Locator: 49733B.
GDP, 3Q25: huge number; blows away expectations. 4.3% vs 3.2% estimate, first reading. A 4.3% GDP! Amazing. Other numbers not so good. But not bad. The "nominal" GDP is even much higher. The headline GDP number being reported is after inflation number is taken out. Before taking out inflation, GDP, first reading for 3Q25, was trending toward 8%. Amazing. Productivity numbers are apparently "off the charts" -- great productivity numbers. (AI?) The market will be down because this is not a report that will spur the Fed to cut rates.
Gasoline: at four-year lows. Folks would hardly know that listening to mainstream media.
Ford Lightning: link to WSJ. "They" still don't get it.
Calpine: quick! Where is Calpine headquartered? When / where did Calpine start? What does Calpine do? Energy Capital Partners' investment in Calpine will earn the firm and its ivestors more than $25 billion -- the most profitable private-equity deal ever! And we haven't heard a thing about this until now!? A WSJ exclusive; link here. Wiki.
Offshore wind: a national security threat? "They" still don't get it. "They": those who don't understand why offshore wind is a national security threat.
Jim Beam: temporarily shutting down its trademark distillery -- the facility in Clermont, KY -- production will pause for the entire year (2026). Canadians have quit drinking American bourbon. Having said that, the fact is Kentucky bourbon sales started slowing down in 2024, before Trump tariffs. Whether it's related to THC-infused drinks it's hard to say. Here in Texas, THC-infused drinks are decimating the beer industry. Articles in the WSJ commonly get tens to scores of comments; this article: 4,000 comments and counting.
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Back to the Bakken
WTI: $58.16.
New wells reporting:
- Wednesday, December 24, 2025: 59 for the month, 182 for the quarter, 765 for the year,
- 41659, conf, Phoenix Operating, Shivey 28-33 5H,
- 41658, conf, Phoenix Operating, Shivey 28-33 4H,
- 41657, conf, Phoenix Operating, Shivey 28-33 2H,
- 41656, conf, Phoenix Operating, Shivey 28-33 1H,
- 41618, conf, Phoenix Operating, Shivey 28-33 3H,
- Tuesday, December 23, 2025: 54 for the month, 177 for the quarter, 760 for the year,
- 40957, conf, Devon Energy, Grand National 34-36F 4H,
RBN Energy: Gulf of Mexico oil production nears new high , but will growth continue? Link here. Archived.
Crude oil production in the U.S.’s portion of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is poised to top 2 MMb/d for the first time in six years — and only the third time ever. New floating production units (FPUs) and subsea tiebacks keep coming online. And a newcomer to the U.S. GOM, U.K.-based Harbour Energy, just announced a multibillion-dollar deal to acquire LLOG Exploration, a leading Gulf player. As we’ll discuss in today’s RBN blog, a lot is happening in the U.S.’s second-largest oil production area.
It’s been a long and winding road for Gulf of Mexico production. In the early 2000s, the GOM was churning out more than 1.6 MMb/d of crude oil, twice as much as in the early 1980s. But production (teal line in Figure 1 below) was set back by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 (dashed red oval), Gustav and Ike in 2008 (dashed green oval), and the Macondo disaster in 2010. In response to that incident, which resulted in the loss of 11 lives and the release of more than 4 MMbbl of oil, the federal government declared a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling. GOM production sagged (dashed yellow oval) and didn’t return to pre-Macondo levels until 2016-17.