No Daily Activity Report -- Global Warming Shuts Down North Dakota -- April 13, 2022

Gasoline demand, link here. For the past twelve weeks, GasBuddy has been reporting, over on twitter, ever-increasing demand for gasoline, and every week, EIA data fails to confirm.

Mask mandate on airlines: extended for two more weeks. CDC needs more time to study this graph:

$104-oil and $7-natural gas: what's not to like?

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Back to the Bakken

Due to the blizzard, second day in a row, no daily activity report.

Active rigs:

$104.00	4/13/2022	04/13/2021	04/13/2020	04/13/2019	04/13/2018
Active Rigs	0	17	36	63	60

My Daily Egg Ration At Risk -- April 13, 2022

To be able to afford eggs, I am now dependent on income received from monetization of "themilliondollarwayblog" website.

Eggs remain very expensive due to the avian flu outbreak. At one time I was able to meet all my egg needs at $1.19 / dozen at Target. Now, the best I can do is $2.39 / dozen, and Target is dangerously close to running out.

Moments ago I received this notice from Google, the parent company that owns the blogger app on which I post. 

That word "exploits" covers a lot of bases.

A non-thinking robot makes the first "cut," and then "real people" review the flagged content. [I've learned that from experience. Don't ask.]

I cannot afford to take chances. Starting today, my blogging on Ukraine will be very, very circumspect (is that correct grammar?).

I may start referring to an imaginary war fought by imaginary generals in an imaginary country called Ruritania. 

If my blog disappears completely .... 

On another note, I now know my "publisher number" which has been redacted above. I never knew I had a "publisher number." I'll have to look at my "1099."

Billionaire Tax -- April 13, 2022

Link here.

I have very strong feelings on this one. 

Remember, middle income folks are already subject to a minimum 10% tax on unrealized gains. We've discussed this before. 

Poll at right. My hunch: not one multi-billionaire will reply to the poll.

WTI Hits $104 -- Up 3.24% -- Up $3.245 -- Natural Gas At $6.977 -- 12:52 P.M. CT -- April 13, 2022

Updates

Later, 1:10 p.m. CT: while writing the note below, oil hit the $104-mark. 

Original Post

Unfortunately, President Biden has no more arrows in his quiver to drive down the price of crude oil. Mixing metaphors, but still a "weaponized" metaphor, he shot his wad when he announced the most massive release of oil ever from the SPR.

• SPR: can't release any more
• Saudi Arabia:
• won't take phone calls from Washington (DC)  if they have to do with oil;
• has no spare capacity
• OPEC says impossible for cartel to make up loss of Russian oil
• sanctions on Russian oil yet to take effect
• biggest problem: keeping the Russian oil industry running
• already, one Russian spokesperson says the country is willing to sell oil and oil products at any price to maintain integrity of Russian oil sector
• Libya: probably losing upwards of a million bopd; off and on; not dependable
• Canadian heavy oil
• this is what is really needed
• Keystone XL was built specifically for bringing heavy oil to US gulf coast refiners
• California: a special case
• an "island" when it comes to crude oil
• the state has more than enough to be self-sufficient
• largest refiner (?) in state with employee-led work stoppage

So, if you are a trucker supplying gasoline to California and Arizona, if coming from the north, would you want to turn right (to the west) or turn left (to the east)?

Meanwhile, natural gas will soon have a 7-handle. Right now, natural gas is at $6.941.

WTI Just Hit $103 -- Pulled Back Slightly -- 10:56 A.M. CT -- April 13, 2022

Who Would Have Guessed: CNN+'s Mother Ship Up 8% In Early Morning Trading -- April 13, 2022

CNN+'s "mother ship" is up almost 10% in trading today (I'm assuming I have the correct ticker):

Warner Bros. Discovery now owns CNN, CNN+, DC, Eurosport, HBO, HBO Max, HGTV, Food Network, Investigation Discovery, TLC, TNT, TBS, truTV, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and Turner Classic Movies, as well as some other media assets.

Updating A Few Wells That Came Off The Confidential List In 2Q17

The wells:

Offline:

• 30281, 3,487, BR, Merton 21-15MBH, North Fork, 26 stages; 5.2 million lbs, t9/16; cum 320K 7/18; cum 422K 12/21; off line 1/22; what's going on? 
• pad with #30922 - #30925; #37814; #37828 -- confidential -- BR's Saddle Butte wells;
• well of interest: #17291;
• 17291, 756, BR, Jerome 1-15H, North Fork, t2/09; cum 352K 2/22; unremarkable;
  others: 
• #30486, #30485
• 30486, 178, BR, Merton 14-10MBH, North Fork, t4/19; cum 517K 2/22; maintained nice production over two years;
• 30485, 500, BR, Jerome 14-10MBH, North Fork, t4/19; cum 451K 2/22; maintained nice production over two years;

Over 650K bbls crude oil, cumulative:

• 25199, 2,928, BR, Merton 21-15MBH 2NH, North Fork, t8/16; cum 378K 7/18; cum 653K 2/22;
  

Speaking Of Dividends -- April 13, 2022

Speaking of dividends:

• QCOM announced an increase in its dividend to 75 cents / share, now paying 2.16%. Record date: 6/2/22; pay date 6/23/22. Previous: 68 cents. Increase: 10.3% increase. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.  

EIA Weekly Petroleum Report: Pending -- April 13, 2022

WTI: prior to the report -- $101.90. 

EIA weekly petroleum report: link here. 

Eager to see if the EIA report corroborates the API report yesterday.

• US crude oil in storage increased by a whopping 9.4 million bbls from the previous week.
• US crude oil in storage now stands at 421.8 million bbls.
• US crude oil imports average 6.0 million bpd, down by 305,000 bpd from the previous week.
• US crude oil imports averaged 6.3 million bpd (yawn).
• US refiners operating at 90% of their operable capacity, down from 92% in the last report. Interesting, huh? The long pole in the tent: refiners? Not oil? How about heavy oil? The kind that comes from western Canada? That would have been carried by the Keystone XL?
  
• Distillate fuel production decreased last week, averaging 4.7 million bpd.
• Distillate fuel inventories continued to decrease; dropped another 2.9 million bbls; now 17% below the five-year average.
• Jet fuel supplied was up 23.1% compared with same four-week period last year.

WTI: immediately after the report released -- $101.90, unchanged.

Later, 10:31 a.m. CT: WTI at $102.40. President Biden tracking.

Inflation Watch -- April 13, 2022

From Amazon, today:

• K-cups, Amazon, per cup, as low as 25 cents/cup; as high as 75 cents/cup:
• Amazon brand, Solimo dark roast: 31 cents
• Amazon brand, Hazel nut, 25 cents
• Variety pack: 35 cents
• Dunkin' Donut: 34 cents
• McCafe: 40 cents
• Peet's: 51 cents

Starbucks, screen shot from my iPhone:

USPS: first class stamps, one-ounce Forever stamps;

• 58 cents / stamp
  
• number of Forever stamps I will use today: zero

Bacon:

• Walmart, $3.73 / 12-oz package
• approx 12 slices per package
• one slice / breakfast: 31 cents
  
• number of bacon servings I have had in the past month: zero 

Gasoline:

Notes From All Over -- April 13, 2022

Updates

Later, 9:41 a.m. CT: wow, QCOM announces an increase in its dividend to 75 cents / share, now paing 2.16%. Record date: 6/2/22; pay date 6/23/22. Previous: 68%. Increase: 10.3% increase.

 Original Post

Renewable energy is so dead. It's now "energy transition."

E15: lots of ink ... for 24 hours. It's a meaningless gesture. 

China: something to think about. Wasn't it just yesterday that "they" were talking about the yuan becoming the reserve currency. From Craig Fuller.

Over the next decade, China will lose its status as the world's manufacturing hub, while America will retain its status as the global reserve currency. Supply chains are going to reorientate away from China and back towards North America.

Germany: from chemicals giant BASF CEO -- "Cheap Russian energy has been the basis of our industry's competitiveness." Folks forget about the cheap domestic lignite Germany used for decades.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. 

Apple: I didn't expect to see this. From investing.com, one of two high-quality dividend stocks for protection from inflationary pressures. Link here. The other one: Home Depot.

Speaking of dividends:

• ENB: 5.86% (despite recent run-up in price)
• EPD: 7.03% (ditto)
• WMB: 4.89% (ditto)
• MNRL:  6.54% (ditto) -- the shares are now up to $27.23 and should be up again today -- it's a $20-stock"
  
• T: 5.67% (recently halved; also recent 24% "special dividend")
• PG: announced a five percent increase in its dividend. Just like clockwork.
  

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. 

Tech: I don't know if folks have noted that tech, especially semi-conductors / chips have fallen significantly; this tells me all I need to know about the lure of dividends when US CPI goes to 8.5%

CPI: am I missing something or did the March 8, 2022, CPI rate of 8.5% announcement get almost no headlines. I read somewhere the CPI came in less than expected.

The sports page: I don't care for professional NBA at all -- with some exceptions -- but I have to admit I enjoyed the "play-in" game last night. The post-game analysis comments by Charles Barkley were priceless. The celebration by the Timberwolves and their fans in home stadium was something to behold. Two fans were seen wearing masks. I half-expected them to be escorted from the building.

Historic Blizzard Hits North Dakota; No Wells Coming Off Confidential List -- April 13, 2022

NOG: reminder. Closed on acquisition of non-operated Permian Basin assets from Veritas Energy. This was back on January 31, 2022. Form 8-K/A released January 27, 2022.

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Back to the Bakken

Northwestern Production, LLC: to sell its operated working interest in North Dakota's Billings County.

Global warming: historic blizzard hits North Dakota. It almost looks like the eastern part of the state has been hurt the worst, but I really don't know.

• I-94 shut down from Billings, MT, to Jamestown, ND (pretty standard in these storms)
• I-29 shut down from Fargo, ND, to Canadian border (not often seen?)

Active rigs:

$102.30	4/13/2022	04/13/2021	04/13/2020	04/13/2019	04/13/2018
Active Rigs	0	17	36	63	60

No wells coming off the confidential list today.

RBN Energy: ExxonMobil plans to ramp up scale of carbon-capture projects, part 7.

Much like baling out a flooded basement with a spoon or shoveling the driveway in the middle of a snowstorm, carbon-capture projects to date have had minimal impact at best on the bigger goal of reducing global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere. But an ExxonMobil-led project that’s taking shape in and around Houston could soon set a new mark for the scale at which carbon-capture projects operate. The plan calls for capturing, gathering, compressing and sequestering up to 50 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) of CO₂ by 2030, and up to twice that much by 2040 — enough to start making a real dent in Gulf Coast CO₂ emissions. In today’s RBN blog, we take a closer look at the biggest carbon-capture project currently taking shape: ExxonMobil’s proposed Houston CCS Innovation Zone.