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Friday, June 17, 2022

Week 24: June 12, 2022 -- June 18, 2022.

Top story of the week:

  • Joe Biden is still president.

Top international non-energy story:

  • The Ukraine war drags on.

Top international energy story:

Top national non-energy story:

  • "January 6th" hearings — compelling.

Top national energy story:

  • White House press secretary says it is the patriotic duty of refiners to sell their refined products at a loss.

Top North Dakota non-energy story:

Top North Dakota energy story:

Geoff Simon's top North Dakota energy stories:

Bakken economy:

Commentary:

A Graphic Worth A Thousand Words -- June 17, 2022

Link here.

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Perfect Age

In between.

Too old for an "affair" and no signs of Alzheimer's yet.

Refrigerator full of expensive, exotic condiments, and luxurious chocolate. And sake.

Oil And Gasoline Storage -- US -- June 17, 2022

First oil, link here. This suggests that SPR release was incredibly important for the US consumer:

Reminder, the PADDS:

Gasoline stores, link here:

Gasoline stocks, all PADDS, link here.


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Tyku Sake

Dinner tonight, sushi with Tyku sake:
 

Liberty Resources With Five New Permits; Five DUCs Reported As Completed -- June 17, 2022

Iowa: state supreme court -- no constitutional right to abortion. 

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: plunges to $110 before it recovers a bit.

Active rigs: NDIC reports 42 active rigs. I don't see any SWD rigs; there is one vertical well?

Five new permits, #39028 - #39032, inclusive:

  • Operator: Liberty Resources
  • Field: Temple (Williams); Northwest McGregor (Williams)
  • Comments:
    • Liberty has permits for five wells to be sited in lot 1, section 1-158-96; 
      • to be sited 392 FNL and between 384 FEL and 524 FEL;

Five producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

  • 37638, 0, BR, Cherry Daquiri 1W MBH, Haystack Butte, first production, 3/22; t--; cum 37K 4/22;
  • 37639, 0, BR, Cherry Ice Cream 1V TFH, Haystack Butte, first production, 2/22; t--; cum 53K 4/22;
  • 34934, 1,924, XTO, Darlean 41X-2D, Alkali Creek, first production, 2/22; t--; cum 93K 4/22;
  • 34936, 1,737, XTO, Darlean 41X-2C, Alkali Creek, first production, 2/22; t--; cum 73K 4/22;
  • 38403, 3,819, Hess, EN-J Horst-154-93-1112H-7, Robinson Lake, no production data,

I'm Gonna Call It A Day -- Some Fantastic Postings -- Lots For Readers To Digest -- June 17, 2022

Holy mackerel! Rory just lost the tournament after leading the first day. How fast things can change. Self-inflicted error.

ISO-NY: $203 / MWh. Link here. Chart suggests demand almost exceeded supply earlier this morning. Okay now; just expensive.

Inflation watch, favorite IPA, 6-pack, bottles:

  • at Target: price has not increased for at least two years —
    • regular price: $9.99
    • on sale, this week: $8.99
  • Big Box store, regional: regular price: $7.99
Amazon: ordered an Apple computer accessory at 1448 hours moments ago. Will be delivered today for $2.99 delivery charge or no delivery charge for delivery tomorrow. I still find this amazing. AMZN ticker up nicely today.

BNPL -- Can You Connect The Dots? June 17, 2022

This is not rocket science. Can you connect the dots? Link here.


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Re-Posting

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. 

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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.

Keystoning America; Phil Won't Make The Cut -- June 17, 2022

Mickelson: at the 17th hole, Phil is twelfth from the bottom, tied for 144th (out of 155 players); +11 and fourteen strokes behind the leader, Phil won't make the cut. Laughing all the way to the bank with his $200 million LIV signing bonus.

Keystoning America: the whole purpose of the Keystone XL was to bring "inexpensive" western Canadian heavy oil to the US. Link here. Quick: what is the "feedstock" for diesel fuel?

Reality sucks: as  bad as things are in the US, it's so much worse in Europe. Link to Tsvetana Paraskova:


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The Arts And Crafts Page

Our younger daughter has a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. This is the second of only two "lunch boxes" she has made (and will make). 

The first of two was made for her husband. The second of two was made for a ranch-hand whose wife wanted something for their boys to carry when they go with their father to "wrestle cows."

BDS -- Nothing About The Bakken -- June 17, 2022

My wife has a very dear friend, perhaps her closest friend here in north Texas, who is Jewish, and seems to be "hyper-focused" on her Jewishness and the target on her back.

Of course, I can't say anything because I haven not and never will "walk in her shoes."

I'm beginning to think she is completely "justified" with her concerns. 

BDS: wiki entry.

The Boston Globe: link here. Broke the story (for me).

MassLive: link here. A map too far. 

Uvalde is a legitimate concern for US Jews.

Note to readers: "Uvalde" is my metonym for the mass executions in the US by deranged individuals.

New EV Manufacturer -- First EVs -- Next Year -- June 17, 2022

EVs today: due to time constraints, I will come back to this later, but a quick look suggests move EVs are "up" today on US equity markets. We'll check in later today.

Disruptive:

Add another on to the scorecard: Sony Honda Mobility, Inc. Link here

EV manufacturers:

I don't have time to explain this or connect the dots. See if you can see what I'm suggesting.

Some years ago, maybe six, seven years ago, ICE manufacturers were setting sales records (volume) but not making much money. It turned out that a lot of their sales were fleet sales to the car rental agencies: fleet sales are often once a year; "base" models"; and, little in margins. So, lots of sales not necessarily all that great for the bottom line.

Now, fast forward to 2022. Tesla bulls suggest that the one-year wait (and more) suggests Tesla is doing very, very well. They forget that by this time next year there will be many, many luxury EVs coming to market. Luxury car owners don't like waiting around for new toys. And there is no moat between Tesla and luxury EV brands like Porsche, et al. 

Bottom: Tesla bulls looking at Tesla backlog for orders are looking at the wrong metric, just as I was looking at the wrong metric six, seven years ago when I was looking at automobile sales records (volume).

Tesla has no moat.

"No One" Follows The Employment Numbers Any More -- So, Let's Provide A Random Update -- June 17, 2022

In the big scheme of things, the US job market looks great. Until we see the tide change and huge unemployment numbers, technically the US doesn't meet the criteria of stagflation, where employment is the third leg of the three-legged stool. 

Link here.

But it's all in the eye of the beholder, and more and more, "reality" is defined by the individual. 

Full employment: when U-3 is less than 4%. 

Alternative measures of labor underutilization, table A-15, US BLS, link here.

US civilian labor force participation rate, link here:


Global civilian labor force participation rate, link here:

Coal Is Back -- Although It Was Never Gone -- June 17, 2022

Phil Mickelson: +9 for the tournament; already +1 today after only four holes

Tesla: "anonymous" continues to write me that Tesla margins have never been better. Barron's tends to differ. After huge loss yesterday, TSLA up marginally (pun intended) today, but still trading below $650.

Australia's new Labor government orders coal-fired plants back online. Link here.

France: just in -- natural gas from Russia via Germany has come to a complete halt. 

Germany: the "greens" destroyed Europe's economic engine. Link here.

The Permian: misread by an expert / analyst. Link here.

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Back to the Bakken

Far Side: link here.

WTI:

Active rigs: 39 or thereabouts.

Friday, June 17, 2022: 25 for the month, 163 for the quarter, 323 for the year

  • 37329, conf, Petro-Hunt, Lovdahl 158-94-32C-29-2H, 

RBN Energy: RINs as a tax and a subsidy, part 2

For several years now, no single topic has caused more angst in refiners’ quarterly earnings calls than the seemingly arcane topic of renewable identification numbers, or RINs, which can have a big impact on a refiner’s financial performance. RINs are a feature of the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which requires renewable fuels like ethanol and bio-based diesel to be blended into fuels sold in the U.S. And depending on your point of view — farmer, refiner, blender, consumer, politician — you may have a very different perspective regarding RINs’ role as a tax and a subsidy. In today’s RBN blog, we dig into the fundamental aspects of RINs at the root of this long-running controversy and examine the role of RINs as a mechanism for forcing renewables into fuels.