Locator: 49721B.
Pipeline: Texas --> California. PSX and KMI. Link here.
Coal: IEA continues to spin the story. Nothing to see here. Coal usage continues to increase and will do so for years to come. Track today's IEA story on coal on x. Link here. Link here.
Weather: incredibly warm across the nation for this time of year. North Texas will soon get to near 80°F.
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Back to the Bakken
WTI: $56.52. WTI jumps $1.50 on Trump's blockade (or as CNBC has it, "blockade") of Venezuela. By the way, that blockade of Venezuela? A two-for-one for the State Department -- Cuba is collateral damage.
New wells reporting:
- Thursday, December 18, 2025: 43 for the month, 166 for the quarter, 750 for the year,
- 41300, conf, Hess, BL-Herfindahl-LW-156-95-3031H-1,
- 40846, conf, Devon Energy, Grand National 34-36F-3H,
- Wednesday, December 17, 2025: 41 for the month, 164 for the quarter, 748 for the year,
- 41525, conf, Petro-Hunt, Torgerson 158-94-15C-10-2H,
- 41524, conf, Petro-Hunt, Torgerson 158-94-15C-10-1H,
- 41107, conf, Devon Energy, Helling 16-21 3H,
- 40964, conf, Devon Energy, Costanza 24-13 3TFH,
Costanza wells, Devon Energy: amazing wells. Link here.
RBN Energy: Vermont -- one state's drive to slash GHGs slams into reality, and send a warning to others. Link here. Archived.
Five years ago, Vermont enacted a law requiring steep reductions in its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To help achieve that legally binding mandate, the state in 2023 approved a statute directing regulators to develop an incentives-based program under which heating oil and propane suppliers would drive households and businesses toward electric heat pumps, biodiesel and other lower-carbon space-heating alternatives. But regulators determined this year that the plan would be too costly and would hit Vermont’s many low-income residents the hardest. Now everything’s in limbo. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss what happened when the Green Mountain State’s good intentions encountered the realities of a major fuel initiative, and what Vermont’s experience implies for ambitious programs in other states.
Many would argue that Vermont is the quirkiest of the 50 states, with an independent streak a mile wide and — dear to our hearts here at RBN — a homegrown ice cream company with a penchant for naming many of its flavors after music and musicians (Cherry Garcia, Bohemian Raspberry and Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road, to name just a few). It’s certainly the snowiest state, with average annual snowfall of 90 inches (!), and one of the coldest (seventh overall, with an average winter temperature of 22°F). As locals put it in their own inimitable way, Vermont has four seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction — the last of these tied to the wear-and-tear from seemingly endless snowplowing and road-salting.
With all that cold weather and snow, it should come as no surprise that home heating is a major topic of conversation. Vermont is different here, too: Only 17% of the state’s homes (all of them in northwestern Vermont) have natural gas heat, compared to 46% of the U.S. as a whole, and a miniscule 10% of Vermont homes rely on electric heat (mostly heat pumps or electric baseboard), way below the 42% U.S. average. Instead, most Vermonters turn to either heating oil (36%), propane (20%; see photo below), or — far more than any other state — wood (14%). About 3% comes from other sources, including biodiesel derived from used cooking oil. (All stats are the latest available from the EIA.