Hess With Four New Permits; Sixteen Permits Renewed -- April 27, 2023

Locator: 44487B.  

Earnings tomorrow, updated as results come in, link here:

• BRK — forecast: $5,522.20.
• CVX — beats. 
• XOM — first quarter record profit. Huge beat. Firing on all cylinders. Playing hardball with PXD.

XOM:  income rose to $11.43 billion, or $2.79 per share, compared with $5.48 billion a year ago which included a writedown to exit Russia. Barron’s says $2.83. Whisper number: $2.69. Wall Street number: $2.65. Pre-market, Friday: turns green.

Eggs: !!!

Best link today: here, WSJ. Finally.

• I put neither eggs nor butter in the refrigerator.

Good for him, without an agent? This could have been yours, Kaepernick.

Poolside. Thursday night, after an incredible day on Wall Street, enjoying a -- what am I enjoying? -- oh, there it is: a rum and Coke. And watching the mallards in the pool. They certainly are fun to watch.

I would give a lot to be able to share a beer with Hunter S Thompson but I would give even more to re-live a moment in time in 2005. And 1977. And 1975. Or whenever it was. I think my adult life began on a cross country trip from Nashville, TN, to Westfield, NJ, in 1975. I still remember the conversation with the waitress in eastern Tennessee, 7:00 p.m. or thereabouts on a Friday night, probably in late May.  

As detailed as my diaries are, I wish I had written more.

Wow, how I'm looking forward to summer. When you hit a certain age, for me, 72 years of age, every day is more precious than the day before.That's why I spend every evening poolside when I can. Tomorrow, a huge hailstorm / tornado weather predicted.

Memories -- back to Menwith Hill Station, Yorkshire, England. Listening to BBC all night long. Best music ever. Seriously, listening to the radio all night long, not wanting to fall asleep, knowing that I would never enjoy life so much. I literally watched the minutes tick by for twelve hours. For me, the best part of life is/was all about relationships. 

But I digress.

Link here.

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs: 40. 

WTI: $74.73.

Natural gas: $2.346.

Four new permits, #39856 - #39859, inclusive;

• Operator: Hess
• Field: Tioga (Mountrail)
• Comments:
• Hess has permits for two EN-Lokken wells and two EN-Charles Wood wells, NENE 17-157-94; 
• to be sited 404 FNL and between 1052 FEL and 1151 FEL.

Sixteen permits renewed:

• CLR (11): three Chloe (Williams); eight McClintock (Williams);
• Oasis (5): five Domalakes, Cottonwood oil field (first "discovered by Fidelity/MDU), now Oasis, Burke County.

Tim Cook, Steve Jobs, Apple, And Disney -- April 23, 2023

Flashback, from November 14, 2019: 

First things first: Apple, Inc., was scheduled to pay its quarterly dividend today. Tim Cook owns around 900,000 shares. If so, he should receive a check for about $700,000 today. At one time the largest AAPL shareholder, he still may be, was Arthur Levinson with around 1.2 million shares of AAPL. Steve Jobs accumulated more wealth from Disney than from Apple. Whatever. How did I get on this track? Time to jump off.

And Then We Have Tucker -- April 27, 2023

Locator: 34500TU.

Most egregious story of the day, from The Los Angeles Times:

• there's no way this went on for eleven years without "anyone" knowing about this;
• a few others need to spend time in prison
• but let's go ahead and say what others are thinking: well, those UCLA co-eds are attractive; ready-made for a TV series: "Baywatch, the sequel: UCLA 90024." In high definition, 3-D, and optimized for Apple AR/VR
  
• meanwhile, the GOP is worried about RuPaul in schools and free cans of beer to Dylan; oh, give me a break

Ditto:

Readers: I'm getting surprisingly few (as in "none) e-mails regarding this subject. Maybe time to stir the tea leaves / ashes: link here. I don't need a weatherman to tell me which way the wind is blowing. LOL.

When one fires the #1 talk show moderator, there has to be something "huge" that precipitated that
the firing came out of the blue

• there had been no public controversy -- ever -- about whether he stays or goes
• it just happened
• and, yet, still no explanation

Apple savings, two links:

• too convenient? WSJ. Thesis: folks will use their savings account like an ATM machine.
• my first thought: a different reading of human behavior
• would you rather park your cash in a non-interest paying checking account?
• more to say on this later, perhaps
• Apple: sucking people deeper into their ecosystem. Okay. Link here.
• bigger news: did you see how "big" Apple Savings will become!
  

Motley Fool on BRK. Link here. Wow, it must be a slow day everywhere. 

California bullet train (s): now there are two.

• update on first one. Yes, I'm having a slow start, also, to the day.
• second one: LA to LV.
• one wonders: would a "big thinker / change agent" think differently
• how about an LA airport, perhaps at the junction of I-210 and I-15 dedicated to nothing but non-stops to LV (and return, of course)
• completely streamline the process
• start by allowing on TSA pre-check, LV-vetted flyers onto the complex and then go from there
• golf cart lifts from car to terminal
• guarantee no more than 15 minutes inside terminal
• no reservations: 
• scheduled departures on the hour at peak travel times; on the even hour during peak periods
• planes depart when 90% full, regardless of scheduled time of departure
  
• regardless, no plane sits on ground longer than 20 minutes
• think of this as a air-way (like the subway)
  
• this could be loads of fun 
  

Apple Valley: has anyone looked at the map; by the time you've driven to Apple Valley, you might as well just finish the drive to Las Vegas.

• San Pedro to Apple Valley: two hours
• Huntington Beach to Apple Valley: two hours
• flight time, Apple Valley to Las Vegas: one hour 
• San Pedro to I-210 / I-15 junction: one hour
  

Received bipartisan support this past week:

Started Off Slowly -- Then Ended With A Bang -- For Amazon -- April 27, 2023

Locator: 44486B.  

See California story below regarding diesel locomotives. The California board approved the measure. It now requires approval by US EPA. See story here.

Market Close

Amazon: link here.

After the close:

• AMZN: at the close, up 4.6%; up $4.84; trading at $109.82. After hours, after the release: up another 8.2%; up $9.02; trading at $119.00. [119-105/105 = 13% jump.]
  

• INTC: at the close, up 2.8%; up $0.81; trading at $29.86. After hours, after the release: down 1.5%; down $0.44; trading at $29.42.

• AMZN: link here.

• INTC: link here. One word investors don't like to see -- "staggering."

Link here.

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Rambling

After the close:

• AMZN: link here.
• INTC: link here. One word investors don't like to see -- "staggering."

Market talk.

• I'm only watching two companies today: AAPL and PXD.
• A reader sent me a note regarding the city of Los Angeles voting on whether to impose strict new conditions on diesel locomotives (think UNP and BRK-BNSF).

Story here.

My not-ready-for-prime reply:

For an investor, another open book test.

"We" have a huge GE locomotive manufacturing site north of Ft Worth, located where the center of the population for DFW is projected to be in 2050.

Huge, huge news for GE, Ft Worth, if Los Angeles votes to impose restrictions.

BRK-BNSF and UNP will simply cycle new locomotive purchases with new guidelines in mind. I think it’s a non-story in the big scheme of things. 

On another note, PXD is certainly interesting. Biggest producer in the Permian. XOM ready to pounce?

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Musical Interlude 

Posting again: it's that good.

Updates

Later, 2:12 p.m. CT:

Later, 12:55 p.m. CT: for the archives. Link here.

Later, 12:51 p.m. CT: for the archives. Let's see if folks can connect the dots.

Later, 12:31 p.m. CT:

Original Post

Wow! Starting off to be a very boring day; something tells me that's not going to last. LOL. 

When things are this slow, I may have to introduce a new feature. 

CNBC: above the fold.

GM: raised guidance, but stock fell. 

I don't think young journalists get it -- for the big spenders -- those seniors getting social security for the first time and going out and buying a new GM luxury sedan -- "electric" is "woke." Not gonna sell.

Next time you are out and about, look who is driving a GM luxury sedan. Spoiler alert: it's not a soccer mom.

The real reason GM stock is not moving? There's no hurry. It will be years before we see 20% EV penetration. With GM stock, there's no MOJO, no FOMO, no YOLO. If one is going to spend $65,000 on an EV, one might as well look at what Porsche has to offer.

GDP:

• at 1.1% for 1Q23, it's way better than -2.5%! LOl.
• GDPNow had this exactly right -- two days ago, GDPNow: 1.1%.

INTC: reports today.

Spanish phrase of the day: pastel de bodas.What a great etymology.

• bodas: wedding
• casada: married

Brewer of the Day: Melvin Brewing, Alpine, WY.

• local: Sunspanked, Lazy Dog, Glade Parks, DFW, TX
• I was treated so nicely there (Lazy Dog) yesterday, I may go back today. Seriously, LOL.
• one wonders if marketing heavy hors d'oeuvres as part of "beer club" package makes more sense than upgrade from 16 oz to 22 oz? Just throwing that out there? Sort of like free popcorn, peanuts, one used to see at bars; now, not so much.
  

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs: 42. 

Peter Zeihan newsletter.

WTI: $74.30.

Natural gas: $2.309.

Friday, April 28, 2023: 49 for the month; 49 for the quarter, 304 for the year
38524, conf, Oasis, Lindvig Beck Federal 5201 41-2 5B,
38524, conf, Oasis, Rynn Lee Federal 5201 41-2 6B,
38438, conf, Hess, EN-Farhart-156-93-0409H-8,

Thursday, April 27, 2023: 46 for the month; 46 for the quarter, 301 for the year
37291, conf, CLR, Irgens Rexall 9-19HSL1,
37290, conf, CLR, Irgens Rexall 8-19H,

RBN Energy: TC Energy's Gilllis accessto help shape Louisiana's LNG market, part 4.

The U.S. won’t add new LNG export capacity this year for the first time since it became an exporter in 2016. But that lull is not going to last long. At least five facilities are under construction and due for completion in the next few years, several other expansions were recently sanctioned, and there are more final investment decisions (FIDs) on the way. With export development expected to accelerate in the coming years, the race to debottleneck feedgas pipeline routes is on. More natural gas pipeline capacity will be needed, particularly for moving gas supply to the Louisiana coast, where the bulk of new liquefaction will be sited. In today’s RBN blog, we resume our series on the pipeline expansions targeting LNG export demand, this time highlighting TC Energy’s Gillis Access Project and how it fits into the Louisiana LNG market picture.