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Thursday, June 16, 2022

The Next Big Thing

 Locator: 10010NBT.

"Next Big Thing" -- linked at the sidebar to the right.

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Note: this is now page four. Previous page

Note: "updates" are farther down. 

Background
:
  • at the sidebar at the right, I have a link to "The Next Big Thing."
  • the original post is dated March 21, 2013. The series began with my interest in Netflix.
  • flashback

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The Next Big Things 
 
Household tech: link here.
 
CBDC: link here. Added January 22, 2023.
 
BNLP: link here. Added June 16, 2022.

Buy Now, Pay Later -- June 16, 2022

The next big thing. Although it's been around forever.

Link here.

Now, PayPal will expand BNPL significantly.

Without question, to stay relevant, MC, Visa, Discover, et al will have to offer buy now pay later options. 

Reminder: Apple, Inc. offers BNPL. 

********************
BNPL

A reader sent me a link to a story regarding buy now, pay later (BNPL) plans. 

My not-ready-for-prime-time response:

Home Shopping Network or whatever those 24/7 marketing shows are called, have been doing this for decades: "four easy payments." Sometimes, "three easy payments." 
Late night television ads, same thing: "four easy payments." 
I only get my cars serviced at Firestone. Their policy is no interest whatsoever on any charge using their Firestone credit card (which I have) if the charge for service is more than a couple hundred bucks (I forgot the threshold) and is paid off within six months. So, same thing as BNPL. So, my car servicing costs are not put on any credit card the Big Banks would love to have. 
USAA -- car insurance -- same things -- I get a new bill every year or every six months --  I forget -- but I never have to pay it in one big payment. I'm given four months to pay off the six month premium. I generally pay it off in three months and have no car insurance payments for three months. This is another big bill that I don't put on any credit card that the Big Banks would love to have. 
Colleges and universities generally allow folks to pay tuition payments over several months; car insurance policies, noted above, are definitely BNPL. 
When BNPL is used occasionally, it's wonderful, but the risk is that millennials will use this for everything and gradually their debt will increase significantly and they won't notice it until too late. But I'm not sure how that's any different than maxing out all your credit cards with 24% APR. Having said that, I am not aware of any Big Bank credit card that sends you a reminder that explicitly says that if you don't pay the full amount by today, "we are going to charge you 24% interest tomorrow." 
My hunch is that BNPL plans have very explicit notifications in a timely manner.
But all this talk about BNPL, it seems, we've had it forever. 
What I would like to see is for Apple Computers to go to a subscription service on their computers. I believe some telephone plans already do that: you pay a monthly subscription price for your smartphone and it's automatically upgraded every two years. Obviously over time the monthly subscription price goes up but it's slight and generally not notices. 
When all of sudden I see all these stories about the dangers of BNPL, my antennae go up, asking who will most be hurt by BNPL? Unless they do the same thing, M/C, Visa, Discover, etc., could be the big losers. There is a reason the major credit card companies don't offer BNPL when they get 24% APR on delayed payments. 
One gets the feeling these "news stories" are in fact press releases faxed / e-mailed to media outlets who are too lazy to do their own reporting / investigative reporting and simply re-print the press release as a news story.
Whether this all blows up in a year or not, it's obviously something that consumers want.
I think it's brilliant: the big companies, like AAPL and AMZN (who doesn't offer this yet) are willing to fund this themselves since they have deep pockets. I know that when I buy my next AAPL computer (probably next spring, the new MacBook Air) I will gladly pay for it over four months, interest-free.

Folks Need To Get A Grip -- June 16, 2022

A reader sent me this earlier today, link here:

When I saw that, my first thought: folks need to get a grip. Link here.

Four New Permits; SIx Permits Renewed; BR Reports A DUC -- June 16, 2022

Crashed and burned: Phil.

  • wow, does his card look bad! Bogeys and double bogeys;
  • first birdie on the back nine; huge cheer from the crowd
  • playing +6 right now; leader is -4;
  • Phil is ten back; unless he has great second day, making the cut will be problematic.

California: from "green cash" to "green crash." 

  • California's renewable energy dream has turned into a nightmare. Link here. Archived.

Headwinds, perfect storm:

  • severe recession scaring everyone: folks will put off buying a new car for as long as possible;
  • supply chain, semiconductors, chips: no relief in sight?
  • commodities at all-time highs; wiping out profits for EV manufacturers
  • ICE manufacturers pivoting to EVs: unprecedented amount of capital requirements

Hot: Spain. Link here. Heatwave drives gas-fired generation to highest rate since 2009.
Spain used to be the poster child for renewable energy. What happened?

Hot: next Wednesday and Thursday, June 22 - June 23, 2022, the US will experience incredibly hot temperatures. 

  • Temperatures will be 103° to 108°F across the southeast US -- similar to late June, 2012. Link here.

Hot: Russia's largest gas field is on fire after pipe bursts. Link here to Charles Kennedy, so you know it's a big story.

Weekly EIA petroleum report, link here. So many data points.

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Back to the Bakken

NDIC GIS map server: still not up and running.  No new information from NDIC.

WTI: $117.10

Active rigs: 39 or thereabouts.

Four new permits, #39024 - #39027, inclusive:

  • Operator: Hess
  • Field: Ray (Williams County)
  • Comments:
    • Hess has permits for four GO-Golden Valley wells in NWNW 28-157-96, 
      • to be sited 474 FNL and between 1196 FWL and  1295 FWL;

Six permits renewed:

  • BR: two Sandie permits, one Shaferpermit, and three West Kellogg permits, all in McKenzie County

Two permits canceled:

  • Oasis: two Fraser Federal permits in Williams County

One producing well (a DUC) reported as completed:

  • 37637, 0, BR, Cherry Margarita 1X TFH

Tesla Update -- Significant Price Increases Across The Board -- June 16, 2022

TSLA: at open, down 4%; breaks below $670; trading at $669.01. Holy carbon, Batman! TSLA plummets. Down $46, could break below $655. I assume Cathie Wood is buying more. RIVN? Down 8%. But look at this: ELMS UP 200%. Later: TSLA now down over 9%, broke below $635 but according to a reader, Tesla is best in class. What does this mean for all the rest? Near the market close: down almost 10%. Trading at $633.

Coal: I'm still amazed, after all these years, folks still do not realize that EVs run on coal. 

Coal? Probably not, but one never knows. Probably not in my lifetime but certainly my grandchildren could see the Brits going back to coal. Back to the future. Back to Britain. Link here. Great Britain is "back-pedaling" on its climate pledges. 

Coal: link here

SecEnergy: time to buy an EV.

  • "if you can't afford to buy gas, buy an EV" — US SecEnergy who is quickly going down as the US' worst SecEnergy ever
  • "let them eat cake" -- some French queen

Tesla: link here.

  • Tesla Model 3:
    • from $54,490 to $57,990
    • a $2,500 price increase
  • Tesla Model Y:
    • Tesla's most popular model
    • a bigger price increase with both versions
    • Model Y Long Range: from $62,990 to $65,990
      • a $3,000 increase
    • Model Y Performance: from $67,990 to $69,990
      • a $2,000 increase
    • Tesla also now sells a Model Y Standard Range, the new version build in Texas, but Tesla has yet to let people buy it through its online configurator and only offers it to local Model Y buyers in Texas on an invitation basis for now
  • Tesla Model S
    • this new price increase comes after a $5,000 price increase just a few months ago:
    • from $99,990 t0 $104,990
    • a $5,000 price increase today
    • a $10,000 price increase over past few months
    • no one is buying this car for global warming reasons or to save money on gasoline
    • Plaid: remains at $135,990.
  • Tesla Model X
    • like the Model S, a significant price increase a few months ago, and now again
    • from $114,990 to $120,990
    • a whopping $6,000 price increase on top of previous price increase
    • Plaid: remains the same at $138,990

See linked article for writer's thoughts on these price increases.

Shale Oil Forecast -- Rystad Energy -- June 16, 2022

Most important twitter post on shale today? Link here.

  • being re-posted as a stand-alone
  • twitter comment: "Let's see if Permian production comes in > 5 million for March and April -- that will give a clue how optimistic this might be
  • Rystad Energy's mea culpa? Reminds one individual of "Equinor's mea culpa."
  • another: "I have no doubt the US capable of producing 13 million bopd, and will likely do so by the end of the year (2022). But 16 million bopd? That kind of forecasting is based on BS assumptions.
  • EIA, pdf, Permian: https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/drilling/pdf/permian.pdf


Yesterday: Crushing News From Ford; Now, It's Tesla's Turn -- Waiting For SecEnergy To Weigh In -- June 16, 2022

Links to follow, but the screenshot says it all.

Corroboration was not needed, but this corroborates the Ford story in spaces, as my dad would say. This is, in a word: devastating.

EVs: how are the EVs doing pre-market?

  • GM: down slightly; flat;
  • F: down 3%;
  • TSLA: down 4%; breaks below $700;
  • RIDE: down 3%
  • GOEV: down 4%;
  • ELMS: up 26%; from 14 cents to 18 cents; said to be seeking bankruptcy protection;
  • RIVN: down 3.6%;

RIVN leads us to AMZN:

  • down 3%
  • AMZN trading at $108

Ford:


WTI Plunges To $113 -- One Well Coming Off Confidential List -- June 16, 2022

US Open! Open!

WTI: plunges to $113

  • consensus: due to Russia increasing production and exports: raises a number of questions
  • also: Biden's trip to Saudi still on schedule
  • also: some suggest US could get into business of refining (unlikely but could offer huge incentives to open one or two mothballed crude oil refineries)
  • if the latter happens, suggests for first time that "green" ideologues in the White House are "losing" to the Biden "political" faction
  • SecEnergy: starting to fold on "green" energy; giving in to pragmatists?
  • but what if plunge in WTI related more to risk of "severe recession"? 

Commentary:

Most important twitter post on shale today? Link here.

  • needs to be re-posted as a stand-alone
  • twitter comment: "Let's see if Permian production comes in > 5 million for March and April -- that will give a clue how optimistic this might be
  • Rystad Energy's mea culpa? Reminds one individual of "Equinor's mea culpa."
  • another: "I have no doubt the US capable of producing 13 million bopd, and will likely do so by the end of the year (2022). But 16 million bopd? That kind of forecasting is based on BS assumptions.
  • EIA, pdf, Permian: https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/drilling/pdf/permian.pdf

Freeport: bigger story than most thought one week ago

Baby formula:

  • Abbott plant back on hold; "flooding"

Top story yesterday: Ford

  • absolutely worse news ever for EVs

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Back to the Bakken

Far Side: link here.

WTI: $113.60

Active rigs: 37 or thereabouts

Thursday, June 16, 2022: 24 for the month, 162 for the quarter, 322 for the year

  • 38435, conf, WPX, Wounded Face 14-15HW,

 RBN Energy: global market impacts of the Freeport LNG outage, part 2

Freeport LNG is expected to be offline for an extended period following last week’s explosion and fire at the export terminal, leaving the global gas market even more undersupplied than it already was. The outage cuts U.S. export capacity by about 2 Bcf/d at a time when Europe is still taking in huge volumes of LNG to offset declines in Russian supplies and bolster storage ahead of winter. This is all happening as another large exporting nation, Australia, is facing a critical winter energy crisis of its own and South American demand is headed toward its seasonal high, straining an already tight market. Today’s RBN blog continues our series about the ongoing Freeport outage, this time looking at the impact to the global gas and LNG markets.

Conclusion:

Ninety days takes the full-facility outage at Freeport LNG into September, meaning that no Freeport LNG cargoes will be available during this summer, with Asia and Latin America potentially feeling the loss more strongly than Europe. For Latin America, that’s because, as we noted earlier, it’s peak demand season and when U.S. cargoes would typically head south; for Asia, it’s because of Freeport-specific contracts and also rising seasonal demand. We were already seeing a drop in U.S. LNG sendout to Europe, which accounted for about 75% of total U.S. exports from January through April, but that dropped to 65% in May and appeared to be declining further this month even prior to the outage.

Beyond September, the brunt of the impact could swing back to Europe, which could find itself in a precarious position heading into winter as it seeks to secure LNG cargoes in the face of an ongoing war that has put it at odds with what has been its largest gas supplier.