AI -- Truly Amazing -- December 26, 2024

Locator: 44537AI.

This is simply amazing. Broadcom -- AVGO -- up 50% in the past month.

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The Bakken Revolution

We've been talking about this on the blog for years. Link here.

Crude oil production in the U.S. Lower 48 states, which excludes Alaska and offshore production, reached a record 11.3 million barrels per day in November 2024, according to our estimate in the latest Short-Term Energy Outlook published on December 10.

Crude oil production in the L48 states increased 3% year over year despite fewer active rigs in most major producing regions, demonstrating gains in operational efficiency.

Rigs drill oil wells, and an increased number of active drilling rigs indicates that U.S. producers are drilling more wells, which generally results in growing oil production.

Our latest STEO shows the active rig count decreased year over year in 2024 through November in all L48 primary crude oil producing regions except the Bakken. The region with the most activity, the Permian Basin, declined from 310 rigs to 303 rigs between November 2023 and November 2024. The active rig count for these regions, which includes the Permian, Eagle Ford, and Bakken, declined 18% to 389 rigs since the recent January 2023 high.

Data on 34 publicly traded exploration and production companies also suggest increasing well productivity is helping reduce companies’ production cost per barrel.

Oil and natural gas companies are increasingly leveraging technological advances, including artificial intelligence, electronic hydraulic fracturing technologies, and automated drilling processes, to optimize operations while operating fewer rigs, according to trade press. This shift toward digital solutions has improved drilling and completion techniques and reduced rig downtime, and it provides advanced analytics to help target future operations.

These technological solutions have allowed producers to increase production rates for rigs as they drill new wells. Improved performance is particularly evident in the Permian region, where we observed a 9% year-over-year increase in November’s crude oil productivity per active rig.

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $69.62.

Active rigs: 33 (a recent record low)

One new permits:

• Operator: Hunt Oil
• Field: Ross (Mountrail)
• Comments:
• Hunt Oil has a permit for a State A well, SWSW 3-156-90, to be sited 357 FSL and 453 FWL

Four permits renewed:

• Hess (2): RS-State, Parshall, Mountrail County;
• CLR (2): Salem, Dollar Joe, Williams

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Disclaimer
Brief Reminder 

• I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.
• I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 
• See disclaimer. This is not an investment site. 
• 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 something appears wrong, it probably is. Feel free to fact check everything.
  
• 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. 
• Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.
• I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 
• And now, Nvidia, also. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Nvidia. Nvidia is a metonym for AI and/or the sixth industrial revolution.
  
• Longer version here.  
  

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My First New Car -- A 1973 Chevy Nova SS
Best Christmas Gift Ever! LOL!