Wells Coming Off Confidential List This Next Week -- August 31, 2025

Locator: 49005WELLS.

The wells:

Wednesday, September 10, 2025: 14 for the month, 107 for the quarter, 547 for the year, 
41521, conf, MRO, Semerad 11-18H, 

Tuesday, September 9 2025: 13 for the month, 106 for the quarter, 546 for the year,
40576, conf, KODA Resources, Amber 1336-5BH,

Monday, September 8, 2025: 12 for the month, 105 for the quarter, 545 for the year, 
None.

Sunday, September 7, 2025: 12 for the month, 105 for the quarter, 545 for the year,
40813, conf, Enerplus, Fort Berthold 148-94-19D-18-9H,

Saturday, September 6, 2025: 11 for the month, 104 for the quarter, 544 for the year, 
41076, conf, Hess, GO-Foss Fam TRST-156-97-2314H-5,
40812, conf, Enerplus, Fort berthold 148-94-19D-18-8H,
40577, conf, KODA Resources, Amber 1336-6BH,

Friday, September 5, 2025: 8 for the month, 101 for the quarter, 541 for the year,
40503, conf, Hess, GO-Foss Fam TRST-156-97-2314H-4,
36719, conf, Enerplus, Fort Berthold 148-94-19C-18-6H,
36718, conf, Enerplus, Fort Berthold 148-94-19C-18-7H,

Thursday, September 4, 2025: 5 for the month, 98 for the quarter, 538 for the year, 
40652, conf, Oasis, Lake Trenton Federal 5302 21-31 3B,

Wednesday, September 3, 2025: 4 for the month, 97 for the quarter, 537 for the year,
41176, conf, KODA Resources, Amber 1435-5BH,

Tuesday, September 2, 2025: 3 for the month, 96 for the quarter, 536 for the year,
40946, conf, Hess, TI-H. Bakken-157-94-0712H-3,

Monday, September 1, 2025: 2 for the month, 95 for the quarter, 535 for the year,
40705, conf, Oasis, Lake Trenton Federal 5302 21-31 4B,
37544, conf, Hess, AN-Lone Tree-152-95-1207H-8,

Sunday, August 31, 2025: 55 for the month, 93 for the quarter, 533 for the year,
None.

Saturday, August 30, 2025: 55 for the month, 93 for the quarter, 533 for the year,
None.

On A Sunday Night -- Three Geo-Political Dots That May Connect -- August 31, 2025

Locator: 49004DEPARTMENTOFWAR.

Are any of these dots connected?

• Israel takes out (kills) Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida (Israel confirms)
  
• Europe appears to be getting serious about sending troops to Ukraine (multiple sources); and,
• Domino's Pizza activity in vicinity of Pentagon busier than usual Sunday night (x).

Amazon's Project Rainier -- Apple Reportedly Using New, High-End Amazon Trainium2 Chips -- August 31, 2025

Locator: 49003AMAZON. 

Amazon chips: wiki. Must-read. Annapurna Labs -- an Israeli company now fully owned by Amazon.

In November 2024 Annapurna announced their second generation Trainium 2 intended for training AI models. Based on their internal testing, Amazon are claiming "a 4-times performance increase between Trainium 1 and Trainium 2".

AWS Graviton - an ARM-based CPU developed by Annapurna Labs for exclusive use by Amazon Web Services.

Note: some sources call them "Trainum 2" chips and other sources call them "Trainium2" chips. In AI, "spaces" are "tokens."

From CHIPS:

AWS (Amazon): new chips -- Ocelot (quantum computing); competing with Nvidia -- Trainium, Inferentia. World's largest supercomputer to be completed in 2025 (?) -- Project Rainier -- partnered with Anthropic, AI --> Claude.

What is Project Rainier? Link here. 

From the linked press release:

Spread across multiple data centers in the U.S., the sheer size of the project is unlike anything AWS has ever attempted.

AWS customer AI safety and research company Anthropic will use this brand-new “AI compute cluster” to build and deploy future versions of its leading AI model, Claude.

“Rainier will provide five times more computing power compared to Anthropic’s current largest training cluster,” said Gadi Hutt, director of product and customer engineering at Annapurna Labs, the specialist chips arm of AWS responsible for designing and building the hardware that will power the project.

To deliver on that mission, Project Rainier is designed as a massive “EC2 UltraCluster of Trainium2 UltraServers.” The first part refers to Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), an AWS service that lets customers rent virtual computers in the cloud rather than buying and maintaining their own physical servers.

The more interesting bit is Trainium2, a custom-designed AWS computer chip built specifically for training AI systems. Unlike the general-purpose chips in your laptop or phone, Trainium2 is specialized for processing the enormous amounts of data required to teach AI models how to complete all manner of different and increasingly complex tasks—fast.

To put the power of Trainium2 in context: a single chip is capable of completing trillions of calculations a second. If, understandably, that’s a little hard to visualize: consider that it would take one person more than 31,700 years to count to one trillion. A task that would require millennia for a human to complete can be done in the blink of an eye with Trainium2.

Impressive, yes. But Project Rainier doesn’t just use one, or even a few, chips. This is where the UltraServers and UltraClusters come in.

Impressive, yes. But Project Rainier doesn’t just use one, or even a few, chips. This is where the UltraServers and UltraClusters come in.Traditionally, servers in a data center operate independently. If and when they need to share information, that data has to travel through external network switches. This introduces latency (i.e, delay), which is not ideal at such large scale.

AWS’s answer to this problem is the UltraServer. A new type of compute solution, an UltraServer combines four physical Trainium2 servers, each with 16 Trainium2 chips. They communicate via specialized high-speed connections called “NeuronLinks.” Identifiable by their distinctive blue cables, NeuronLinks are like dedicated express lanes, allowing data to move much faster within the system and significantly accelerating complex calculations across all 64 chips.

When you connect tens of thousands of these UltraServers and point them all at the same problem, you get Project Rainier—a mega “UltraCluster.”

ChatGPT confirms the above.

Trainium2-powered EC2 instances (Trn2) are generally available, offering up to 4× the performance of first-gen Trainium. A single instance packs 16 Trainium2 chips, delivering approximately 20.8 petaflops of FP8 compute, with 1.5 TB HBM3 memory and 46 TB/s memory bandwidth. Pricing performance is 30–40% better than comparable GPU-based P5e/P5en instances.

The Trn2 UltraServers—which connect 64 Trainium2 chips across four Trn2 instances via the proprietary NeuronLink interconnect—are available in preview. Each UltraServer delivers up to 83.2 petaflops, with 6 TB HBM3 and 185 TB/s bandwidth, along with 12.8 Tb/s EFAv3 networking for large-scale AI workloads.

Anthropic is a major early adopter: AWS and Anthropic are building an interconnected supercluster—or “Ultracluster”—with hundreds of thousands of Trainium2 chips to train next-gen models, estimated to be 5× the exaflops of their previous infrastructure.

AWS has labeled this deployment effort Project Rainier—a high-performance AI compute infrastructure underway in AWS data centers.

Apple is reportedly also testing and evaluating Trainium2 chips for potential AI workloads, signaling broader industry interest beyond AWS-internal users.

Where are AWS data centers located? 

• United States
• US East (N. Virginia) – Ashburn, Loudoun County, Virginia (largest AWS hub globally)
• US East (Ohio) – Columbus, Ohio
• US West (N. California) – Bay Area
•  US West (Oregon) – Boardman, Oregon -- on the Columbia River, 165 miles east of Portland
  
• AWS GovCloud (US-East/West) – Isolated regions for U.S. government, locations not fully disclosed but tied to Virginia and Oregon
• Canada (2)
  
• South America (1)
• Europe (8)
• Middle East (3)
• Africa (1)
• Asia-Pacific (10)
• China (2,special operations, separate from the rest)

Sacramento Blindsides Merced -- August 31, 2025

Locator: 49002BULLETTRAIN.

From one of the sources above:

California High-Speed Rail Authority board members heard words of frustration and disappointment from Merced officials Thursday – nearly a week after a report from the agency suggested possibly removing Merced from the bullet train’s initial operating segment.

Local officials like Frank Quintero, Merced’s deputy city manager, say they were given no advance notice before the authority released its 2025 Supplemental Project Update Report on Friday, Aug. 22.

Quintero, who addressed the board of directors in person during the public comment session of Thursday’s meeting in Sacramento, said the city of Merced has considered the High-Speed Rail Authority as a partner going back to the project’s inception more than two decades ago.

Despite that partnership, Quintero said Merced recently felt abandoned, receiving “no communication, and no courtesy heads up” prior to the release of the report that included the potential for Merced to be left off of the route for initial operations.

“We felt blindsided on Friday, Aug. 22 when the project update was released suggesting Merced be resequenced,” Quintero said.

Quintero added that Merced has always stood by the authority when they needed letters of support or someone to testify on behalf of the project.

“We are grateful for the optimism high-speed rail has brought to the community, but that brilliance is now tarnished,” Quintero said.

“We hope that a crystal clear line of communication is reestablished between the High-Speed Rail Authority and the city of Merced. We hope to rekindle the partnership with the authority, rather than feel like we don’t belong and (have) been abandoned.”

While other local officials were more subdued in their remarks toward the board, the feeling was palpable that Merced had not been treated in good faith.

The 31-mile segment that has not yet been cleared environmentally is the segment from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles to Anaheim (think Disneyland). 

Saturday Night -- The Midnight Hour -- August 30, 2025

Locator: 49001ARCHIVES.

NASCAR:  I hate road courses; I won't be watching the races this weekend in Portland, OR.

College football: is Texas' season already over, after one game? Beaten decisively by Ohio State.  

NFL's season opener: Dallas Cowboys vs Philadelphia Eagles (think Jim Cramer), Thursday night, September 4, 2025. Normally, Thursday night is an Amazon night but the opening game will be televised on NBC; streamed on Peacock.

Television: I'm in my "James Rockford" phase -- binge watching The Rockford Files on some streaming network, via Hulu / Amazon Fire Stick. 

Road trip: tomorrow I'll be starting a road trip. Will be on the road for six days or so. All I can say is that it won't be "Route 66" but that's where I would prefer to be.

Oldest daughter: completed her week paddle boarding the Norwegian fjiords. Now in Germany visiting old friends, and then next week will be back home. To a new apartment. It's been a busy week.

Amazon (Prime) owns MGM but that doesn't mean the MGM library is "free" to Amazon Prime subscribers. If you're curious, ask ChatGPT. Bottom line: MGM is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon; the latter (Amazon) has monetized the MGM library. The MGM library-post 1986 is owned by Amazon.  

MGM-post 1986: when asked the most "important" MGM-post 1986 movies, this was ChatGPT's answer:

• James Bond films (GoldenEye, 1995; Casino Royale, 2006, Skyfall, 2012, and, No Time To Die, 2021).
• The Silence of the Lambs, 1991;
• Legally Blond, 2001;
• The Rocky / Creek franchise, since 2006;
• The Handmaid's Tale, 2017 -- ;
• Vikings, 2013 & Vikings: Valhalla, 2022 - 
• Tomb Raider, 2001, 2003, 2018;
• The Hobbit Trilogy, 2012 - 2014;
• The Pink Panther, 2006 & reboot IP
• Stargate, 1994 and spin-offs.

None of the MGM-post 1986 offerings above excite me; not in the least. 

JustWatch: to find out what movies / television shows are available for streaming, check out JustWatch.

My Favorite Chart -- MMFs At A Record $7.5 Trillion -- August 30, 2025

Locator: 49000MMF.

My favorite chart.

MMFs.

Link here. 

I vividly remember the pushback I got when I started posting "my favorite chart." LOL.

It looks like someone is getting a kick out of tracking MMFs. 

My most recent "my favorite chart" post, on MMFs:

Locator: 48900MMF.

Tag: MMF, MMFs, money market funds;

Link here.

Subtle, but slight increase. The total value continues to increase.

Semiconductors -- Fabs -- The Various Processes

Locator: 48999TECH.

DUV

The DUV (Deep Ultraviolet) lithography process in a semiconductor fab uses deep ultraviolet light (typically 193 nm) to print intricate patterns of chip layers onto silicon wafers, which are then processed through deposition, etching, and doping steps to build integrated circuits. The DUV process is a core, cost-effective component of chip manufacturing, involving coating wafers with photoresist, using a mask to transfer a circuit blueprint using DUV light, and then using that pattern to guide subsequent material deposition, etching, or doping.

EUV

The EUV semiconductor fab process uses Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) light to create smaller, more intricate patterns on silicon wafers, enabling advanced microchips. In this process, a high-energy laser hits molten tin droplets to generate 13.5nm EUV light. This light is then directed through a complex system of mirrors, which reflects the pattern from an EUV mask onto a photoresist-coated wafer. The EUV light exposes the photoresist, forming the desired circuit design, and the wafer is subsequently processed to etch the circuits into the silicon.

RISC-V

Link here. 

Tech -- Updates -- Thoughts -- August 30, 2025

Locator: 48998TECH.

Two huge question marks in tech:

• partnerships vs going it alone:
• driven by financial risk;
  
• the cloud vs the edge;
• driven by battery power.
  

AI (cloud and edge, doesn't matter):

• in-house vs partnerships

Most important developments:

• 2025: American Manufacturing Progam, Apple lead. Link here.
  
• 2025: Stargate, Softbank and Foxconn lead. Link here.
  
• 2021: RAMP-C, Intel lead -- DOD. Link here. 

Energy:

• coal;
• natural gas;
• nuclear;
• renewable.

A Shopping Interlude -- August 30, 2025

Locator: 48997AMAZON.

In case the type is too small to read inside the box:

Amazon Prime is simply incredible.

• I ordered five items at 10:48 a.m. this morning. Most items will arrive this afternoon.
• all items were non-perishable cleaning products which I buy on a regular basis, either locally or through Amazon.
• savings:
  
• Amazon always has the most competitive prices to begin with, and today all items were discounted at least 15%.
• shipping is always free and saved me $2.99 today.
• completely unexpected:
• multibuy discount: $3.32.
• subscription savings: $1.66
• estimate: had I bought this locally today, I would have been out in the rain (yes, it's raining) and the cost locally? $100.

Plus I get 5% cash-back on all purchases at Amazon using my Amazon credit card. 

5% of $70 = $3.50.

Savings easily pays the monthly Amazon Prime fee. And with Amazon Prime, I also get Amazon Prime video and so much other stuff I can't keep track, and generally don't use anyway.

FABS

Locator: 48996FABS. 

Most Important Developments
Not Necessarily Limited To Fabs

• 2025: American Manufacturing Program, Apple lead. Link here. Supply chain.
  
• 2025: Stargate, Softbank and Foxconn lead. Link here. Nationwide data centers.
  
• 2021: RAMP-C, Intel lead -- DOD. Link here. Program similar to Apple's AMP.
  

Fabs in Oregon

August 30, 2025:

Semiconductor fabs in Oregon include Intel's facilities in Hillsboro, Jireh Semiconductor's (an Alpha and Omega Semiconductor subsidiary) fab in Hillsboro, the Microchip Technology fab in Gresham, and the Analog Devices plant in Aloha. Other companies like Stratacache have purchased facilities but are not yet in full production.

Fabs in Texas

August 30, 2025:

Texas is home to multiple semiconductor fabrication plants (fabs) operated by major companies, including two 300mm wafer fabs at Texas Instruments (TI) in Richardson and a new 300mm wafer fab under construction by Samsung in Taylor. Texas Instruments also has new 300mm wafer fabs being built in Sherman, and other semiconductor companies with facilities in Texas include NXP Semiconductors and Infineon.

Multiple companies operate major semiconductor fabrication facilities in Texas, including long-term manufacturing hubs in Austin and Richardson, along with significant new expansions in Taylor and Sherman. The recent growth has been fueled by incentives from the Texas CHIPS Act and federal CHIPS and Science Act.

 Fabs in Ohio

August 30, 2025:

Intel's first Ohio fab (Mod 1) is expected to have construction completed in 2030, with operations to begin in 2030-2031, and the second fab (Mod 2) in 2031, with operations starting in 2032.

This schedule represents a delay from previous projections, with Intel citing financial responsibility and the need to align with customer demand as reasons for the slower construction pace at its Ohio One site.

Intel fabs: update.

Twenty Most Important Global Fabs

This was posted by PatentPC on August 18, 2025: top ten (sic) most advanced Fabs in the world, latest rankings. Link here.

1. TSMC Fab 18 -- Taiwan, 3nm and 5nm chips; monthly capacity: 100,000 wafers; critical for Nvidia.

2. Samsung Pyeongtaek Campus, South Korea; the world's largest semiconductor fab, spanning over 2.9 million square meters (2.9 x 10.7639 = 31 million square feet); a city; handles most advanced fabrication  processes including 3nm and below.

3. Intel D1X -- Primary Research and Development Fab for Intel's advanced notes, incuidng 18A (1.8nm); Ronler Acres campus in Hillsboro, Oregon, south of Portland;

What makes D1X stand out is its role in process innovation. Unlike high-volume fabs, this facility focuses on refining the techniques that will eventually be used in larger production facilities worldwide. This means that breakthroughs in D1X shape the entire semiconductor industry.

4. TSMC Fab 20 -- Taiwan, first fab to mass-produce 2nm chips; expected to start operations in 2025.

5. Samsung Hwaseong -- South Korea, produces cutting-edge GAA transistors for sub-3nm nodes.

6. Intel Ocotillo Fab 42 -- Chandler, Arizona, Intel's largest production fab; the move from Intel 7 (10nm) to Intel 4 (7nm).

7. TSMC Arizona Fab -- North Phoenix, USA -- $40 billion investment; will produce 4nm and later 3nm chips from 2025; 

TSMC is not only bringing advanced chip production closer to key clients like Apple, NVIDIA, and AMD but also reinforcing supply chain resilience amid geopolitical uncertainties.

8. Samsung Taylor Fab -- Taylor, Texas, USA; $17 billion investment; will manufacture 3nm ad 4nm chips by 2024 - 2025; re-shoring! In Texas' Silicon Valley, northeast of Austin, TX.

9. Intel Magdeburg Fab -- Germany; a $33 billion investment; expected to start 2nm production by 2027;

Intel’s Magdeburg fab isn’t just another semiconductor plant—it’s a high-stakes move in the battle for technological dominance. With a staggering $33 billion investment, Intel is making a bold statement: Europe will play a critical role in the future of advanced chip manufacturing. For businesses, this shift is monumental. Supply chains will diversify, risks tied to Asia-centric production will reduce, and companies reliant on cutting-edge chips will gain a new, strategically located supplier. Whether you’re a tech startup, an automotive giant, or a data center operator, this fab’s arrival changes the way you think about sourcing chips.

10. GlobalFoundries Fab 8 -- Luther Forest Technology Campus, Malta, NY, USA, north of Albany, NY, produces advanced FinFET notes up to 12nm with a monthly capacity of 60,000 wafers. 

GlobalFoundries may not be competing at 3nm or 2nm, but its role in supplying specialized chips is crucial. Many industries still rely on 12nm and older nodes, and Fab 8 ensures a steady supply of these essential components.

The next ten:

11. TSMC Nanjin -- China; focused on 16nm and 28nm process nodes for the Chinese market.

12. Samsung Austin -- Austin, TX, USA; one of the largest semiconductor fabs in the US, producing 14nm and older nodes.

13. TSMC Kumamoto Fab -- Japan; joint venture with Sony, producing 22nm and 28nm chips by 2024.

14. SMIC Beijing Fab -- China, the most advanced Fab in China, recently producing 7nm chips.

15. SK Hynix M16 -- South Korea; produces DRAM and NAND (think Micron) with EUV lithograpy fro advanced memory.

16. Micron Hiroshima Fab -- Japan; produced advanced DRAM using 1α (1-Alpha) process node.

17. Intel Ireland Fab 34 -- producing Intel 4 (7nm) chips with EUV lithography.

18. TSMC Fab 15 -- Taiwan -- one of the first fabs to mass-produce 7nm chips still operational 

19. UMC Fab 12A -- Taiwan -- one of the most advanced non-TSMC fabs in Taiwan, producing 14nm chips

20. Samsung P3 Fab -- South Korea; will produce 2nm and below using GAA transistors by 2025.

*****************************
Global Fabs

Link here.

The list is incredibly long.

Number of fabs (all approximate) that are

• in the "planning stage"): ~ seven (7);
• under construction: ~ five (5);
• started production in 2025: planned, one (1);
• started production in 2024: ~ 2
• started production in 2023: 1
• started production in 2022: 2
• started production in 2021: 2
• started production in 2020: 5
• started production in 2019: 3
• started production in 2018: 6
• started production in2017: 5

California To Temporarily Set Aside Penalties For Excessive Refining Profits -- Released Well After News Cycle Ended Friday Night -- August 30, 2025

Locator: 48995CA. 

Behind a paywall, link here, and archived:

HOUSTON, Aug 29 (Reuters) - California's Energy Commission voted on Friday to temporarily set aside penalties for excessive refining profits that were adopted after gasoline pump prices climbed over $8 a gallon in 2022.

The five-year delay in implementing the penalties comes as Phillips 66's Los Angeles refinery is preparing to begin shutting production as early as next week ahead of a permanent closure.

The fact is, supply is declining faster than demand, and we need to bring them into alignment: that means slowing supply loss while aggressively pursuing the transition to zero emission vehicles," the Commission's staff said in an emailed statement. [So far, there is no Plan B to slow supply loss in California, according to ChatGPT.]

California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom had proposed the penalties, but has since switched direction amid worries of price spikes in 2026 after the closure of the Phillips 66 refinery and a San Francisco-area plant operated by Valero Energy Corp next year.

Coincidentally, this blog was posted about twelve hours earlier, link here.

California refiners: link here. 

Phillips 66 on track to shut down its California refinery as scheduled, or perhaps slightly ahead of schedule. No talk yet of who might buy it. ChatGPT says there are no reports of anyone looking to buy this refinery, and the state of California seems to be caught flat-footed on this development though it was announced years ago; California was very, very aware of this closure; but, failed to come up with a Plan B, except to import refined products.

Flashback to 2022: 

In 2022, California gasoline prices saw significant increases, driven by events like the Russia-Ukraine war.

Prices reached historic highs, averaging $5.89 a gallon in the summer of 2022, with some counties seeing prices over $6.

The surge in California prices occurred alongside record-breaking national averages, with the U.S. average reaching $4.25 per gallon in March 2022.

In Oregon, it was not much better.

In 2022, average gas prices in Oregon peaked around $5.55 per gallon in June and remained high, with an average of $5.14 in late September before dipping slightly by year-end, although overall prices were consistently above the national average.

These elevated prices were driven by high demand, supply constraints from West Coast refinery issues, and limited crude oil transportation options like pipelines.

PSX ticker:

The New High-Speed Northeast Amtrak Corridor -- An Update -- The Wall Street Journal -- August 29, 2025

Locator: 48994AMTRAK. 

Link here.

Amtrak's own data:

We've talked about this before. See this post. From April 2, 2025. 

*****************************
Reminiscing

Amtrak's Northeast Corridor brings back a lot of memories.

She was my first love. 

Her home was in a suburb on the Jersey side of NYC.

She was going to school in Boston.

She flew.

I took ground transportation between Boston and NYC/New Jersey.

Link here.

American Century Acquires More Shares In Enbridge; Adds To Position -- August 29, 2025

Locator: 48993ENB. 

Link here.

Allison Ritter's Quick Connects -- August 29, 2025

Locator: 48992B.  

The links:

• North Dakota oil and gas production up about 3.5% in June -- Bismarck Tribune

• Fedorchak talks data centers as more facilities planned for North Dakota -- KFYR - TV

• Williams County commissioners to financially support new power plant -- KFYR - TV

• Settlement talks continue over civil case involving Atlas Power Data Center -- KFYR - TV

• Data center proposed for Harwood prompts anger, questions from community -- North Dakota Monitor

• Clean energy careers among fastest growing; union-scale jobs look for place -- Minot Daily News

• ND Supreme Court allows landowner challenge to CO2 storage law to proceed -- North Dakota Monitor

• EPA grants Wyoming state primacy over coal ash management, storage and disposal -- WyoFile

• District 42 Republicans ready for 21-day window to select state House replacement -- Grand Forks Herald

• A fragmented party: Why was a rural North Dakota district leaderless for 4 months? -- Bismarck Tribune

• Canadian tourism down in North Dakota, with poll linking downturn to tariffs, rhetoric -- North Dakota Monitor

• North Dakota DOGE task force's second session highlights ongoing challenges -- Bismarck Tribune

• Ray commissioners approve agreement with day care provider after lengthy discussion -- The Journal

• Annual Faces of Coal Golf Tournament celebrates the present and invests in the future -- Hazen Star

• Minot City Council members weighing multiple proposals ahead of 2026 budget deadline -- KFYR - TV

• Large influx of federal money expected to help stabilize rural health care in North Dakota -- KFYR - TV

• Sixteen citizens filed letters of intent to be considered for Minot's vacant City Council seat -- KFYR - TV

• Behind the scenes work underway to establish public charter schools in North Dakota -- Dickinson Press

• Killdeer High School's agricultural education program wins state innovation award -- Dickinson Press

• Dickinson State says nursing program re-launch will happen ahead of schedule -- Dickinson Press

• Williston State looks to add more four year programs in business and addiction studies -- KFYR - TV

• Port: North Dakota needs to promote from within; selection of Sanford 'breath of fresh air' -- InForum

• School enrollment hold strong; Divide County down 2 while Ray has ninth straight increase -- The Journal

• North Dakota school boards to give new public comment law now in effect a test -- KNOX Radio

• North Dakota lawmakers, university reps reevaluating higher education funding structure -- Dickinson Press

• As nationwide teacher shortage deepens, rural ND school relies on international recruits -- KFYR - TV

• New Beulah school board member Reich driven by love of kids, school-oriented community -- The Beacon

• Dakota College at Bottineau awarded $1.4M to address healthcare workforce needs -- Minot Daily News

• Danielle Benz hired as Center-Stanton elementary counselor and interventionist -- The Center Republican

• Dunn County Sheriff Deputy Jesse Hellinger is the new SRO at Killdeer High School -- The Beacon

• China releases interim measures tightening controls on mining, processing of rare earths -- Minot Daily News

• DOE Boss Chris Wright: Let's have a real climate debate and discussion -- The Empowerment Alliance

• Interior Department unveils offshore leasing schedule for Alaska and the Gulf Coast -- Energy in Depth

• 23 AGs, including Drew Wrigley of ND, call on EPA to defund radical climate science institute -- The Blaze

• Trump to launch investigation into how imports of wind turbine components affect nat'l security -- E&E News

• US natural gas consumption on track to set new record in 2025 says EIA short term outlook -- Oil Price

• Saskatchewan defends its coal plant extension as environmental groups mount legal fight -- Sask Today

• Timeline of Trump administration's moves to dismantle US wind and solar energy industries -- Reuters

• China is burning coal at record high levels in 2025, added 21 gigawatts since January -- DW Media

• China accelerates coal plant commissioning to 9-year high despite record solar, wind additions -- Oil Price

• Coal plants step up when renewables falter during record-breaking demand -- The Washington Times

• American fossil fuels key to energy freedom, reduce dependence on adversaries -- Washington Examiner

• Exxon projects global natural gas demand will rise more than 20% by 2050 from 2024 levels -- Oil Price

• Rescinding the endangerment finding was overdue. But will there be justice? -- Empowerment Alliance

• When Washington gets out of the way, we all win, energy workers deliver results -- RealClearEnergy

• Department of Interior's new policies will lower energy costs for Americans -- One America News Network

• Trump withdraws $716M Biden loan to New Jersey project, latest blow to wind industry -- Free Beacon

• Trump unsettles supposedly settled climate science, DOE report debunks alarmist claims -- Townhall

No New Permits; Two DUCs Reported As Completed -- August 29, 2025

Locator: 48991B.  

WTI: $64.01.

Active rigs: 33. Nice jump.

No new permits.

Two producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 35236, 2,392, CLR, Michael State Federal 6-16H1, Williams County;
• 35237, 2,585, CLR, Michael State Federal 6-16H, Williams County;

Apple Has Ordered Almost Half Of TSMC's Initial 2-NM Production Capacity For The iPhone 18 -- August 29, 2025

Locator: 48990APPLE.

The iPhone 17 is yet to be announced. The iPhone 18 will be introduced next year.

Link here.

All About Refineries Today -- August 29, 2025

Locator: 48989B. 

WTI: $64.13.

New wells:

• Monday, September 1, 2025: 2 for the month, 95 for the quarter, 535 for the year,
• 40705, conf, Oasis, Lake Trenton Federal 5302 21-31 4B,
• 37544, conf, Hess, AN-Lone Tree-152-95-1207H-8,
• Sunday, August 31, 2025: 55 for the month, 93 for the quarter, 533 for the year,
• None.
• Saturday, August 30, 2025: 55 for the month, 93 for the quarter, 533 for the year,
• None.
• Friday, August 29, 2025: 55 for the month, 93 for the quarter, 533 for the year,
• None.

California refiners: link here. 

Phillips 66 on track to shut down its California refinery as scheduled, or perhaps slightly ahead of schedule. No talk yet of who might buy it. ChatGPT says there are no reports of anyone looking to buy this refinery, and the state of California seems to be caught flat-footed on this development though it was announced years ago; California was very, very aware of this closure; but, failed to come up with a Plan B, except to import refined products.

RBN Energy: US refiners could benefit from struggles refineries are facing abroad.

Refineries in Europe, Latin America, Russia and China are facing a host of issues that could ultimately benefit U.S. refiners. Europe has high operating costs and political pressures. Attacks have damaged Russia’s refineries, and the country continues to get blasted with steeper sanctions. China’s aging plants are closing and there are no new large-scale projects on the horizon. Latin America lags in capacity growth. In today’s RBN blog, we look at how these global issues are boosting opportunities for U.S. refiners. 

First, we’ll offer a refresher of the U.S. refining industry before we address the global arena. As we discussed in Us and Them, the industry has undergone a number of changes in recent years, and more turbulence looks likely as global economic and trade patterns shift and the energy transition moves forward. For some U.S. refineries, this has led to closures due to weak profits, rising regulatory costs and declining demand for products, particularly gasoline. But other refineries have prospered and even invested in expansions. The U.S. refining industry has evolved into the most competitive in the world, and the issues and challenges faced by other countries will likely benefit U.S. refiners.

While 2025 will end up with about 1.2 MMb/d of gross capacity additions worldwide, significant shutdowns will also take place in the U.S., Europe and China, resulting in a net decrease in capacity of about 240 Mb/d (see dashed black oval in Figure 1 below). As detailed in the most recent Future of Fuels report from our Refined Fuels Analytics (RFA) practice, we’ll look at the challenges facing Russia, Europe, China and Latin America, and spell out how the political pressures and potential closures could set up U.S. refiners for growth.

Figure 1. Global Refinery Net Capacity Changes. Source: RFA

We’ll break down each region, starting with Russia.

Russian refineries have faced relentless Ukrainian drone attacks that have knocked out at least 17% (roughly 1.1 MMb/d) of Russia’s total refining capacity, sparking fuel shortages and panic buying in its southern regions. Since June, Ukraine has struck 10 major refineries, including sites in Volgograd, Saratov, Syzran, Ryazan and Novokuibyshevsk, with some of these facilities being forced offline for weeks. Russia responded by banning gasoline exports in July and shifting crude oil flows toward China and India, despite U.S. pressure to dial back those sales. 

American Manufacturing Program -- Apple -- August 28, 2025

Locator: 48988APPLE.

In all the clutter of news the past two weeks, it's easy to forget this, the American Manufacturing Program, or better framed, Apple's American Manufacturing Program:

• link here; and,
• link here to AP.

From August 6, 2025, Trump announces Apple investing another $100 billion in US manufacturing.

Apple CEO Tim Cook joined President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday to announce a commitment by the tech company to increase its investment in U.S. manufacturing by an additional $100 billion over the next four years.

“This is a significant step toward the ultimate goal of ensuring that iPhones sold in the United States of America also are made in America,” Trump said at the press conference. “Today’s announcement is one of the largest commitments in what has become among the greatest investment booms in our nation’s history.”

As part of the Apple announcement, the investments will be about bringing more of its supply chain and advanced manufacturing to the United States as part of an initiative called the American Manufacturing Program, but it is not a full commitment to build its popular iPhone device domestically.

This is a big deal.

Look with whom Apple has partnered. This is truly unprecedented. Think of the "force-multiplication" that is going on. 

Apple with a dozen primary partners -- entry fee: $250 billion market cap. 

Each of the dozen primary partners, another dozen secondary partners for each of the primary -- entry fee: $500 million market cap. 

12 x 12 = 144.

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Apple's American Manufacturing Program

Apple's American Manufacturing Program (AMP) includes initial partners such as Corning for cover glass, Coherent for VCSEL lasers, MP Materials for rare earth magnets, and semiconductor companies Texas Instruments, Samsung, GlobalFoundries, Amkor, and GlobalWafers America, with plans to manufacture an end-to-end silicon supply chain in the U.S. by bringing new technology to the U.S. first.

Here are some of the specific partners and their roles in Apple's American Manufacturing Program:

For Physical Components

Corning:

A partner in manufacturing cover glass for all iPhone and Apple Watch devices in Kentucky, and will also establish a new Apple-Corning Innovation Center in the state.

Coherent:

• A long-standing partner that produces VCSEL lasers for features like Face ID and other components, with operations in Sherman, Texas.

MP Materials (this draws Apple to the table shared with DOD and Palantir):

• Apple has committed to buying American-made rare earth magnets from MP Materials, and the two companies will expand the Independence facility in Fort Worth, Texas, and establish a rare earth recycling line in Mountain Pass, California.

For Silicon Manufacturing

Texas Instruments:

• Expanding its partnership to support additional tool installations at its Utah facility and a new facility in Sherman, Texas.

Samsung:

• Collaborating to launch an innovative new chip-making technology in Austin, Texas, to optimize chip performance for Apple products.

GlobalFoundries:

• Partnering to bring new semiconductor manufacturing capabilities and technology to its facility in Malta, New York.

Amkor:

• Apple is the first and largest customer for Amkor's new advanced chip packaging and test facility in Arizona.

GlobalWafers America:

• Plans to manufacture advanced bare wafers in the U.S. for the first time, using silicon from Corning. See link here. See also the Apple-Corning (GLW) relationship.
  

These partnerships aim to bring a complete silicon supply chain to America, from design to packaging.

It goes without saying, a primary partner is also: TSMC. 

Also:

• Broadcom.

These are the initial partners.

Additional partners that will be needed (not solely manufacturing):

• 5G
• satellite
• AI

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A Musical Interlude

Link here.

Petro-Hunt With Four New Permits -- August 28, 2025

Locator: 48987B. 

WTI: $64.07.

Active rigs: 30.

Four new permits, #42259 - #42262, inclusive:

• Operator: Petro-Hunt
• Field: Little Knife (Dunn County): Crooked Creek (Dunn County);
• Comments:
• Petro-Hunt has permits for four wells, Charles Tompkins (2), Charles Rand, and John Williams9, all SWSW 32-144-97, 
• to be sited 365 FSL and 325 / 465 FWL.

One producing well reported as completed:

• 35233, 2,498, CLR, Michael State Federal 5-16H, Williams County.

This Needs A Stand-Alone If You're Wondering About Amazon -- August 28, 2025

Locator: 48986AMAZON. 

As a side note, this is why I continue to add, as an investor, to my position in Amazon. 

I just happened to see this interview near the end of the day over at CNBC. 

Amazon and Comcast NBCUniversal recently announced that Peacock Premium Plus can now be added as an add-on subscription through Amazon Prime Video Channels. For $16.99 per month or $169.99 per year, Prime Video customers can access Peacock's ad-free content, including live sports like Sunday Night Football and Olympic coverage, directly within the Prime Video app.

Link here. Same link.

This is really, really amazing.

According to Google AI:

• Amazon Prime alone, with no others partnerns, $14.99 / month or $139 / year;
• Amazon Prime with Peacock Premium Plus, $16.99 / month or $169 / year.

So, if that's correct, if that's accurate, I can pay an addition $2.00 / month and get the entire Peacock Premium Plus Network. 

I find that incredible.

So, what does Peacock Prime Plus Network add to my current Amazon Prime experience, in terms of content?

Peacock Premium Plus on Prime Video provides an ad-free streaming experience with live sports like "Sunday Night Football" and the Olympics, thousands of on-demand movies and series from NBCUniversal networks (like Bravo), Peacock Originals, and the ability to download content offline.

Users can access this content seamlessly within the Prime Video app through a separate subscription, adding to their existing content library without needing a second app. 

As a comparison, look what it would cost to add Paramount: 

Paramount+ costs either $7.99 per month for the ad-supported Essential plan or $12.99 per month for the premium Paramount+ with Showtime plan. You can also pay annually for savings, which works out to about $5.00 per month for the Essential plan or about $10.00 per month for the premium plan.

What sports does Paramount offer that the others don't:

Paramount+ provides exclusive coverage of several top-tier sports that differentiate it from other streaming services, particularly in soccer and MMA

. Its specific focus on these leagues makes it a must-have for fans who want to follow them extensively.

MMA and soccer interest me not. 

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Where I Stand

With the Amazon Prime Fire Stick, I subscribe to two "things":

• Hulu (my most important go-to streaming "network") -- which includes ESPN, and maybe some Disney (I honestly don't know what Disney I get with Hulu but with Hulu / ESPN I honestly get all the sports I need); and,
• Amazon Prime.

Through Hulu I get all the legacy networks (ABC, NBC, and CBS, for example, and all the local networks) and with Amazon Prime I get "all" the NFL I want, including "Monday Night Football." I can still get "Sunday Night Football" on Hulu / legacy NBC, and so for "Sunday Night Football" I don't need Peacock.

Amazon Prime gets me "Thursday Night Football." 

I think it's just a matter of time before "Sunday Night Football" is available only on Peacock.

And I think it's only a matter of time before the legacy networks lose any access to the NBA, NFL, NASCAR, and the PGA. 

It could also happen with regard to the Olympics but that may catch the eye(s) of the FCC.

But for an extra $2.00 / month, the Amazon Prime / Peacock merger looks very tempting.

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Amazon Prime

I can't say it enough times. Amazom Prime more than pays for itself. With the "cash-back" Amazon Prime credit card, I get Amazon Prime (streaming and the retail store) completely "free."

Amazon Prime streaming and YouTube streaming are in direct competition, and my hunch is that both are equally good. But with Amazon Prime retail, it's a no-brainer. 

The next big thing:

• a direct competitor to YouTube video channel (not YouTube streaming) but the YouTube video app;
• Josh Brown on CNBC thinks Netflix will develop a YouTube-like video channel;
• it would be a hoot if Amazon Prime also developed a YouTube-like video channel.

Background:

Mike Hopkins is currently the head of Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video, following Jennifer Salke's departure for a production deal in March 2025. In this role, Hopkins oversees all aspects of Amazon's video entertainment businesses, with Courtenay Valenti (film) and Vernon Sanders (TV) reporting directly to him.

Amazon first announced its intent to purchase Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) on May 26, 2021, for $8.45 billion, a deal that was finalized and closed on March 17, 2022. The acquisition added MGM's extensive library of films and TV shows, including the James Bond and Rocky franchises, to Amazon's Prime Video service, making it a significant expansion of Amazon's entertainment division and a major event in the streaming wars.