Pages

Thursday, November 23, 2023

Chesapeake - Southwestern - Chord - Enerplus -- November 23, 2023

Locator: 46149INV.

Something seems messed up here. I can't get the URL for this story and I can't locate it again. Fortunately I have the screenshot and archived the full story.

There are two stories in this article: ruminations about a mashup involving:

  • Chesapeake and Southwestern; and,
  • Chord and Enerplus.

Archived

Headline:

From the article:

Kimmeridge Energy Management Co., which is among the most active and outspoken US oil and gas investors, said a merger of Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Southwestern Energy Co. would create one of the industry’s most sought-after stocks.

“There are only a few must-own stocks in the sector, and this would ultimately be one of them,” Mark Viviano, a managing partner at Kimmeridge, said in a statement.

Bloomberg reported in October that Chesapeake is considering buying Southwestern through a deal that would create one of the largest US natural gas producers. Kimmeridge is Chesapeake’s 13th largest shareholder. The companies didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Also in the same article
Despite the spate of large deals over the last several weeks, the universe of shale drillers remains highly fragmented and more consolidation is necessary, Kimmeridge founder Ben Dell said in an interview.

While he’s not involved with the talks, Dell said he’s optimistic Chesapeake and Southwestern will eventually hammer out a deal. The roadblocks in such negotiations are typically “personal,” he said.

“My experience in M&A is that who survives from the board and who survives from management are the one and two sticking points,” Dell said. “It is almost never about actual economics.”

Merger and acquisition activity has been accelerating among shale drillers as the sector matures and companies begin to exhaust their portfolios of undrilled opportunities. As a result, executive teams seeking to shore up reserves to ensure ample, future production are buying up rivals.

Another potential deal that makes sense would be between Chord Energy Corp. of Houston and Calgary-based Enerplus Corp., Viviano said. Both have production in the Bakken shale formation of North Dakota, and a combination of them would create a $10 billion company that would establish a platform for consolidation across the basin, Viviano said.

It should be noted that it seems I recall Enerplus said it would like to become an American (US) company. This might be one way to do that, regardless who buys whom. I could be wrong on that -- about thinking I read that about Enerplus becoming an American company.

iPhone 15 -- Which One To Buy -- Pro Vs Pro Max -- November 23, 2023

Locator: 46148AAPL.

Link here.

Apple recently unveiled the iPhone 15 Pro and ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max as the successors to the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, featuring a new titanium design, an Action button, a USB-C port, the A17 Pro chip, and more. As Apple's premium flagship offerings, the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max are the most fully-featured iPhones available.

The ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ starts at $999 and the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max starts at $1,199. For the Pro Max model, this is a $100 price increase over last year's model, but there is also no longer a 128GB storage configuration available for this device, meaning that it is effectively only a price hike if you normally buy this model.

Both phones have the same OLED Super Retina XDR always-on display with ProMotion and the Dynamic Island, the A17 Pro chip, 5G connectivity, a "Pro" rear camera setup, and are available in the same color options. Although the two phones share the vast majority of features, there are ten important differences between the devices. Our guide highlights the crucial differences between the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max, and helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two iPhone models is best for you.

Another review, scroll down to the camera comments.

Where this year’s iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max diverge the most is in the camera systems, as Apple has once again bolstered the optical zoom only on its larger model, giving the iPhone 15 Pro Max more range than the iPhone 15 Pro.

The only other time this happened was in 2020 with the iPhone 12 lineup, when the iPhone 12 Pro retained the 2x telephoto lens from its predecessor, while the iPhone 12 Pro Max got a bump to 2.5x along with a larger sensor.

That year, the iPhone 12 Pro Max had a clear photography advantage over the 6.1-inch model, and this year, Apple is repeating that by giving the iPhone 15 Pro Max a 5x optical zoom for its telephoto lens. By comparison, the iPhone 15 Pro retains the same 3x lens that’s been standard since the iPhone 13 Pro.

The reason for the difference — both in 2020 and now — seems to be a matter of physics. The smaller 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro didn’t have the room for the larger sensor Apple wanted to put in three years ago, and Apple’s unique new 5x tetra-prism lens won’t fit into the 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Pro.

*************************
Dolly

I hear Dolly Parton performed at halftime at today's Dallas Cowboys football game. I saw some of the game but missed the halftime show.

But this gives me a chance to show you what hangs on our common room (dining room, living room, entertainment room, and personal office) wall:

From The Bat Cave -- Season 1 Episode 2 -- November 23, 2023

Locator: 46147AAPL.

There are several story lines in this video, this story, but, as usual, I would fail in my attempt to articulate them, so I won't even try.

You are on your own.

First, is this a commercial or a short film? Or has someone morphed the two? 

All night in the bat cave, this "thing" keeps popping up on the big screen and because it's an "ad," I hit "skip" at five seconds not knowing what it's about.

Finally, after the sixth or so "showing," I give up and let it run. I'm curious. Who, what?

Now it's impossible to unsee this masterpiece and I keep watching it over and over. Link here.

Let's see if I can find the video with the same song that was posted some time ago, and was also brilliant? 

Oh, that's right, it was My Sweet Lord. Link here.

And, of course, this brings me to Vanessa Bayer, The Californians: The Thanksgiving Episode --

From The Bat Cave -- Season 1 Episode 1 -- November 23, 2023

Locator: 46146INV.

I don't know how this contributor ended up on my twitter feed, but I consider myself lucky he did. I've learned a bit about investing from him.

From today:

Two things Giuliano taught me today, as an investor, not a trader:

  • investors don't understand P/Es; and,
  • investors wait too long to pivot.

I live and breathe mom-and-pop retail investing, in which I mean I know nothing about bonds, nothing about inverted curves, nothing about short-selling, nothing about options, nothing about puts and calls. At the end of the day, all I know from the financial pages is the basic stuff -- market caps, P/Es, highs and lows. But I live and breathe mom-and-pop retail investing. I think about it 24/7. 

I think about -- and live and breathe -- only a handful of things, and pretty much in this order:

  • the love of my life;
  • music;
  • reading;
  • retail investing;
  • my extended family.

A basic question I ask when investing: if I were 20 years old would I want to work at this company for the rest of my life, for this CEO, and, if the answer is "yes," would I be willing to invest 100% of my retirement funds into this company's 401(k) or equivalent? If the answer to both questions is "yes," then I will invest in that company. If the answer to either question is "no," I won't invest. That seems pretty simple. [Obviously that question -- actually two questions -- needs to be re-asked periodically, not less than annually.]

In all my years of investing, I've only been really, really disappointed in three or four decisions and in all cases, I failed to pay attention to the answer to that question (or actually two questions).

**********************
From The Bat Cave

Thursday night, Thanksgiving. The Seattle Seahawks - 49ers game is a bust. Back to blogging and surfing YouTube. 

The story behind this song is fascinating; this new video makes the whole story even more poignant. 

Note the laptop late in the video.

Link here.

Holy mackerel, from where did this come??!! This is Radio Sky, The Chris Evans Breakfast Show -- the Brits -- specifically the English -- when it comes to music -- are brilliant -- and second to none.

Which led me to this:


I've "lived" this.  Very, very bittersweet. Long ago and far, far away.

Happy Thanksgiving -- November 23, 2023

Locator: 46145TECH.

I've not been to Japan in decades and I've never been to South Korea, but based on what I've read, Japan and South Korea are years ahead of the US when it comes to certain aspects of commercial technology. These videos are from our favorite sushi restaurant today where we celebrated Thanksgiving.

Can you imagine what "they're" doing in Japan and South Korea?




DUCs -- Monthly Update -- November 23, 2023

Locator: 46144DUCS.

DUCs in the Bakken at a record low.

From a reader, thank you very, very much:


Bakken


Drilled

Completed

DUCs

Dec-13

--

--

603

Jan-14

174

143

634

Feb-14

214

158

690

Mar-14

216

218

688

Apr-14

220

207

701

May-14

216

208

709

Jun-14

237

225

721

Jul-14

257

243

735

Aug-14

229

207

757

Sep-14

250

232

775

Oct-14

186

243

718

Nov-14

209

202

725

Dec-14

224

194

755

Jan-15

198

193

760

Feb-15

230

151

839

Mar-15

183

170

852

Apr-15

143

127

868

May-15

125

139

854

Jun-15

110

135

829

Jul-15

103

124

808

Aug-15

111

101

818

Sep-15

99

92

825

Oct-15

118

84

859

Nov-15

100

89

870

Dec-15

98

78

890

Jan-16

71

80

881

Feb-16

61

41

901

Mar-16

68

45

924

Apr-16

43

39

928

May-16

47

59

916

Jun-16

42

54

904

Jul-16

45

56

893

Aug-16

53

82

864

Sep-16

49

66

847

Oct-16

59

85

821

Nov-16

61

86

796

Dec-16

53

49

800

Jan-17

62

52

810

Feb-17

51

58

803

Mar-17

78

71

810

Apr-17

78

104

784

May-17

94

82

796

Jun-17

76

105

767

Jul-17

95

103

759

Aug-17

99

110

748

Sep-17

98

97

749

Oct-17

105

110

744

Nov-17

93

86

751

Dec-17

77

65

763

Jan-18

107

72

798

Feb-18

74

74

798

Mar-18

95

90

803

Apr-18

109

110

802

May-18

125

131

796

Jun-18

108

118

786

Jul-18

134

155

765

Aug-18

108

138

735

Sep-18

108

122

721

Oct-18

121

118

724

Nov-18

110

99

735

Dec-18

108

70

773

Jan-19

121

71

823

Feb-19

108

56

875

Mar-19

111

110

876

Apr-19

118

112

882

May-19

127

127

882

Jun-19

118

149

851

Jul-19

123

122

852

Aug-19

123

144

831

Sep-19

110

88

853

Oct-19

116

108

861

Nov-19

96

88

869

Dec-19

94

86

877

Jan-20

99

98

878

Feb-20

94

100

872

Mar-20

94

108

858

Apr-20

69

33

894

May-20

33

14

913

Jun-20

18

11

920

Jul-20

18

22

916

Aug-20

19

27

908

Sep-20

18

51

875

Oct-20

19

41

853

Nov-20

20

31

842

Dec-20

20

51

811

Jan-21

20

41

790

Feb-21

19

24

785

Mar-21

25

45

765

Apr-21

27

47

745

May-21

29

62

712

Jun-21

31

33

710

Jul-21

32

66

676

Aug-21

39

69

646

Sep-21

42

79

609

Oct-21

43

78

574

Nov-21

47

68

553

Dec-21

52

50

555

Jan-22

53

35

573

Feb-22

64

49

588

Mar-22

67

68

587

Apr-22

58

39

606

May-22

75

61

620

Jun-22

75

80

615

Jul-22

75

89

601

Aug-22

76

93

584

Sep-22

78

82

580

Oct-22

77

95

562

Nov-22

79

77

564

Dec-22

80

42

602

Jan-23

80

95

587

Feb-23

80

85

582

Mar-23

80

88

574

Apr-23

79

99

554

May-23

74

99

529

Jun-23

70

118

481

Jul-23

70

105

446

Aug-23

68

95

419

Sep-23

64

115

368

Oct-23

67

85

350