WTI Slips After API Build -- May 10, 2023

Locator: 44607B. 

Market: holy mackerel! The market surges in pre-market trading when CPI numbers released this morning. Soft landing and goldilocks economy. 

Inflation watch: occasionally tracked here:

• eggs: $2.59 (Target) -- twenty cents less expensive than a year ago;
• white bread: $1.89 -- vs $1.19 exactly one year ago -- obviously grocers are trying to taking advantage of "inflation"; there's no way white bread should increase from $1.19 to $1.89 in one year if CPI figures out today show 4.9% increase y/y
• diet Coke, 2-liter bottle: $2.79 -- about the same; possibly twenty cents less expensive;

US postage: to go into effect July 9, 2023, if no pushback, story here. The last increase, from 60 cents to 63 cents was earlier this year?

Spoiler: let's see who gets the blame when the debt limit vote is delayed.

Let's go, Brandon --> Let's go, Bud.

Parade: I was unaware of this until tomorrow because I did not attend the parade. Putin's biggest military parade this past week featured one tank -- WWII vintage. Pick one, the first three choices don't count:

• strapped for cash
• strapped for tanks
• strapped for qualified drivers
• all of the above

 
Personally, I would like to see a bit more analysis by Peter Zeihan on this story.

Apparently, the US Army is running short of ammunition due to Putin's war. If that's correct, can you imagine the challenges the Russian army is facing? In war, it's all about logistics ... "for want of a nail." 

LCID: wider loss than forecast despite Saudi funding this luxury EV manufacturer. It must be an important story, Charles Kennedy is reporting it.

• how big was the revenue miss? Huge: $149.4 million vs $209.9 million forecast;
• the net loss widened at $779.5 million (1Q23) vs $81.3 million for same period a year earlier, 1Q22.

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs: 38.

Peter Zeihan newsletter.

WTI: $72.82.

Natural gas: $2.228.

Thursday, May 11, 2023: 12 for the month; 64 for the quarter, 319 for the year
38877, conf, Whiting, Smith 12-7TFX, 

Wednesday, May 10, 2023: 11 for the month; 63 for the quarter, 318 for the year 
None.

RBN Energy: the race to debottleneck Louisiana feedgas routes: pre-FID projects, part 5. 

New U.S. LNG export projects battling rising labor and equipment costs and/or financing woes have one more thing to worry about that the first wave of projects didn’t: ensuring the feedgas supply will be there when they need it. Bottlenecks have already developed for moving natural gas volumes to the Louisiana coast, where the bulk of future export capacity will be sited. As more liquefaction capacity is built out and more export projects are greenlighted, a lot more pipeline capacity will be needed to move feedgas supply from the Haynesville and other supply basins into southern Louisiana and across the last mile to the terminals. In today’s RBN blog, we conclude our roundup of pipeline expansions in the Bayou State that would help ease transportation constraints and balance the market, this time with a look at announced-but-yet-to-be sanctioned greenfield pipeline expansions, along with an update on their associated export projects.