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Monday, June 6, 2022

Geico Rock Award Nominations For 2022

A reader suggested Joe Biden be nominated for the 2022 Geico Rock Award for any number of categories.

The committee has already decided that Joe Biden will honored with a lifetime achievement award when the 2022 Geico Rock Award is announced on January 15, 2023. At the same time he will be inducted into the Geico Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

VP Kamala Harris is disqualified for said award due to the fact that her "word salad" responses are so non-sensical no one knows what she might have known when or if she even knew anything to begin with.

Three Cases Added To The NDIC Hearing Dockets, July, 2022

These are cases, not permits.

Link here.

  • Case 29450, Dakota Gasification Company, requesting consideration for the geologic storage of CO2 from the Great Plains Synfuels Plant located in sections as noted in Case 29452, below.
  • Case 29451, Dakota Gasification Company, to consider the amalgamation of the storage reservoir pore space, in which the Commission may require that the pore space owned by nonconsenting owners be included in the geologic storage facility and subject to geologic storage, in sections as noted in case 29452, below.
  • Case 29452, Dakota Gasification Company, to determine the amount of financial responsibility for the geologic storage of CO2 from the Great Plains Synfuels Plant in the storage facility located in sections 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 17 / 18 / 19 - T145N-R87W; sections 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 22 / 23 / 24 / 25 - T145N-R88W; sections 30 / 31 / 32 - T146N-R87W; sections 25 / 26/ 33 / 34 / 35/ 36 - T146N- R88W, Mercer County.
  • Case 29453, Kevin O'Leary, to determine how much money he can make if he goes in "halfies" with the Dakota Gasification Company. 

Note: I made that last case up. To the best of my knowledge, Kevin O'Leary is not involved with CO2 storage in North Dakota.

9:20 P.M. Central Time, North Texas -- June 6, 2022

Poolside: feels like 95°F. Smartphone says it's 88°F. LOL.

Family of three youngsters in the pool; mom watching; dad barbecuing.

  • beautiful, beautiful evening
  • my wife wanted fresh watermelon for dessert
    • I hopped on my bike, four minutes to Albertson's; one minute in the store; three minutes home
  • she's having watermelon; I'm poolside with adult beverage (ice water -- no alcohol)

Memorial Day?

  • I believe this data includes Memorial Day weekend; we'll know more later this week
  • link here
  • based on his tweets, I don't believe GasBuddy saw this coming:

Lights on; no problems with the Texas grid.

  • Texas grid, capacity, 91,000 MW with lots of solar and wind
  • record demand likely to be broken this week: 75,000 MW (forecast; that would be a record)
  • huge delta between 75K MW and 91K MW
  • forecast for lots of sun and lots of wind
    • grid may not hold, but rolling brownouts / blackouts in the summer are a non-problem compared with same during the winter; but it will still get a lot of press 
    • for me, a rolling brownout / blackout and I'm in the pool
  • refrigerator re-stocked with beverages of all kinds, and lots of them
  • natural gas trending toward $10 / "unit" -- we don't have natural gas; all electricity
  • so, we'll see

Natural gas:

  • 13-year high: link to Tom Kool
  • traders expect "blistering hot summer"
  • Greta et al were warming us all this time about blistering hot summers; why didn't we prepare.
  • actually some of us did; we kept accumulating shares of natural gas companies for the past decade;
  • this was not rocket science

Biden keystoned America.

  • one can name at least six specific actions President Biden has taken that have led to record-high energy prices, starting with the most incredible one -- killing the Keystone XL that would have brought cheap oil to US refineries along the Texas/Louisiana coast:
    • instead he's going to Saudi Arabia, to beg again;
  • story everywhere
  • story not being told is that on top of everything else, the trip has been delayed at least a month;
  • Saudi wouldn't take his phone calls earlier this year and apparently the prince had trouble working Biden into his busy schedule
  • having said all that, oil is no longer the issue; it's refining capacity and the 1-2-3 or 1-3-2 crack spread

Golf: part of the prince's schedule is getting LIV off the ground;

  • Phil Mickelson has joined, apparently offered a $200 million signing fee (this needs to be fact-checked; I honestly don't remember --- and don't care)
    • apparently now sees golf as a "blood sport," literally and figuratively
  • will play "London" this weekend
  • few will watch; those that do, won't care
  • apparently Ricky Fowler will play London also
    • Fowler has had an incredibly bad year; explains why he's going to the LIV, if, in fact, he's going; I really don't know the situation --- and don't care.

Market:

  • oil edges lower after topping $120 / bbl
  • eight energy stocks hit all-time highs
  • those that didn't are flirting with all-time highs
  • most surprising: EOG down during the day but then more than made up for it after hours
  • MNRL: ditto, one of the more interesting energy trades
  • DVN: hit an intra-day 52-week high

Baby formula story

Beef-packing plant:

Natural Gas Surges 10% In One Day -- June 6, 2022

Things Are Never So Bad ...

... that President Biden can't make them worse.

Sixty-five US refiners asked for waivers with regard to ethanol blending.

All sixty-five were denied.

So, in anticipation of a global food shortage, the US will be converting food (soybeans and corn) into fuel. 

I can't make this up. 

It won't help at the pump -- no one uses E85 anyway -- and it will only raise grocery prices

Way to go, Brandon.

Back to the Bakken

WTI: steady at $118.80.

But in case you missed it, natural gas surged by 10.03% -- an increase of more than 10% in one day -- and hardly anyone noticed. Natural gas is now trading at over $9 / "unit." Wow.

Active rigs: 39 or thereabouts. I would say 40 but someone would write to correct me, so we'll leave it at "39 or thereabouts." 

Four new oil and gas permits, #38997 - #39000, inclusive:

  • Operators: Hunt Oil (3); Slawson
  • Fields: Alexandria (Divide County); Big Bend (Mountrail)
  • Comments:
    • Slawson has a permit for a Blizzard Federal well, SWSW 13-152-93;
      • to be sited 1469 FNL and 500 FWL;
    • Hunt has permits for three Alexandria wells, SWSE 24-161-100;
      • to be sited 460 FSL and between 2180 FEL and 2120 FEL

Ten permits renewed:

  • BR (7): six Sequoiafill permits (McKenzie County) and one Pullman permit (Dunn County)
  • Enerplus (3): one Beryllium, one Niobium, and one Yttrium permit, all in Dunn County

Not Ready For Prime Time -- June 6, 2022

With my wife heading back to California for a month or so, and with Bidenflation hitting my grocery budget, I'm regressing back to my student days in southern California when I literally lived on Campbell's bean and bacon soup and tuna fish sandwiches for four years. I loved those days and I loved those meals. 

For the next month or so:

breakfast:

  • scrambled eggs and chorizo
  • orange juice (lots of orange juice)
  • toast and chunky peanut butter

lunch:

  • tuna fish sandwiches
  • tuna fish and chow mein (one of my favorite quick dishes)
  • grilled cheese
  • blueberries and cottage cheese

dinner:

  • spaghetti and meatballs
  • chili hot dogs (poolside)

Speaking of food.

On my twitter feed today:

She is not on my twitter feed so someone on my twitter feed re-tweeted her tweet. I've "blocked" twitter accounts for less. LOL.

I sit down to eat for one of two reasons:

  • to re-fuel; and,
  • as a social event.

Mariana Z, who sees cooking for three hours just to eat for fifteen minutes the biggest scam in the world, no doubt loves:

  • standing in line at McDonald's for thirty seconds and then ordering;
  • waiting ninety seconds for the Happy Meal; and,
  • then consuming said Happy Meal in three minutes.
  • wow, not to be judgemental, but what a loser. She is obviously a millennial. 

When I grill, it's a three-hour affair and I love every minute of it.

What could possible take three hours? Beer can chicken: prep, cooking, enjoying.

For me, grilling is a social event, even if it's just for me. 

Apartment living:

We're not allowed to have charcoal grills on the balconies in this apartment complex but that doesn't stop us. LOL.

Yesterday, walking Sophia to the pool, I happened to see Bianca grilling chicken, hot dogs, sausage, everything on a newly-bought grill. Later I walked walk back and got a hot dog for Sophia.

For every hour in the pool, Sophia needs two hot dogs. LOL.

Bianca is my new friend. Her significant other, Jake, seems a bit strung out but that's fine. 

Reminder: Apple event at 12:00 noon, CT. Only on the Safari browser. 

Jake:

One of my neighborhood friends is Jake Miles --- yeah, I think I can post his name --- he won't read the blog and I will only say positive things about him ...

I have a 5-mile bicycle circuit that I ride once or twice a day. Jake is the mid-point. Sometimes he's outside; generally he is not. 

He is/was a highly successful "officer" in some Fortune 500 company. I really enjoy talking with him. I never could remember if his name was Miles Jacob or Jacob Miles, but yesterday, etched into my memory forever, it's Jake Miles. 

He recommended Miles gin for martinis. 

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The Book Page

Can't say enough about Rozzo's Everybody Thought We Were Crazy: Dennis Hopper, Brooke Hayward, and 1960s Los Angeles, Mark Rozzo, c. 2022.

If you are a fan of Chuck Klosterman, you should love Rozzo's book.

When Chuck Klosterman is good, he's superb. But he's a bit uneven. 

I know nothing about Mark Rozzo, but if you want to know the history of film in the 1960s, you could not do better by reading Rozzo's book noted above.

Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand.

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Racing

After watching the "Enjoy Illinois 300" yesterday, and re-watching it now, I am convinced I am corrrect with my observations from some weeks ago. 

"Bump and crash" is perfectly legitimate. Is Logano the best at doing this? Keselowski? 

Maybe. All's fair in love and war. And racing. 

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SCOTUS Opinions

Another week goes by. The opinion of the year was not released.  

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Apple Presentation

Ostentatious.

Starts off with a transgender on the lockscreeen. 

The immediate "hook" is critical. The lockscreen fails as a hook.

Boring. 

First time ever watching an Apple presentation, ready to exit after just seventeen minutes.

I’m gone. Going biking. I will read JoAnn Stern’s review in The WSJ tomorrow.

Off The Net For Two Hours -- June 6, 2022

Before I go, quick check of the market:

EV companies:

  • GM: down slightly; pretty much flat;
  • F: down about a percent;
  • TSLA: up a bit;
  • RIVN: down about a percent;
  • RIDE: down 2%;
  • GOEV: at $3.32; opened at $3.42;
  • ELMS: down over 3%; trading at 50 cents;

Majors:

  • CVX: down slightly;
  • COP: up slightly;
  • OXY: down a bit;

Minors:

  • CLR: up nicely;
  • DVN: up slightly;
  • EOG: down slightly;

Post-split, 20 - 1:

  • AMZN: up 2.58%; trading at $126

D-Day Seventy-Eight Years Ago -- June 6, 2022

Active rigs: 41 or thereabouts.

WTI: $118 and change.

Monday, June 6, 2022: 7 for the month, 144 for the quarter, 304 for the year

  • 37185, conf, Zavanna, Edgar 10-3 3H, Poe, see initial production below;

Sunday, June 5, 2022: 6 for the month, 143 for the quarter, 303 for the year

  • 38130, conf, CLR, Dennis FIU 16-8HSL, Cedar Coulee, Dunn County, NWNE 8-147-96, 241 FNL 1853 FEL;  no production data,

Saturday, June 4, 2022: 5 for the month, 142 for the quarter, 302 for the year

  • 38129, conf, CLR, Dennis FIU 15-8HSL1, Cedar Coulee, Dunn County, NWNE 8-147-96, 208 FNL 1854 FEL;  no production data,

Comment: it will be interesting to see file reports for #38130 and #38129 to see how closely spaced these wells were (surface spacing -- data is available now) and how close the laterals were placed both horizontally and vertically. They are both "xx-HSL" but one is a middle Bakken; the other is a Three Forks well. I assume both are section line wells.

RBN Energy: when a molecule's pedigree is more important than its energy content

There is a fundamental difference in the way value is established in renewable, decarbonized energy markets versus traditional commodities. In traditional energy markets, value is defined by natural laws — physics, chemistry, geography. But in the world of renewables and decarbonization, value is primarily determined by man-made laws — RULES that specify what a particular flavor of energy is worth, what is required to prove that worth, and how that value is ultimately captured by market participants. In effect, a molecule’s (or electron’s) pedigree is as important — if not more important — than its energy content. Whether you are deep into renewables markets or you deal with energy commodities that are impacted by the rules, it is critically important that you understand everything about how these rules work and how they are regulated. In today’s RBN blog we’ll begin an exploration into the inner workings of energy transition market mechanisms.

It’s all about those rules. Here’s some examples of what we’re talking about:

Perhaps the most significant is the California LCFS — the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. In the LCFS, each energy commodity or source (called a pathway) — and there are hundreds of them — has a carbon intensity “score” or CI. That score is determined by a methodology — an algorithm, based in part on targets laid out in California Assembly Bill 32 and Executive Order S-01-07, which are the basis for rules promulgated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). It really comes down to this: Deliver low-CI energy within the guidelines, get a credit; deliver high-CI energy, pay a penalty. To get the credits, which can be quite lucrative, you just need to follow the rules.

The Far Side. Link here

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Initial Production

37185, conf, Zavanna, Edgar 10-3 3H, Poe, Williams County

DateOil RunsMCF Sold
3-20223171454760
2-20222976442412
1-20224737640611
12-20212084513768

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The Map

This is the best we can do until the NDIC GIS map is back up and running. 

Cedar Coulee is in a very, very good area:

  • just two townships away from the spectacular McGregory Buttes township;
  • just north of Rattlesnake Point and "kitty-corner" from Chimney Butte
  • and Oakdale just to the southeast -- a huge field

Cedar Coulee is tracked here but has has not been updated in a long time, but it does have some nice graphics.