Week 51: December 19, 2021 -- December 25, 2021

Top story of the week:

• Brandon is still president.

Top international non-energy story.

• Covid-19 variant, omicron, on-going.

Top international energy story.

• Europe's / UK's energy crisis, on-going.
• Flotilla of US LNG tankers stream to Europe; diverted from Asia.
• Russia unable / unwilling able to provide adequate natural gas for Europe.
  

Top national non-energy story.

• Volatile equity market back to record highs.

Top national energy story.

• Biden administration turns to oil industry for help.
  
• Gasoline prices at highest on record going into Christmas.
• WTI: touches $73 again.
• US LNG exports continue to surge. And, here.
• XOM to sell Fayetteville assets to Presidio Petroleum?
• Capline reversal at full capacity.
  

Top North Dakota non-energy story.

Top North Dakota energy story.

• USGS releases 2021 geological survey of the Bakken/Three Forks, disappointing, ant-climactic; and, here.

Geoff Simon's top North Dakota energy stories.

• Quick connects.

Operators:

• Ovintiv with permits for nine wells on one pad.
• Top producing operators in North Dakota.
• WPX is reporting some incredible Crosby Chase wells.

Operations:

Wells:

• Best producing well in the Bakken.
• The incredible WPX Patricia Kelly well.
• Top producing wells in the Bakken.

Fracking:

Pipelines:

Bakken 101:

• Developing three to four pads simultaneously.

Bakken economy:

• New soybean processing plant announced for Casselton, ND.

Commentary:

• Shale operators awash with free cash flow. And, here.

COP

One of the best posts ever: Michael Fitzsimmons, December 6, 2021. The comments are well worth reading. Hopefully this article does not disappear into the cloud.

CVX

JP Morgan cuts CVX to sell. March 11, 2022. Currently trading at $171.24, up 42 cents on a day that WTI is trading for $109.10, up 2.93%, up $3.11. 

Venezuela. Whoo-hoo, March 7, 2022. 

Race against time: Fitzsimmons, December 24, 2021.

• My long-time followers know I believe that Chevron has been - and still is - the highest quality international O&G major company in the world.
• However, that fact alone hasn't meant that the company has been a good investment in a sector that has been an unmitigated disaster over the past decade. It hasn't been.
• But CVX's Q3 delivered the highest FCF in its history and the 4.6% yield is attractive. But investors should be clear-eyed: Investing in oil is a race against time (i.e., EVs).
• That said, in the short- to mid-term, I expect Chevron to deliver strong free cash flow, dividend growth, and significant stock buybacks.

North Dakota Legacy Fund Deposits -- December, 2021

Link here.

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The Other Chart Of The Day

Link here.

Clearing Out The In-Box -- December 24, 2021

Updates

Later, 1:24 p.m. CT: well, that didn't take long. China is now outbidding Europe for LNG. I guess the smog from coal just got excessive. 

Original Post

Merry Christmas! Texas is not locked down. Photo here.

Wolfcamp: maps. Cline --> Wolfcamp D.

EU energy crisis: natural gas prices collapse overnight as flotilla of US LNG tankers stream toward Europe. But still incredibly high. Tankers are diverting from China to Europe for better prices: Asia, particularly China, is switching back to coal, calling it quits on expensive natural gas.

How the EU collapses. Worse timing ever?

The Netherlands shut down Groningen, Europe's largest natural gas field. On top of everything else, Belgium is said to have blindsided France by closing their (Belgian) nuclear plants. "These idiots are going to protest themselves into the dark age."

EIA's energy posture: link here. 

Politics: the inevitability of Kamala Harris.

Greta, do you remember the straws? Now it's Brandon's 1.6 billion disposable face masks that take 450 years to biodegrade. 

Global auto sales: from statista, 3.8 trillion dollars from auto sales by 2030. Elon Musk: hold my beer!

Caspian update: Lukoil produces 700 million bbls crude oil cumulative at field in Caspian. Link here.

• note conversion factor: 30 million tons or 712.4 million barrels
• Vladimir Filanovsky: largest oil field in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea
• initial recoverable reserves of 129 million tons of oil and 1.06 trillion cubic feet of gas;
• commissioned in 2016;
• reached target production level of six million tons of oil per year in 2018
• July, 2019: the field produced over 15 million tons
• Yury Korchagin field, the second field;
• Valery Grayfer field, the third field;

TSMC:

• to begin 3nm chip production in 2022; could "beat" Apple; link here.

Midland: