Week 5: January 30, 2022 -- February 5, 2022

Top story of the week:

• Joe Biden is still president.

Top international non-energy story:

• Covid receding in rear-view mirror. 
  
• Beijing Olympics starts without a hitch and without an audience.
• Russian buildup on Ukraine border continues. 
  

Top international energy story:

• Brent to $94.

Top national non-energy story:

• FB implodes, taking the tech market with it. And, here.
• AMD/XLNX surge on merger announcement.
  
• Apple takes audience, playlists from Spotify. 
• Texas freeze hyped; turns out to be a non-story.
• Earthquake in Oklahoma.
  

Top national energy story:

• WTI to $93.
• Whiting exits the DJ basin. 
• ISO NE burning oil and price of electricity surges to over $400 / MWh.
• Electric rates in New England are outrageous. And, here.
  

Top North Dakota non-energy story:

Top North Dakota energy story:

• Rig count jumps by 13%, far outpacing all other shale plays.
• Kraken exits Mountrail County; entire activity is in Williams County. 
• Whiting acquires ~80 Sanish wells from Kraken;
  

Geoff Simon's top North Dakota energy stories:

• Quick connects.

Operators:

• Enerplus will divest all Canadian assets; Bakken pure-play; will present only in USD; and, here;
• Reminder: Enerplus acquires all of Bruin wells; some of Hess' wells;
  
• BR to have three rigs in North Dakota. First one sited.
  
• Is Kraken the next Slawson?
• XOM's breakeven price well below $50. 
• One can't talk about the Bakken without mentioning MRO. 
• If it weren't for CLR, would we even be talking about the Bakken?
  

Operations:

Wells:

Fracking:

Pipelines:

• MDU's natural gas North Bakken Expansion Project approved.
  

Natural gas:

• North Dakota production approaches all-time high.

Bakken economy:

Commentary:

• The future of fracking, The WSJ.