Week 45: November 10, 2024 -- November 16, 2024

Locator: 48743TOPSTORIES.

Trump appointees tracked here.

It's hard to think of a bigger story than Doug Burgum being named:

• Secretary of Interior; and,
• chair of the new National Energy Council which is now part of the National Security Council

Trump names the "dynamic duo":

• Doug Burgum
• Chris Wright

Trump nominations:

• SecDefense
• Attorney Journal
• HHS

So "shocking," that all one can say at this point: we'll have to see how this plays out. 

From Geoff Simon:

• ND PSC approves Summit CO2 pipeline company; company urged to respect landowner rights;
• 332 miles of 24-inch diameter pipeline in North Dakota; part of a more than 2,000-mile network of pipelines in five states
• ND state legislature asked to consider nuclear energy
• flares contributed to western ND wildfires
• Biden administration approved a new methane emissions tax; will likely be repealed by new Congress, Trump administration
• permanent reduced speed limit on Highway 1804 in the Trenton area, from Trenton to the Marley Crossing, effective November 13; generally, from 65 mph to 55 mph
  

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Top North Dakota story: former governor of North Dakota named Secretary, Department of Interior. 

Top story of the week: 

• Donald Trump to establish a new council, the "National Energy Council."
• the chair of the National Energy Council will get a seat at the National Security Council
• the first chair will be held by Doug Burgum, who has also been name Secretary of the Interior
  
• Donald Trump: starts naming his picks for cabinet, White House, intel agencies.
• at least three cabinet picks look like sacrificial lambs
• RFK, Jr, not his worst choice
• Joe Biden allows Ukraine to hit Moscow with long-range missiles supplied by the US. Biden had denied this to Ukraine for two years.
  

Top international non-energy story:

• 
  

Top international energy story:

• Mexico likely to be international story of the year (2025) -- energy, Pemex, immigration, economy, gangs.
  
• headlines out of Russia
  

Top national non-energy story:

• analysts completely missed the Palantir story. 
• for those with "no life of their own," one can now track Elon Musk's jet on Reddit. 
• one assumes Reddit is tracking the jet, not Musk himself
  

Top national energy story:

• EV fatalities:

• Trump could completely "upend" the EV story. Headline story over at InsideEVs today:

Focus on fracking: current link here. Generally updated late Sunday night.

Top North Dakota non-energy story:

Top North Dakota energy story:

• 
  

Geoff Simon's quick connects: link here.

The market in a nutshell: profit taking --

A Musical Interlude -- November 15, 2024

Locator: 48770MUSIC.

I'll leave this work loving you. Link here.

Behind closed doors. Link here.

MRO With Three New Bailey Permits; Seven DUCs Reported As Completed -- November 15, 2024

Locator: 48769B.

Deporter-in-chief: the opposition will try to re-write history. But they're missing the point.

• link here;
• link here;

This is key: 

President Obama inherited a more legally robust and better-resourced immigration enforcement regime than his predecessors had. 

A series of laws in 1996 established new grounds for deportation, penalties for the crimes of illegal entry and re-entry, mandates for detention of deportable noncitizens, and a framework for cooperative arrangements on immigration enforcement between the federal government and state and local law enforcement agencies. 

Though authorized during the Clinton administration, many of these enforcement tools were not deployed and fully resourced until the Bush administration, mostly in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Beginning in 2002, the federal government began 287(g) agreements, allowing state and local law enforcement officials to perform certain immigration enforcement functions. 

By the end of the Bush administration, more than 70 such agreements had been signed.

From The Hill regarding Trump 1.0:

While the Obama administration deported 1.18 million people in his first three years, the number of deportations has been a little under 800,000 so far under Trump, according to the Post.

The Obama administration also deported 409,849 people in 2012 alone, while the Trump administration has yet to deport more than 260,000 people in a year, the Post reported.

The Post noted it was unclear why there have been fewer deportations under Trump.

And then this, from NPR:

And again, the opposition will try to re-write history.

Fortunately we have a) the internet; and, b) Elon Musk's twitter. Oh, and c) common sense.

This should be one of the more fascinating stories in 2025. I look forward to the reporting that comes out of sanctuary cities. 

On another note, it will be interesting how DJT responds if this GOP-controlled Senate doesn't confirm all his nominations, including Matt Gaetz. The journalists reporting this story have difficulty playing checkers. DJT would be a worthy 3-D chess player. Just saying. And when it comes to the DOJ and MG, JDT is playing chess. This will be absolutely fascinating to watch.

*********************************

Back to the Bakken

WTI: $67.02.

Active rigs: 38.

Three new permits, #41343 - #41345, inclusve:

• Operator: MRO
• Fields: Bailey (Dunn County)
• Comments:
• MRO has three more Bailey oil field permits; NWNE 18-145-93; Sattier USA, Imogene USA, and Georgia, 
• all to be sited 462 FNL and three sites, 1775 FEL, 1735 FEL; and, 1695 FEL

Five permits renewed:

• CLR (4): two Schroeder permits and two Marlene permits, all in Stoneview, Williams County;
• BR: a Fritz Falls permit, Murphy Creek, Dunn County;

One permit canceled:

• Hunt Oil: #30615, a Patten permit in Mountrail County.

Seven producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 40327, 423, Petro-Hunt, State 144-98-16B-21-2H,
• 40377, 4,287, MRO, Hultberg USA 44-32H,
• 40379, 5,641, MRO, Spaulding USA 44-32H,
• 40478, 758, CLR, Clover 6-10H,
• 40596, 1,471, CLR, Doe 5-23H,
• 40597, 690, CLR, Doe 6-23H,
• 40598, 871, CLR, Doe 7-23H,

Hearing Dockets -- December, 2024

Locator: 48768DOCKETS.

November, 2024, hearing dockets.  

Link here.

The NDIC hearing dockets are tracked here.

As usual this is done very quickly and using shorthand for my benefit. There will be factual and typographical errors on this page. Do not quote me on any of this. It's for my personal use to help me better understand the Bakken. Do not read it. If you do happen to read it, do not make any investment, financial, job, relationship, or travel plans based on anything you read here or think you may have read here. If this stuff is important to you, and I doubt that it is, but if it is, go to the source. These are cases, not permits.

Thursday, December 19, 2024. Link here. Eight pages.

The cases:

• 31407, Hunt Oil, three units, four wells each, twelve wells total;
• 31408, KODA Resources, 
• 31409, Devon Energy Williston, three wells on one unit;
• 31410, Devon Energy Williston, seven wells on one unit; five wells on another unit; four wells on a third unit; one well on a fourth unit; one well on a fifth unit; one well on a sixth unit; seven wells on a seven unit; 26 wells total.
  
• 31411, CLR: four wells on one unit;
• 31412, commission action;
• 31413, commission action;
• 31414, commission action;
• 31415, Stephens Williston, eight wells on one unit;
• 31416, Stephens Williston, eight wells on one unit;
• 31417, Stephens Williston, eight wells on one unit;
• 31418, Rockport Oil & Gas, four wells on an existing 1280-acre unit;
• 31419, KODA Resources, pooling;
•  
• 31433, Hydra Services, SWD; 
  

 

Wednesday, December 18, 2024. Link here. Five pages.

The cases:

• 31393, Hess, five wells;
• 31394, Hess, one well;
• 31395, Hess, four wells;
  

• 31406,
  

 

Thu

Nashville, Tennessee Trip -- November 1, 2024 - November 4, 2024

Locator: 48767ARCHIVES.

For the archives only. We recently drove to Nashville, TN, and back over a four-day period. We always rent a car when taking a cross-country trip, and always rent from Enterprise if possible. The mileage / cost was tracked. Data below.

	Mileage	Time	Location	$/gal	Gal	Total	Miles Since Last Stop	MPG	Cents/Mile
Enterprise 2024 Kia Soul
November 1, 2024	23989	90	Depart Euless
	24049	1025	Royce, Buccee’s	2.38	4.97	$11.83	60
	24323	1445	Bryant, Arkansas	2.59	9.13	$23.65	274	30.01	$0.09
		1700	Tennessee State Line
	24627	1930	Holiday Inn Express, Hurricane Mills, exit Waverly, Tennessee	2.69	9.50	$25.56	304	32.00	$0.08
November 2, 2024	24628	830	South of Pierce
November 3, 2024	24712	2100	Depart Vanderbilt
	24781	2210	Holiday Inn Express, Hurricane Mills, exit Waverly, Tennessee
	24801	1115	Depart Loretta Lynn’s	2.69	5.83	$15.68	174	29.85	$0.09
	25000	1445	Forrest City, Arkansas
	25079	1610	Little Rock, Arkansas	2.75	9.73	$26.76	278	28.57
	25443	2100	Arr Euless
November 4, 2024	25444	900	Enterprise Car Rental/Shell — Last Fill Up	2.599	10.667	$27.72	365	34.22	$0.08
							1455

 

EVs -- Trump Policy -- November 15, 2024

Locator: 48766EVS.

Link here.

*****************************

Texas Supreme Court -- Execution To Go Forward

For the archives.

Texas Supreme Court ruled that Texas legislature exceeded its authority in trying to delay execution last month. I thought the legislature's "maneuver" was incredibly inappropriate but did not realize the Texas Supreme Court not only weighed in but also agreed. 

Link here.

Musk's Colossus, Memphis, Tennessee -- What It Means -- November 15, 2024

Locator: 48765COLOSSUS.

When it comes to AI, there are two camps:

• it's all hype, or it's simply another commodity; or,
• it's real, and right now it's all about Nvidia (NVDA).

I'm in the second camp.

Right now the most exciting states for growth with a "can-do"attitude:

• Texas
• Tennessee
• possibly, North Carolina
• possibly, Florida

Others that might join those four:

• Utah
• Georgia

With the right leadership, the following could be contenders:

• New Mexico
• Colorado
• Pennsylvania
  
• Ohio -- a bit of a stretch

States that have deliberately dropped out of the race:

• California
• Oregon
• Washington state

Musk's Colossus, Memphis, Tennessee:

Musk's xAI: huge, huge, huge. Biggest super-computer in the world. Repeat: biggest super-computer in the world. 

Needs a stand-alone post. Memphis, TN. Fastest-built, biggest data center ever. Has raised as much as $6 billin new capital. New post-raise valuation seen at $50 billion +. Amazing. Uses only Nvidia chips. Great relationship between Jensen Huang and Elon Musk. They're gonna call it Colossus.

Link here. 

Bullets:

• Memphis, Tennessee
• largest superconductor in the known universe
• 100,000 Nvidia blades to expand to 200,000 Nvidia blades
• will expand with newest blades
• partnered with Jen-Hsun Huang
• launched in September, 2024, one month later already expanding
• will be the fastest a superconductor facility has ever been built
• ambitious growth, occurring merely 122 days after the facility’s initial announcement on June 5, 2024
• Colossus utilizes Nvidia’s H100 GPUs, offering up to nine times the speed of the previous A100 models, with each H100 GPU delivering up to 2,000 teraflops of performance. The initial setup integrates 100,000 H100 GPUs, with plans to add 50,000 more H100s alongside 50,000 new H200 GPUs.

The article at the link:

Meet the mammoth AI supercomputer featuring 100,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs, poised for a significant performance boost.

Photo at the link: Elon Musk, co-founder and CEO of Tesla Motors Inc., with Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of Nvidia Corporation at the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, California.

On October 4, 2024, the Greater Memphis Chamber approved the expansion of xAI’s AI training facility and supercomputer, Colossus. Launched just a month prior, Colossus quickly gained recognition as the world’s largest GPU supercomputer, initially featuring 100,000 Nvidia GPUs.

Led by Elon Musk, xAI aims to double Colossus’s capacity to 200,000 GPUs, including 50,000 advanced H200s. This ambitious growth, occurring merely 122 days after the facility’s initial announcement on June 5, showcases the rapid pace and scale typical of Musk’s ventures.

Built in Memphis, Tennessee, in just four months, Colossus utilizes Nvidia’s H100 GPUs, offering up to nine times the speed of the previous A100 models, with each H100 GPU delivering up to 2,000 teraflops of performance. The initial setup integrates 100,000 H100 GPUs, with plans to add 50,000 more H100s alongside 50,000 new H200 GPUs.

The combined array could theoretically achieve about 497.9 exaflops (497,900,000 teraflops), setting new benchmarks in supercomputing power. While this enhanced capacity far exceeds current supercomputing records, real-world performance may face system integration, communication overhead, power consumption, and cooling challenges.

Colossus also surpasses major competitors, with xAI’s planned 200,000 GPUs outstripping Google AI’s 90,000 and Meta AI’s 70,000 GPUs. The expansion aims to boost xAI’s ability to develop and refine AI models like Grok 3, which is set to compete with GPT-5, OpenAI’s highly anticipated breakthrough in language model technology. Grok 3, xAI’s most advanced chatbot, is expected to launch in December 2024.

Maps:

• here.

Cramer's First Hour, Part 3 -- November 15, 2024

Locator: 48764CRAMER.

Cramer's first hour: a mix of facts, factoids, opinions from various sources -- often not cited -- while listening to Cramer's first hour on CNBC. 

Musk's xAI: huge, huge, huge. Biggest super-computer in the world. Repeat: biggest super-computer in the world.

Needs a stand-alone post. Memphis, TN. Fastest-built, biggest data center ever. Has raised as much as $6 billin new capital. New post-raise valuation seen at $50 billion +. Amazing. Uses only Nvidia chips. Great relationship between Jensen Huang and Elon Musk. They're gonna call it Colossus.

AI: there are two camps with regard to AI --

• it's all hype;
• it's real.

I'm in the second camp.

*****************************
The Book Page

I haven't made much headway in Colossus since starting it some weeks ago.

Early notes here. And a brief note here.

 *****************************
Grocers

Have won the battle: Walmart, Costco, Amazon.  

*****************************
Parting Shots

North Texas: weather is gorgeous!

My plant is blooming for the first time since I bought it more than a year ago. It must be happy in our little apartment!

**********************************
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.
• Longer version here.

Cramer's First Hour, Part 2 -- November 15, 2024

Locator: 48763CRAMER.

Cramer's first hour: a mix of facts, factoids, opinions from various sources -- often not cited -- while listening to Cramer's first hour on CNBC. 

GM: strongest of the American automobile manufacturers -- I guess that's two -- Ford and GM. LOL. How strong is GM? How is GM doing. Well, today, GM announces it is laying off 1,000 employees through reorganization.

Cramer had lots to say about GM, F. Tickers, GM vs F:

Best gizmo ever will sell at record-low price on Black Friday: link here.

McDonald's: there's a headline out that that even after the end of that E. coli story, customers are not coming back to McDonald's. 

First time in my 70+ years of life, I left McDonald's last night without purchasing anything because the lines were way too long -- that was at 8:10 p.m. Wow. Seriously. The $5 meal is incredible. Maybe more on that later. McDonald's to invest $100 million to speed up recovery from E. coli story. Link here.

US: the consumer is in good shape. This morning at the local donut shop -- long lines --

**********************************
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.
• Longer version here.
  

Cramer's First Hour, Part 1 -- Coterra -- Add That To Your Bingo Card -- November 15, 2024

Locator: 48762CRAMER.

NFL TNF: Amazon has a gold mine. Philadelphia Eagles last night. Jalen Hurts. #1 QB in the NFL whose touches end up on the 1-yard line. Interesting statistic. Eagles, #1 in NFC East, with 8 -2 record. 

Cramer's first hour: a mix of facts, factoids, opinions from various sources -- often not cited -- while listening to Cramer's first hour on CNBC.

AI: there are two camps with regard to AI --

• it's all hype;
• it's real.

I'm in the second camp.

TSMC: link here. Will get $6.6 billion before Trump is sworn in.

US retail sales: link here. US economy is doing just fine, thank you.

Cramer: Doug Burgum? Think Coterra.

Commerce? Linda McMahon?

Bingo card: new square -- "sacrificial lamb." 

**********************************
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.
• Longer version here.
  

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

WTI: $68.19.

Sunday, November 17, 2024: 23 for the month; 83 for the quarter, 598 for the year

• 40663, conf, CLR, Sandhill 5-24H,
• 40102, conf, Enerplus, Devils Canyon 147-97-17-20-3H,

Saturday, November 16, 2024: 21 for the month; 81 for the quarter, 595 for the year

• 40312, conf, Hess, EN-Rice A-LE-155-94-0310H-1,

Friday, November 15, 2024: 20 for the month; 80 for the quarter, 594 for the year

• 40311, conf, Hess, EN-Rice A-155-94-0310H-9,

RBN Energy:  Coterra Energy continues shift to oil with new Permian deals. 

Just over three years ago, Cabot Oil & Gas — Coterra Energy’s corporate predecessor — was focused exclusively on producing natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. But unlike other gas-centric E&Ps like EQT Corp., Chesapeake Energy and Antero Resources, Cabot decided it was time to diversify. In October 2021, it merged with Cimarex Energy, an oil-and-gas producer in the Permian and the Anadarko, to form Coterra. Now, Coterra has doubled down on diversification with a plan to acquire oil-weighted Permian assets from privately held Franklin Mountain Energy and Avant Natural Resources for a total of $3.95 billion in cash and stock. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the deals and why Cabot/Coterra decided to “go its own way.”