The Million Dollar Way (The Bakken Oil Blog): 07/24/23

Monday, July 24, 2023

WTI Just Cleared $79!! July 24, 2023

Locator: 45192WTI.

Up 2.67%. Up $2.06. Trading at $79.13 just before midnight, CDT.

Recent Trip -- Euless, TX -- Portland, OR -- Return -- July 24, 2023

Locator: 45191TRIP.

Mileage data for recent trip from Euless, TX (near Dallas) to Portland, OR, and back.

The mileage and gasoline data are close to exact, but times (third column) could be off a little.

We drove straight through both going to / returning from, sleeping along the road except for one night, July 16, 2023, when we stayed in a Day's Inn near Twin Falls, UT. That was a particularly exhausting day, having made some wrong turns in Cheyenne, WY, area; almost running out of gasoline; and, changing plans abruptly with regard to ultimate destination.

We had originally planned to drive first to Flathead Lake, Montana, and then drive to Portland, Oregon, from there. But somewhere in the Cheyenne, Wyoming, area, we decided to bypass Montana completely and head straight to Portland.

We were driving a 2023 Nissan Altima rented from Enterprise Rental, and we drove it at speed limit or slightly above. On freeway or major roads, most stretches had posted speed limits of 70, 75, or 80 mph.

We stopped often during the day for various reasons. We took two-hour naps two or three times through the nights. We spent several hours in Arches National Park and Moab, Utah.

Comment	Date	Time	Mileage	Gallons	Price/Gallon	Total	Miles	MPG	Price/Mile	MPH
Euless, TX	July 15, 2023	1930	12399
		2115	12504
		2335	12660
	July 16, 2023	118	12749	8.69	$3.16	$27.45	350	40.29	$0.08
Cheyenne, WY		1238	13297	13.76	$3.49	$48.02	548	39.83	$0.09
Rock Springs, WY		1643	13609	8.30	$3.45	$28.64	312	37.59	$0.09
Twin Falls, UT (nr)	Lodging - one night	2016
Twin Falls, UT (nr)	July 17, 2023	1000	13976	8.75	$3.79	$33.16	367	41.94	$0.09
Dalles, OR		1851	14428	12.63	$4.79	$60.50	452	35.79	$0.13
Portland, OR		2000	14503				75
RETURN TRIP
Portland, OR			14503
Hood River, OR	July 20, 2023	1953	14503
	July 21, 2023	313	14865	10.36	$3.86	$39.99	362	34.94	$0.11
	July 21, 2023	1145	15303	10.85	$3.99	$43.29	438	40.37	$0.10
Farmington, NM	July 21, 2023	2200	15757	10.48	$3.70	$38.77	454	43.32	$0.09
	July 22, 2023	911	16224	10.35	$3.15	$32.59	467	45.14	$0.07
Euless, TX	July 22, 2023	1400	16542	8.15	$3.22	$26.23	318	39.03	$0.08

Totals			4143			$378.63	4143
Averages				102.31	$3.66			39.82	$0.09
								40.49	$0.09

****
Chillicothe, Texas

Our favorite road-side stand along the entire trip, about three hours northwest of Dallas.

Wiki entry here.

WTI: Prices Climbing -- Trending Toward $79 Tonight -- July 24, 2023

Locator: 45190B.

Finally?

Will this continue -- WTI trending higher?

If this continues, we could see another huge day for the Dow tomorrow.

*****************************
Investing -- For The Archives

Usual disclaimers. No recommendations.

This one was nice to see. About two years ago I added FCX to my bucket of beaten-down semiconductor / copper / metals bucket. From that bucket I would add to my position(s) twice each month. From the bucket I would choose among ten or so ticker symbols.

That bucket was originally only semiconductor chip companies (about seven) but then I added SCCO and FXP for the copper also needed by the tech industry. SCCO has not been particularly noteworthy, but it is what it is.

This was one bucket, the "chip" bucket. I have three other buckets (big cap / dividend; oil / associated; Big Pharma; and, Daimler Truck). In all, there are about forty stocks from which I choose, but generally only about twenty "make the grade" any more. The total number of stocks will not increase; if I want to add a new stock, which is very, very seldom, something else has to go.

I would like to get to twenty stocks as the maximum number from which to choose, but right now seven tech companies make up a huge part of that twenty / forty.

AAPL is no longer in the tech bucket; it's been moved to big cap / dividend and because of it's big position in the portfolio, I'm not adding any more, with occasional exceptions.

I used to park money in T (ATT) but will now park money in VZ where it can be held for up to two months but then has to be sold, and cash used to accumulate shares from the various buckets.

Except for that parking of cash in T/VZ, I never, never, never sell any shares of anything once bought, with very rare exception, and a sale has to be for a very, very good reason based on my rolling 30-year horizon.

Fully invested all the time. By the end of each month I attempt to zero out all cash except that being parked in VZ.

It sounds complicated; it's not. It makes my investing so much more rewarding.

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EV Charging Systems

Important article here. Not publicly traded. Dollar amount is trivial. Huge competition from those with deep pockets: Tesla, Daimler, Volvo.

Note where the company is focused: California, Oregon, and Washington.

Identical to Volvo-Daimler's "big-rig" I-5 corridor initiative.

This will be a fascinating story to see play out.

"New cars" means that cars being registered for the first time in the state.

"Ten years from now."

It's moving fast.

If there is push back or if the infrastructure can't support it, the state could "tweak" existing law to exteend the mandate on a yearly basis. In addition, the state could "modulate" buying habits by increasing the cost of registering a "new" vehicle that is not an EV.

This will be absolutely fascinating to watch this play out.

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Is Off-Shore Wind Dead? July 24, 2023

Locator: 45189WIND.

Updates

July 25, 2023: hope springs eternal.

link here;

Original Post

All of a sudden this has become a big story. Big article in Barron's this month about the demise of off-shore US wind projects due to inflation.

Off-shore wind:

Link here.

dead?
Spanish-based Iberdrola to abandon Massachusetts off-shore project.
the US east coast elite can rest easy; off-shore projects delayed, deferred, defeated.

let Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Oregon carry the load

few Americans have a dog in this fight; most don't care;
Texas: maybe a pleasant surprise for faux environmentalists.
other links:

2023: Rhode Island's wind strategy is unraveling -- climate change goals now endangered.
2023: inflation, interest rates, whales -- why offshore wind projects are on the rocks.
2023: wind turbine costs.
2016: cost of wind farm.

Putin's War -- Ukraine -- July 24, 2023

Locator: 451852GEO.

Sweden: now part of NATO.

European realignment: huge.

Several links:

American Empire, 1945 - 2000: The Rise Of A Global Power, The Democratic Revolution At Home, Joshua B. Freeman, c. 2012. 973.92FRE.
1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe, Mary Elise Sarotte, c. 2009. 940.55SAR.
1917: War, Peace, and Revolution, David Stevenson, c. 2017. 940.3STE.
Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization, Richard Miles, c. 2010. 939.73MIL.

One certainly gets the feeling that the Ukraine war is much like what WWI was in 1917: a stalemate.

Market -- Dow -- Extends Rally To Eleven Days -- Longest Rally In Six Years -- July 24, 2023

Locator: 45185INV.

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.

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