Locator: 48594EGGS.
North Texas. DFW area.
Walmart.
No restrictions on number of eggs one wants to buy.
Full dozen of large eggs: $3.68.
In Mitch McConnell's state: as much as $6.00 / dozen -- and regular, not large:
*******************************
Mileage
2012 Honda Civic
Purchased in late 2011, in Williston, ND:
Locator: 48592APPLE.
See disclaimer: I have no interest in the iPhone 16e as an investment story. I am only interested in the iPhone 16e story because I find the story so incredibly compelling.
Apple, C1: I am really, really jazzed about the new iPhone 16e. I may track the iPhone 16e here. There are several layers of issues here:
Best iPhone alternatives, link here:
The link for the best overall iPhone alternative takes you to Amazon:
Satellite?
With iPhones, nearly 100 apps are included, already downloaded, ready-to-go, at no additional cost -- including word documents, spreadsheets, notes, "FindMe," the best browser out there, and so much more. At wiki, the entire list.
Apple shows 75 pre-installed apps at no extra cost.
And they just work. For some reason, this Apple link does not include the pre-installed brower, Safari. And I was surprised that Firefox is pre-installed. I was unaware of that. Also, "Maps" not listed in some of these links but "Maps" is obviously pre-installed: both Google maps and Safari maps. And, now, of course, the AI app. Will this show up as SiriGPT? Just a very few here:
Locator: 48591BUZZ.
The buzz. It doesn't take a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing.
Must-watch TV tonight: NHL. USA vs Canada. The big question: will there actually be any hockey played? A bigger question: will Trump actually attend? LOL.
NYTimes: as usual, The New York Times completely misreads this. If y'all listened to Trump, you would know what's going on.
WMT: tumbles. How worried is Walmart about this? Not at all. Walmart raises its quarterly dividend from 20 cents / share to 23.5 cents / share. Is a 3.5-cent-jump on 20 cents = a 17.5% jump in its quarterly dividend?
iPhone 16e: Link to TWSJ. The entire iPhone 16 family.
Before the iPhone 16e was released: link to TWSJ.
C1: incredible. More will be posted. One can start here. Or here:
Buffett: cuts holdings in banks. Holds AAPL position. Speaks volumes. Link to TWSJ here.
Medicare vs Medicare Advantage. DOGE. Finally, I get it. No longer worried. No longer concerned. But it explains all the telemarketer calls. Link to Barron's.
DOA: EPA, California waiver. Finally, a link without a paywall.
Ukraine: British troops on ground? Can't even get there without US air. Link here. The bigger story here? It's a sad day when the Brits / Europeans can't even get their troops to the front line ... on their own continent.
Europe: dire straits. Link here. Things have gotten pretty bad when Americans are starting to "vote" for Putin, and not Zelenskyy. But when Zelenskyy admits he can't account for $6 billion of the money the US sent him .... I think most of us can figure out who has it, even if we don't know where it is ...
Mexico: cars. More than any American even knows. Link here. No wonder Mexico is running scared.
Nissan: six models under $30,000. Link here.
LA ports: surge. But it's not what it seems. Link here. There are so many story lines here. Amazing. American exceptionalism.
Boeing: it's worse than any American even knows. Link here. Trump himself wants "out." Secretary of Defense: wants DOD to cut annual budget by 8% each year for the next five years. I think it's easy to connect those dots.
aaaaaa
Locator: 48590B.
The buzz -- headline without links. It doesn't take a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. Links, additional details, and updates are provided here.
Must-watch TV tonight: NHL. USA vs Canada.
WMT: tumbles. How worried is Walmart about this? Not at all. We'll explain.
C1: incredible.
Buffett: cuts holdings in bank. Holds AAPL position.
Medicare vs Medicare Advantage. DOGE.
DOA: EPA, California waiver.
Ukraine: British troops on ground? Can't even get there without US air.
Europe: dire straits.
Mexico: cars. More than any American even knows.
LA ports: surge. But it's not what it seems.
Boeing: it's worse than any American even knows.
*****************************
Back to the Bakken
WTI: $72.52.
Friday, February 21, 2025: 39 for the month, 84 for the quarter, 84 for the year,
40437, conf, Enerplus, Icon 150-94-06B-18H,
39941, conf, Koda Resources, Stout 2032-5BH,
38671, conf, Petro-Hunt, USA 153-95-3A-33 1H,
Thursday, February 20 2025: 36 for the month, 81 for the quarter, 81 for the year,
None.
RBN Energy: a big propane wholealer's exit raises questions for its peers.
The decision by the U.S.’s largest independent propane wholesaler to exit the business serves as a reminder of the challenges and risks that companies like it face. The move also highlights the fact that some other independent wholesalers believe that by increasing their scale and scope they can compete more effectively with their two classes of competitors: affiliates of big midstream companies and affiliates of propane retailers. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss what the latest M&A activity in the propane space reveals.
************************************
Encore
Reminder: this RBN story is now fully available --
RBN Energy: the Permian-focused E%P expands again through M&A. Archived.
We defy you to name an oil and gas producer that’s been on the buying side of more $1-billion-plus M&A than Permian pure play Diamondback Energy, which announced February 18, 2025, that it had agreed to purchase a chunk of Midland Basin assets from Double Eagle IV, one of the Permian’s largest privately held producers, for just under $4.1 billion.
You’d be equally hard-pressed to find a team that’s assembled and flipped more Permian acreage and production than the folks at Double Eagle. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the newly announced Diamondback/Double Eagle IV deal and what it gives Diamondback, the fourth-largest producer in the Permian after ExxonMobil, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum.Travis Stice, who has served as the company’s CEO for the past 13 years and chairman for the past three, has said that “M&A is as fundamental to Diamondback Energy as the air we breathe.”
No argument there, as evidenced by the E&P’s seemingly insatiable appetite for top-tier Permian acreage and oil-focused production. Midland-based Diamondback started a long string of multibillion-dollar deals in 2017 when it bought assets from Brigham Resources for $2.55 billion. The E&P followed that up in 2018 with agreements to acquire Ajax Resources for $1.25 billion and Energen for a whopping $9.2 billion, thereby increasing Diamondback’s Permian production by 75% and more than doubling its proved reserves. In the months after COVID hit in early 2020, the company bought QEP Resources and Guidon Energy for a total of $3 billion, and in 2022 it shelled out $1.6 billion for FireBird Energy and $1.5 billion for Lario Petroleum.
You’d think that after seven deals totaling more than $19 billion that Diamondback might have finally had its fill. After all, over just a few years it had rocketed to #5 on the list of publicly held Permian producers — and one of the biggest E&Ps in the U.S. for that matter.Locator: 48589APPLE.
Updates: here.
My hunch: won't be able to keep up with demand.
What is Apple thinking: they introduce a chip that took years to develop and cost billions and eliminated Qualcomm as a third party supplier and put it in their least expensive phone. What were they thinking? LOL. And, oh, by the way, it has satellite connectivity. Who wouldn't want it?
$25 / month = one visit to Starbucks each week. Or a single entre / drink at any upscale family restaurant. I honestly don't get it -- that folks don't understand this -- telecom service would be about the same. Perfect starter phone for any high school student and, perhaps, an older middle schooler.
One can pay for it over two years, but if it last three years: $17 / month. My hunch: this will be heavily subsidized by the carrier.
Satellite connectivity? Yes.
Longevity: one gets the feeling this model was made and is being marketed to last at least the next five years, or the next six years, which would mean three two-year cycles.
Camera: holy mackerel -- current (third generation) SE has a 12MP camera. The new iPhone 16e's camera is a 48MP! Truly amazing. Front-facing camera jumps from 7MP to 12MP and matches the front-facing camera of all the other "16" iPhones, including the top of the line, iPhone 16 Pro.
For investors, one would assume the costs associated with the C1 chip have pretty much been sunk costs. See Qualcomm.
X: numerous links -- we will start with this link.
And then, this one.
More, link here:
Where is the Apple C1 chip manufactured: in Arizona, need be, to get around tariff issues -- that's why Tim Cook went to Washington, DC, to talk to Trump.
This is revolutionary:
To the best of my recollection the C1 was not mentioned over at MacRumors. Today was the first time most of us have been introduced to the C1. There is nothing yet over at "wiki" with regard to the C1 except stating that it is the first such chip / modem for Apple. See Apple Silicon. I would say that's revolutionary -- and Apple kept it a big secret.
The Verge, link here.
Apple’s first in-house iPhone modem is the C1 The iPhone 16E will be the C1’s proving ground.
Apple has just introduced the iPhone 16E, a spiritual successor to the iPhone SE line that has a significant first: it introduces Apple’s long-awaited in-house 5G modem called the C1.
The chip, which Apple says is the most power-efficient modem in a phone, is Apple’s bid to end its reliance on Qualcomm’s 5G chips. Apple says the chip contributes to the 16E’s longer battery life.
The company says the phone’s internal design is optimized to support a larger battery, giving it up to 26 hours of video playback. According to Apple’s technical specifications for the iPhone 16E, its new chip covers much of the same low-end 5G spectrum as the iPhone 16 but lacks mmWave — that’s the 5G with gigabit-territory throughput.
The C1 starting in the 16E makes sense: the $599 device is now the cheapest way to get one of Apple’s thin-bezel phones with Apple Intelligence. If this inaugural outing for the chip doesn’t end up being great, people may chalk it up to this being a more affordable phone.
The WSJ: link here.
Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, an update to a budget-friendly version of its flagship device.
The most significant change to the phone will be invisible to users. Inside the phone is Apple’s first in-house cellular chip—a critical component for smartphones that enables cellular connections.
The chip, which Apple dubbed the C1, is a long-awaited next step in Apple’s efforts to make more of its own technology, and especially to wean itself from having to pay billions annually to cellular-chip-maker and rival Qualcomm QCOM.
The new iPhone 16e will be available at the end of this month, selling for $599. The 16e is priced at a level consistent with previous generations of Apple’s lowest-priced iPhone, the SE, which was released in 2022 with a starting price of $429. The phase-out of that SE model will bring an end to the home button, which would grant access to the device using a fingerprint reader. The 16e will use Face ID instead.
Apple Wiki C1: link here.
Not much here yet at wiki: link here.
Tickers:
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A Musical Interlude
"Many refer to 1971 as the most pivotal and exciting of the Rock Era, and I wholeheartedly agree with [the top three below .. which was easy]. So, I'm doing the impossible ... I'm counting down the Top 10 songs from this emblematic year."
From the link below:
Led Zeppelin: link here. The Vikings' National Anthem.
Locator: 48588B.
WTI: $72.25.
Active rigs: 32.
Three new permits, #41622 - #41624, inclusive:
Three permits canceled:
Locator: 48587NOG.
NOG, press release:
FOR INVESTORS:
- earnings: $1.11 missing the estimate of $1.18
- revenues, a miss also: $545,700,000 vs estimates of 571,354,081
- shares hold after hours;
- pays about 5%
FOURTH QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS:
SUBSEQUENT EVENTS:
- Production of 131,777 boe per day (59.9% oil), a 15% increase from the fourth quarter of the prior year
- GAAP cash flow from operations of $290.3 million. Excluding changes in net working capital, cash flow from operations was $358.9 million
- Capital expenditures of $258.9 million, excluding previously-announced non-budgeted acquisitions and other items
- Free Cash Flow (non-GAAP) was $96.4 million in the fourth quarter.
- Closed previously announced acquisition of Uinta Basin assets from XCL Resources, LLC on October 1, 2024 for $511.3 million in cash
- Declared $0.45 per share common dividend for the first quarter of 2025, an increase of 12.5% from the first quarter of 2024
- Repurchased 693,658 shares of common stock at an average price of $36.28 per share
- In February 2025, signed definitive agreement to acquire 2,275 net acres in Upton County, TX in Midland Basin joint development with a private operating partner for an unadjusted purchase price of $40 million.
2025 ANNUAL GUIDANCE, CAPEX:
- Permian: 65%
- Williston: 20%
- Appalachian: 7%
- Uinta: 7%
Amazon: from Amazon today --
... that "$500" paid for the annual membership and all the books I bought last year. All the books I bought.
In addition, for that membership, we get:
From the internet:
In 2025, the retail cost to ship a 1-pound package via USPS Ground Advantage is $8.35 in Zone 1.This is the former USPS Parcel Select Ground.
One such package per month = $100 / year.
Locator: 48586PERMIAN.
RBN Energy: the Permian-focused E%P expands again through M&A. Archived.
We defy you to name an oil and gas producer that’s been on the buying side of more $1-billion-plus M&A than Permian pure play Diamondback Energy, which announced February 18, 2025, that it had agreed to purchase a chunk of Midland Basin assets from Double Eagle IV, one of the Permian’s largest privately held producers, for just under $4.1 billion.
You’d be equally hard-pressed to find a team that’s assembled and flipped more Permian acreage and production than the folks at Double Eagle. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the newly announced Diamondback/Double Eagle IV deal and what it gives Diamondback, the fourth-largest producer in the Permian after ExxonMobil, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum.Travis Stice, who has served as the company’s CEO for the past 13 years and chairman for the past three, has said that “M&A is as fundamental to Diamondback Energy as the air we breathe.”
No argument there, as evidenced by the E&P’s seemingly insatiable appetite for top-tier Permian acreage and oil-focused production. Midland-based Diamondback started a long string of multibillion-dollar deals in 2017 when it bought assets from Brigham Resources for $2.55 billion. The E&P followed that up in 2018 with agreements to acquire Ajax Resources for $1.25 billion and Energen for a whopping $9.2 billion, thereby increasing Diamondback’s Permian production by 75% and more than doubling its proved reserves. In the months after COVID hit in early 2020, the company bought QEP Resources and Guidon Energy for a total of $3 billion, and in 2022 it shelled out $1.6 billion for FireBird Energy and $1.5 billion for Lario Petroleum.
You’d think that after seven deals totaling more than $19 billion that Diamondback might have finally had its fill. After all, over just a few years it had rocketed to #5 on the list of publicly held Permian producers — and one of the biggest E&Ps in the U.S. for that matter.
But the company was really only getting started.
As we discussed in You Belong With Me, Diamondback announced last February that it had entered into its biggest deal ever: a $26 billion, stock-and-cash agreement to acquire privately held Endeavor Energy Resources. The transformational transaction, which closed in September, doubled Diamondback’s net acreage in the Midland to 694,000, increased its total Permian acreage by 70% to 838,000 (see Figure 1 below), and helped Diamondback boost its production by more than 90% year over year — from 463 Mboe/d in Q4 2023 to an estimated 870 Mboe/d in Q4 2024.
[Doing
the math: $45 billion / 838,000 acres = $55K / Permian acre. Assuming
FANG owned some Permian before it went on a buying spree, the $/acre has
to greater.]
Figure 1. Diamondback and Endeavor Acreage in the Permian at Announcement. Source: RBN
Locator: 48585NIKOLA.
Nikola
In other news:
Trump stops global warming in first month of new administration. Secretary of Interior to be nominated for Nobel Prize. Will receive Medal of Freedom in special Oval Office ceremony. New federal holiday to be announced: Doug Burgum Day. Greta Thunberg to purchase a brand new Ford F-450. Al Gore to release his award-selling book with new introduction, and re-titled: I Was Wrong. Some of the preceding may be inaccurate. Needs to be fact-checked.
Record lows: link here. Later, North Dakota lows -- these are actual temps, not wind chill numbers -- but actual numbers -- unless. you've lived there, you can't imagine these numbers --
Politics:
***************************
Back to the Bakken
WTI: $72.46.
New wells:
RBN Energy: the Permian-focused E%P expands again through M&A.
We defy you to name an oil and gas producer that’s been on the buying side of more $1-billion-plus M&A than Permian pure play Diamondback Energy, which announced February 18, 2025, that it had agreed to purchase a chunk of Midland Basin assets from Double Eagle IV, one of the Permian’s largest privately held producers, for just under $4.1 billion.
You’d be equally hard-pressed to find a team that’s assembled and flipped more Permian acreage and production than the folks at Double Eagle. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the newly announced Diamondback/Double Eagle IV deal and what it gives Diamondback, the fourth-largest producer in the Permian after ExxonMobil, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum.Travis Stice, who has served as the company’s CEO for the past 13 years and chairman for the past three, has said that “M&A is as fundamental to Diamondback Energy as the air we breathe.”
No argument there, as evidenced by the E&P’s seemingly insatiable appetite for top-tier Permian acreage and oil-focused production. Midland-based Diamondback started a long string of multibillion-dollar deals in 2017 when it bought assets from Brigham Resources for $2.55 billion. The E&P followed that up in 2018 with agreements to acquire Ajax Resources for $1.25 billion and Energen for a whopping $9.2 billion, thereby increasing Diamondback’s Permian production by 75% and more than doubling its proved reserves. In the months after COVID hit in early 2020, the company bought QEP Resources and Guidon Energy for a total of $3 billion, and in 2022 it shelled out $1.6 billion for FireBird Energy and $1.5 billion for Lario Petroleum.
You’d think that after seven deals totaling more than $19 billion that Diamondback might have finally had its fill. After all, over just a few years it had rocketed to #5 on the list of publicly held Permian producers — and one of the biggest E&Ps in the U.S. for that matter.
But the company was really only getting started.
As we discussed in You Belong With Me, Diamondback announced last February that it had entered into its biggest deal ever: a $26 billion, stock-and-cash agreement to acquire privately held Endeavor Energy Resources. The transformational transaction, which closed in September, doubled Diamondback’s net acreage in the Midland to 694,000, increased its total Permian acreage by 70% to 838,000 (see Figure 1 below), and helped Diamondback boost its production by more than 90% year over year — from 463 Mboe/d in Q4 2023 to an estimated 870 Mboe/d in Q4 2024.
[Doing the math: $45 billion / 838,000 acres = $55K / Permian acre. Assuming FANG owned some Permian before it went on a buying spree, the $/acre has to greater.]
Figure 1. Diamondback and Endeavor Acreage in the Permian at Announcement. Source: RBN
****************************
The Book Page
I think I need to identify another "genre" of books.
"Airport" books. That category has already been identified by others. See this blog.
Who Really Wrote The [Hebrew] Bible: The Story of the Scribes, William M. Schniedewind, c. 2024. Princeton University Press, definitely fits this category.
Arrived today at the door, via Amazon.
The notes for this book will be at this blog.
Locator: 48582B.
Another win for DOGE. Link here.
The New York Times must be going nuts:
Whether one agrees with Trump or not, one has to admit he is fascinating to watch (or scary).
Other presidents were advised to talk softly but carry a big stick. Trump seems to only have heard half of that advice.
The interesting thing is that Trump is not doing anything new -- there may be some minor exceptions -- everything he has done / is doing has been done in the past by Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden .... and best of all, by FDR and JFK.
Exhibit A: Obama cut hundreds of thousands of federal jobs; and, actually deported more illegal immigrants that Trump has so far (dynamic; needs to be fact-checked).
But legacy media is doing a great job reporting the "fails." But for every "fail, " Trump, et al, are scoring many, many wins.
****************************
Back to the Bakken
WTI: $71.85.
Active rigs: 33.
Three new permits, #41619 - #41621, inclusive:
Two producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:
Locator: 48581KFC.
Plano, TX.
Just up the road from us.
Most Fortune 500 companies in US headquartered in Plano. Or something to that effect. I don't know the specifics, but Plano, just north of Dallas has a boatload of Fortune 500 companies headquartered there.
Texas relocations are tracked here. Also here.
Locator: 48580ISONE.
Energy:
Despite wind providing as much energy as ever for New England, ISO-NE is still relying on oil at highest levels I've seen in some time. An astounding 6% of the resource mix is attributable to oil. Assuming "hydro" is not a limiting factor, my hunch is oil is very, very cheap compared to what Canada is charging New England for their "clean" energy. Oil, at 6%, represents twice the resource mix compared to clean energy, "hydro" at 3%. Wow. They can't complete that Constitution pipeline fast enough!
Locator: 48579APPLE.
Apple's M5 chip is tracked here.
I don't think there is much new here but it brings us up to date regarding Apple's next-generation M5 chip.
Apple will bring its next-generation M5 chip to the MacBook Pro in the fall, followed by the iPad Pro in the first half of 2026, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Gurman's latest claim flips the previously expected order of devices to transition from M4 to M5 chips, which was based on last year's M4 product launch order. Apple first introduced its M4 chip in an updated iPad Pro in May 2024, followed by the MacBook Pro in October, but it sounds like Apple will deviate from that timeline this time around.
Before the release of M5 MacBook Pro models, Gurman says that Apple will launch updates to the Mac Studio and Mac Pro using its current generation M4 chip series. Those machines could arrive around Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2025.
The M5 series is expected to feature an enhanced ARM architecture and is reportedly being manufactured using TSMC's advanced 3-nanometer process technology.
Apple's decision to forgo TSMC's more advanced 2nm process for the M5 chip is believed to be due to cost considerations.
However, the high-end versions of the M5 will still feature significant advancements over their M4 equivalents, mainly through the adoption of TSMC's System on Integrated Chip (SoIC) technology.
This 3D chip-stacking approach vertically stacks the chips, which enhances thermal management and reduces electrical leakage compared to traditional 2D designs. Apple is said to have expanded its cooperation with TSMC on the next-generation hybrid SoIC package, which also combines thermoplastic carbon fiber composite molding technology.
************************
Tesla: A Reminder
Tag: Tesla Musk Delaware incorporation Texas
Locator: 48578BROWSERS.
I was curious. I only use Safari and Chrome to access NDIC. At one time Firefox worked with NDIC but no longer.
So, I queried: does north dakota industrial commission website work with edge.
This was the first hit:
That's clearly wrong. When I click on that first hit, this is what I get:
I "cut and paste" the URL that comes up with that search to either Safari or Chrome and it works fine.
I have never tried Internet Explorer (google says it won't work for NDIC) or Microsoft Edge.
