To Infinity And Beyond -- September 15, 2021

To infinity and beyond:

• WTI up almost 3% in early morning trading, as UK switches to oil to replace natural gas to provide electricity;
• WTI up over $2/bbl
• WTI trading at $72.53 
• and based on US equity markets, not many are paying attention.
  

NOG, CLR: Top oil and gas stocks for 4Q21: two of them are in the Bakken. Link here. Of the three fastest growing oil and gas stocks, NOG and CLR are two of them.

To infinity and beyond: wholesale price of European natural gas is now equivalent to $150.50 a bbl (I like the precision, LOL) -- higher than Brent crude ever was during the 2008 price boom (and, ye, barrel of oil equivalent pricing has its challenges, but worth using to show magnitude of crisis. Link here. 

The "Texas Freeze" hits the UK. This is similar to what happened in Texas earlier this year -- City A.M. via oilprice: two more UK energy firms go bust amid record power prices. 

Breaking: UK natural gas wholesale prices are JUMPING twenty percent today to fresh record highs as trades brace for more UK gas-fired power station demand after the loss of a key electricity interconnector between the UK and France. Link here and also below. 

Forget gas-to-coal switching. UK is now in the gas-to-furniture switching.

UK nuked: this is quite incredible. Electricity prices in the UK and Europe are surging, clearly unprecedented, and most because the wind is not blowing. 

The UK gets a fair amount of electricity from nuclear power plants in France. Yesterday it was being reported that there was a huge fire at a key electricity converter station in the UK which shut down a major cable that brings power form France. It's my understanding that is one of two such cables bringing in power to the UK from France. Bloomberg is reporting that the converter station will be off-line until October. Link here for social medial comments. See if you can spot the irony in the photo at this link.

Renewable energy: the faux environmentalists tells us batteries are the answer. With no wind for two weeks, no batteries ar being charged in the UK from renewable energy sources Link here. 

Nord Stream 2: Russia comes close to admitting it's putting a squeeze on European natural gas supplies. Who wudda thought? Is anyone paying attention? Link here. Weaponizing natural gas? If this isn't weaponizing natural gas, I don't know what is.

The numbers:

• WTI: $72.33
• Brent: $75.35
• Natural gas: at highest levels since February, 2014.
• DXY: 92.48; down slightly;
• TYT: 1.295%, up slightly

And it's still not enough: federal tax collections set record through August, 2021. Link here. this is quite a story on so many levels. Through the first eleven months of fiscal 2021, the federal government has collected a record $3,586,456,000,000 in total taxes. Is that $3.6 trillion? 

Covid-19. For what it's worth and it's probably not worth much. These are graphs and most journalists appear unable to read graphs and/or are afraid to show them to their readers, link here.

• Pfizer in blue -- and gets the gold
  
• Moderna in green -- get the silver
  
• AstraZeneca in red -- gets a participation trophy
  

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Back to the Bakken

Top oil and gas stocks for 4Q21: two of them are in the Bakken. Link here.

Greenfield refinery outside national park in North Dakota: construction set to start in 2022? That's what is being reported in the Grand Forks Herald. Paywall? Try this link. And that's the problem with paywalls: they take me away from ads I would otherwise see, and they lead me to other sources for news.

The proposed Davis refinery, in financial difficulty, has experienced multiple delays since state environmental regulators allowed Houston, Texas-based Meridian Energy Group to build the facility in 2018. its permit after the lockdown refinery in litigation with environmental groups and, before the second deadline expired on June 12, state regulators gave the project an additional 90 days to begin construction or risk losing its license.

This time around, Meridian has met state requirements to begin construction before a revised deadline last Sunday, allowing the company to keep its license active.

Active rigs*:

$72.53	9/15/2021	09/15/2020	09/15/2019	09/15/2018	09/15/2017
Active Rigs	24*	12	64	65	56

*current count released at COB.

No wells coming off confidential list according to the NDIC. 

RBN Energy: record global natural gas prices signal more room for North American LNG (well, duh).

It has been a chaotic 18 months for North American LNG and the global gas market. In a short time, international gas markets went from oppressively oversupplied balances, high storage inventories, and historically low prices for much of 2020, to reckoning with panic-inducing supply shortage, low inventories, multi-year or all-time high prices in the biggest LNG-consuming regions. The resulting whiplash has transformed key aspects of the LNG market, including making a profound impact on the way existing LNG terminals operate, how projects secure funding and capacity commitments, and what offtakers expect for the next generation of LNG capacity buildout. 

The tight market appears to have settled the question of whether more export capacity is needed, at least for now, but the market’s sharp U-turn has also put potential offtakers on edge and underscored the need for contractual flexibility. Additionally, pressure to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is higher than ever, and LNG offtakers are increasingly demanding greener solutions to address government regulations and public concerns. This convergence of factors has put the LNG market at a crossroads. Taking all of the lessons learned from the past 18 months and before, the industry must now forge a new path forward.