Week 20: May 15, 2023 -- May 21, 2023

Locator: 44694B. 

Top story:

• Joe Biden is still president.

Top international non-energy story:

• Russian-Ukraine war continues. Ukraine's counter-offensive yet to begin.
• Biden agrees to train Ukraine pilots to fly F-16s; EU will provide F-16s.
  

Top international energy story: 

• 
  

Top national non-energy story:

• Debt ceiling still up in the air.
• Bud-Mulvaney story now a month old and not letting up.
  

Top national energy story: 

• ONEOK to buy Magellen Midstream Pipeline.

Focus on fracking: most recent edition.

Top North Dakota non-energy story:

• 
  

Top North Dakota energy story:

• 
  

Geoff Simon's top North Dakota energy stories:

•  Quick connects.
  

Bakken economy:

Commentary:

Entertainment: 

The Enerplus Whale Wells

Locator: 44693B.  

The wells:

• 21752, 646, Enerplus, Beluga 148-93-06B-05-3H; t2/13; cum 257K 3/23;
• 21751, 646, Enerplus, Humpback 148-93-06B-05-4H TF; t8/12; cum 271K 3/23;

38115, Fin,
38091, Orca,
38092, Baleen,
38093, Sei,
38094, Omura,

38095, Blue,
38096, Brydes,
38097, Narwhal,
38116, Right,

The Brydes Whale -- May 19, 2023

Locator: 44692W. 

From wiki:

Bryde's whale (pronounced "brood-us"), or the Bryde's whale complex, putatively comprises three species of rorqual and maybe four. The "complex" means the number and classification remains unclear because of a lack of definitive information and research.

The common Bryde's whale (Balaenoptera brydei, Olsen, 1913) is a larger form that occurs worldwide in warm temperate and tropical waters, and the Sittang or Eden's whale (Balaenoptera edeni, Anderson, 1879) is a smaller form that may be restricted to the Indo-Pacific.

Also, a smaller, coastal form of B. brydei is found off southern Africa, and perhaps another form in the Indo-Pacific differs in skull morphology, tentatively referred to as the Indo-Pacific Bryde's whale

The recently described Omura's whale (B. omurai, Wada et al. 2003), was formerly thought to be a pygmy form of Bryde's, but is now recognized as a distinct species. Rice's whale (B. ricei), which makes its home solely in the Gulf of Mexico, was once considered a distinct population of Bryde's whale, but in 2021 it was described as a separate species.

B. brydei gets its specific and common name from Johan Bryde, Norwegian consul to South Africa, who helped establish the first modern whaling station in the country, while B. edeni gets its specific and common names from Sir Ashley Eden, former High Commissioner of Burma (Myanmar). Sittang whale refers to the type locality of the species.

Chord Energy: Looking For M&A Oppoortunities To "Bulk Up" In The Bakken -- May 19, 2023

Locator: 44691B. 

Chord Energy: to bulk up in the Bakken, divest non-core, Hart Energy. 

Trans Mountain Expansion Costs Balloon -- May 19, 2023

Locator: 44690PL.

Canada's "Bullet Train." LOL. From oilprice.com:

Canada's Trans Mountain Expansion crude oil pipeline needs more funds as construction costs have skyrocketed, Canada's federal government said on Friday

"Given the significant expenditures expected ... [Trans Mountain Corporation] will require the continued availability of future financing in order to proceed with the project," the Canada Development Investment Corporation (CDEV) said in its 2022 annual report.

The Trans Mountain Pipeline was due for an expansion years ago, but the former owner, Kinder Morgan, was planning on killing in the project so the federal government stepped in and forced Trans Mountain Corporation to finish the project

In 2017, the project was estimated at C$7.4 billion, but by March 2023, the estimated costs had ballooned to a staggering C$30.9 billion—or $22.3 billion.

Staggering? The Canadians haven't seen "staggering" until they've seen the bullet train. LOL. 

But back to the pipeline: at the link above the story continues, and it sounds even worse than the lede. The story has just begun. 

***************************
Back to the Bakken

Chord Energy: to bulk up in the Bakken, divest non-core, Hart Energy. 

Active rigs: 35.

WTI: $71.55.

Natural gas: $2.585.

Two new permits, i#39911 - #39912, inclusive:

• Operator: CLR
• Field: Little Knife (Dunn County)
• Comments:
• CLR has permits for an Arthur well and a Hegler well, SESE 12-146-97; 
• one to be sited 232 FSL and 820 FEL; the other to be sited 200 FSL and 820 FEL.

Three permits renewed:

• XTO: one Edwards Trust Federal and two Satter permits, the former in Haystack Butte, the latter twwo iin Siverston, all in McKenzie County.

Five producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 38096, 4,030, Enerplus, Brydes 148-93-05D-06H,
• 38097, 3,067, Enerplus, Narwhal 148-93-05D-06H,
• 38115, 1,567, Enerplus, Fin 148-93-05D-06H,
• 38116, 2,837, Enerplus, Right 148-93-05D-06H-LL,
• 38124, 1,860, CLR, Dennis FIU 4-8H,

Buffett -- OXY -- Update -- May 19, 2023

Locator: 44689WTI. 

AAPL -- May 19, 2023

Locator: 44688AAPL. 

Just broke through it's 52-week high?

• 52-week high: $176.15.
• last trade, pre-market: $176.20; up and down, fluctuating a bit
• and this was just after paying its quarterly dividend yesterday
  

Needs to be fact-checked.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them. 

Again, all my posts are done quickly. There will be typographical and content errors in all my posts. If any of my posts are important to you, go to the source.

One can lead horses to water but you can't make them drink.

Link here.

Market: I can't be sure about this but I believe AAPL is flirting with its all-time high.

Disney For The Archives -- May 19, 2023

Locator: 44687ARCH. 

Disney: this story is everywhere, so realy no need to post it. But I post it for the archives. How does a governor screw things up so badly so quickly? DeSantis and I parted company months ago. For me, he represents everything that's wrong with the GOP.

This was going to be a $1 billion entirely new employee complex. Think of all the other businesses that would have benefited from this. Plus, the 2,000 Disney employees working in California scheduled to moved to Florida will not be going to Florida.

My hunch: Bob Iger had doubts from the beginning whether this was a good time to spend $1 billion on an employee complex -- this gave him the perfect excuse to at least postpone it. He can always come back to it.

*******************************
Here We Go Again -- What Were They Thinking?

******************************
Some Like It Hot

When will viewers demand Some Like It Hot be removed from TCM?

Weber -- May 19, 2023

Locator: 44687G. 

 So many story lines on so many levels. Maybe I will get back to this later, but I doubt it.

ONEOK - Magellan -- RBN Energy -- May 19, 2023

Locator: 44686B.

Active rigs: 34.

Peter Zeihan newsletter.

WTI: $73.11. (Deere-related?)

Natural gas: $2.569.

Monday, May 22, 2023: 35 for the month; 87 for the quarter, 342 for the year
38854, conf, Whiting, Littlefield 11-21HU,
37851, conf, Slawson, Loon Federal 6-24-25TFH,

Sunday, May 21, 2023: 33 for the month; 85 for the quarter, 340 for the year
38970, conf, Hess, GO-Aslakson-156-97-2734H-3,
37852, conf, Slawson, Loon Federal 7-24-25TFH,

Saturday, May 20, 2023: 31 for the month; 83 for the quarter, 338 for the year
39287, conf, CLR, Smouse 9-28H,

Friday, May 19, 2023: 30 for the month; 82 for the quarter, 337 for the year
37853, conf, Slawson, Genekat Federal 7-13-12TFH,

RBN Energy: Does ONEOK's Magellan deal give it enough scale and Permian presence? Archived.

The feeling is almost palpable among midstreamers: In a fast-changing energy industry, the companies that gather, transport, store and export hydrocarbons need to consolidate and augment — and be smart about how they get bigger. Scale, that’s the key. That — plus complementary assets that provide synergies, lower costs and increase free cash flow, a sizable portion of which can be returned to shareholders as dividends and buybacks — is what investors are looking for. Oh, and don’t forget this important M&A goal: gaining a larger footprint and a more prominent role in the Permian, the dominant U.S. production area. ONEOK, a midstream company heretofore primarily focused on moving NGLs and natural gas, earlier this week announced an $18.8 billion agreement to acquire Magellan Midstream Partners, which is best known for pipelines that transport refined products and crude oil. In today’s RBN blog, we and our friends at East Daley Analytics kick the tires, look under the hood, and give our thoughts on the deal’s pros and potential cons.

Deere -- May 19, 2023

Locator: 44685INV.