all that cash back. LOL.

California grid: may "lean" on oil, natural gas to avoid summer blackouts. Link to Reuters. This has previously been reported, but apparently it was of enough interest, Reuters decided to post it again. 

California wind: profits hit by lack of ... wind. Link to Tsvetana Paraskova.  

North Dakota carbon storage: ethanol plant seeks to capture emissions. Amy R. Sisk. Key words:

• Richardton ethanol plant
• Red Trail Energy
• could be the first project in North Dakota that both captures and injects carbon emissions underground
• North Dakota and Wyoming are the only states that have assumed full permitting authority fro the EPA for carbon injection projects
• first  location: a well east of the Stark County plant targeting the Broom Creek rock formation more than 6,300 feet deep
• CO2 would form a plume in the pore space; 
• "supercritical" under high pressure and temperature
• CO2 to be trapped there forever; the nearest drinking water source lies 4,000 feet above the injection layer, but if it escapes, hey, we have carbonated water
• 90% of landowners with pore space in the project area have signed leases, meeting the state's 65% threshold for a project to move forward
• one carbon capture project has already operated for years within North Dakota at Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Great Plains Synfuels Plant near Beulah. Carbon dioxide from the facility is piped to Canada where it’s injected into old oil fields to boost oil production.

Valeriana: Pemex halts drilling after new seismic analysis. Link here. 

Venezuela: reserves doomed to become the world's largest stranded asset. Link to Matthew Smith.

Social Security COL adjustments: could be largest in nearly four decades. COLA based on inflation data for July, August and September. No links; easily found.

Kabul: encircled. Link here.  

AAPL: technical charts suggest AAPL could soon test $150. Link here. The old "cup and saucer breakout." AAPL is down slightly today.

Personality of the month: Cathie Wood. This may or may not be behind a paywall. 

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The Next Big Thing

Uber of delivery. 

This is really cool. Back on November 24, 2013, I brought up "last mile same day delivery" as the "next big thing." It's hard to believe that LMSDD was actually a "thing." It's hard to believe that even made the list. LOL

Hold that thought. "Delivery wars: over one hundred Amazon delivery companies are banding together to form a new kind of challenger to UPS and FedEx. Link here.  

A new national last-mile delivery company has entered the market: the Frontdoor Collective. It's a coalition of more than 100 small delivery companies, most of which deliver for Amazon. Each Frontdoor Collective franchisee will have the opportunity to obtain equity in the company.

All four cofounders of the FRONTdoor Collective are Amazon delivery service partners (DSPs) and they have two former Amazon execs on the team as well. Every partner that joins the collective will be able to earn equity in the company.

One of the leaders is Penelope Register-Shaw, a vet of Amazon, FedEx, and Walmart who joined to resolve unfinished business. Delivering packages used to be a pathway to the middle class, she said. She thinks it could be again.

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New Listing