Number Of Active Rigs In North Dakota Jumps To 36 -- March 31, 2025

Locator: 48402B.

Texas, going nuclear. Link here. Dow and X-energy. 

At the link, "X-energy is a private American nuclear reactor and fuel design engineering company. It is developing a Generation IV high-temperature gas-cooled pebble-bed nuclear reactor design. It has received funding from private sources and various government grants and contracts, notably through the Department of Energy's (DOE) Advanced Reactor Concept Cooperative Agreement in 2016 and its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) in 2020."

Wyoming, nuclear update, link here.

TerraPower is the first advanced reactor company in the U.S. to move from design to construction, breaking ground on its first plant near a former coal site in Kemmerer, Wyoming in the summer of 2024. The company aims to start dispatching power by the end of 2030 to Warren Buffett’s PacifiCorp.

TerraPower’s Natrium reactor operates at atmospheric temperature, a feature that Levesque says will reduce construction costs.

The U.S. currently relies on reactors that operate at about 300 Celsius (572 degrees Fahrenheit) and are cooled by water. The system operates under high pressure — water boils at 100 degree Celsius — to keep the coolant liquid, and the plants need heavy, expensive components to contain the pressure.

TerraPower uses sodium, rather than water, as a coolant. Liquid sodium boils at 900 Celsius, much higher than the Natrium reactor’s operating temperature of around 500 Celsius. That means the plant does not need to be pressurized, Levesque said.

Japan buying shale assets in Texas. Link here. Will acquire Texas shale assets from Chevron. Tokyo Gas is Japan's biggest city gas provider, will be worth tens of billions of yen. Whatever that means?

• 100 billion yen = $667 million. So, $10 billion = $67 million?

Investing in the US, 2024, source:

• EU holdings of US equities (stocks): $5.3 trillion;
• US holdings of EU equities (stocks): $3.4 trillion.
• I wonder if that "balances" out the balance of trade differential?

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $71.48.

Active rigs: 36. Significant jump from the 30 wells we generally saw during the winter.

Four new permits, #41755 - #41758, inclusive:

• Operator: KODA Resources
• Field: Fertile Valley (Divide County)
• Comments:
• KODA Resources has permits for three Stout wells, SESW 13-160-102, 
• to be sited 660 FSL and 2581 / 2645 FWL; a fourth Stout well, SWSE 13-160-102, will be sited 460 FSL and 2531 FEL.  

One permit renewed:

• 36271, Hess, AN-Double Bar V-152-95-0106H-5, NENE 11-152-95, Antelope oil field, McKenzie County.