Daily Activity Report -- December 26, 2023

Locator: 46396B.

Amazon Prime: free for now. Will stay free, but will start adding commercials next month. One can continue to watch Prime Video without ads for $2.99 / month. 

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Back to the Bakken

Other than the permits / wells released today, no other activity reported.

WTI: $75.25.

Active rigs: 35. 

Electricity Bill -- December, 2023

Locator: 46395ELECTRICITY.

Everyone has heard:

• how hot it was in Texas this past summer; it's coming to an end;
• how the grid may not hold; it did! Easily.
  
• how expensive Texas electricity is; say what?
• my entire utility bill is less than what my entire Starbucks bill used to be (monthly statements)
• no "loyalty" rewards with Green Mountain Energy, just reliable, affordable electricity.
  

Last month we made no effort to conserve electricity; my wife washed and dried clothes as she wanted.

My wife is like her Japanese mother: doing laundry seems to be her favorite pastime, especially las toallas. She could do las toallas all day long if we had that many.

This is our most recent electricity bill, our entire utility bill except water which we pay with our rent. We do not have natural gas.

Average daily usage: 20 kWh vs 17 kWh last year, and 17 kWh last month.

$92.06 for December, 2023 and we don't live in a cave and we don't have the IDF knocking at our door. We  have it pretty good here in the USA. 

 

Happy New Year.

Okay.

WTI Surges -- Thank You, Houthis And Iran -- December 26, 2023

Locator: 46394INV.

WTI: up 3.44%; up $2.53 / bbl. Trading at $76.09. 

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The Market 2023 Going Into 2024

From The WSJ: 

Mentioned:

• S&P 500 ETF Trust
• bonds
• MMFs
• crypto

The "market, 2023 going into 2024" is tracked here.

WTI Surges — Mideast Turmoil — Boxing Day — December 26, 2023

Locator: 46393B.

IRS: record $4.9 trillion last fiscal year. Record attributed to more effective / efficient IRS.

Quick: Amazon Prime Chase — M/C or Visa? What’s in your wallet?

INTC: Israel. Record investment announced.

Seasonal flu: mixed report, but cases generally increasing. Nothing particularly alarming.

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $74.96.

Tuesday, December 26, 2023: 41 for the month; 190 for the quarter, 760 for the year
39501, conf, Enerplus, Brown Bear 157-99-1-12-4H, 
39299, conf, Slawson, Minx Federal 1 SLH, 
38258, conf, Hess, EN-State B-LE-155-93-0916H-1, 

Monday, December 25, 2023: 38 for the month; 187 for the quarter, 757 for the year
39647, conf, Grayson Mill, Fleck 150-100-1-23-6H, 
30263, conf, Slawson, Bazooka 1 SLH, 

Sunday, December 24, 2023: 36 for the month; 185 for the quarter, 755 for the year
39500, conf, Enerplus, Brown Bear 157-99-1-12-3H, 
39290, conf, Hess, GO-Tong Trust A-157-96-2032H-4, 

Saturday, December 23, 2023: 34 for the month; 183 for the quarter, 753 for the year
39646, conf, Grayson Mill, Fleck 150-100-1-12-5H, 
39497, conf, Enerplus, Brown Bear 158-99-36-25-3H,

RBN Energy: growth in NGL production and exports drives buildout of NGL networks.

Since the start of the Shale Revolution 15 years ago, U.S. NGL production has increased by an extraordinary 260% to more than 6.5 MMb/d. And it’s not just NGL production that’s up sharply. So are exports of NGL purity products, especially LPG (propane and normal butane) and ethane. All that growth — and the growth that’s still to come — wouldn’t be possible without a seemingly non-stop expansion of NGL-related infrastructure. Everything from gas processing plants and NGL pipelines to salt-dome storage, fractionators and export docks. And much of that infrastructure is in the hands of just a few large midstream companies that over the years have developed “well-to-water” NGL networks that enable their owners to collect multiple fees along the NGL value chain.

KFC, Christmas, And Japan -- December 26, 2023

Locator: 46392MARKETING.

I find this fascinating.

Link here. 

Link here.

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 Beating Inflation

Walgreens.

12.99 / 3 = $4.33 per 12-12-oz can case. The best I find elsewhere is $7.99 at Walmart which might go on sale for $5.99.

Having said that, I no longer buy Coke in 12-oz cans. I either buy Coke in the small 7.5-oz cans or in the 8-oz plastic bottles, currently $6.18 / six-pack, website. 

Focus On Fracking -- December 26, 2023

Locator: 46391FRACK.

Focus on fracking: link here.

• US oil production at a record high: US gasoline exports at a 12 month high; DUC well backlog falls to 4.7 months.
• Fudge factor: based on that reported & estimated data, the crude oil figures provided by the EIA for the week ending December 15th appear to indicate that our total working supply of oil from net imports, from transfers, and from oilfield production was 385,000 barrels per day less than what what was added to storage plus what our oil refineries reported they used during the week. 
• to account for that difference between the apparent supply of oil and the apparent disposition of it, the EIA just inserted a [ +385,000] barrel per day figure onto line 16 of the weekly U.S. Petroleum Balance Sheet in order to make the reported data for the supply of oil and for the consumption of it balance out, a fudge factor that they label in their footnotes as “unaccounted for crude oil”, thus suggesting there was an error in the week’s oil supply & demand figures that we have just transcribed.... 
• moreover, since 1,046,000 barrels of oil demand per day could not be unaccounted for in last week’s data, that means there was a 1,431,000 barrel per day difference between this week's oil balance sheet error and the EIA's crude oil balance sheet error from a week ago, and hence the changes to supply and demand from that week to this one that are indicated by this week's report are off by that much, and therefore useless​...

EOY -- Chips -- Market -- December 26, 2023

 Locator: 46390CHIPS.

Links.

Link here. TSM, Motley Fool.

Link here. NVDA, Motley Fool.

Link here. AI to power the market in 2024.

Link here. Market to surge in 2024, Motley Fool.

Link here. Apple, Barron's.

Link here. Nvidia, the Pelosis, Benzinga.

Link here. Texas tops US states in 2023 debt sales with no signs of slowing.

Link here. NVDA, blog post. Locator: 45876INV.

Link here. S&P 500 closes higher Friday, registers longest weekly win streak since 2017.  CNBC.

EOY -- Global Geopolitics -- December 25, 2023

Locator: 46389GEOPOL.  

Gaza

Link here. Gaza. Israel vows to fight on. A lot of Israelis may not like Netanyahhu but the country has few options.

Anti-semitism: in vogue on college campuses. Harvard leading the way.

Blocking US airports.  How to win friends and influence people.

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Ukraine

Multiple links. Ukraine looking more dire. Putin wins. Many Americans cheering on Putin.

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Iran

Looking to create wider conflict?

Maersk beginning to return to Red Sea?

Direct attack on US military with injuries?

How to win friends and influence people.

EOY -- Southern Surge -- December 25, 2023

Locator: 46388SURGE. 

Links.

Link here. Migrants per day. December 21, 2023.

Link here. Texas struggling.

Link here. Chicago.