Headlines Over At X -- Plastic Straws And Gulf Of America -- February 10, 2025

Locator: 48533X.

Breaking:

Trump pardons ex-Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Absolutely outstanding press conference two weeks after the initial call. Two bad 99% of Americans won't hear that press conference. At best, they might get a 30-second sound bite on the evening news and then an "explanation" by the news reader reading something written by some unknown "news" writer behind the scenes.

Trump is truly amazing. Does Trump ever sleep? 

Fox, Live, Now, Raw: amazing. 

***************************
Democratic Leadership

Schumer. Truly a breath of fresh air listening to John Thune.

Jeffries. Wow, wow, wow. I don't think folks get it yet. Certainly not the journalists covering the US House. But Jeffries is a) a doppelgänger of Barack Obama; and, b) is clearly channeling Barack when he speaks form the floor.

Both Schumer and Jeffries are one-trick ponies: Trump is cutting taxes for the rich. So far, Trump hasn't said a thing about taxes, unless I've missed something.

 ******************************
Headlines Over At X

Straws: President Trump has just signed an executive order directing the US government to go back to plastic straws. This will be a huge help to the US military.

Brilliant, brilliant: President Trump says Nippon Steel has agreed to invest in US Steel instead of buying the company outright. 

Tariffs: President Trump removed the exceptions and exemptions Monday from this 2018 tariffs on steel. Now, all aluminum products / steel products coming into US face tariffs, at least that's how I understand it. Could be wrong. Often am. 

Later, yup there it is: 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum for all countries. Let's make America great again. Tariffs should be in effect by May, 2025. But, and there's a big but ... not a full 25% higher -- tariffs on steel and aluminum were already at 10%.

Berkshire is losing money on it $9 billion stake in Kraft Heinz; impairment is possible. Link to Barron's. 

Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B is now in the red on its big investment in Kraft Heinz KHC and might have to take a noncash write-down on it in the coming quarters. Berkshire got its 27% stake in the big food company—some 325.6 million shares—when H.J. Heinz merged with Kraft Foods in 2015 to form Kraft Heinz.

Energy Transfer to supply natural gas directly to CloudBursts AI data center, 0.43 bcf/d; will generate up to 1.2 GW of direct or behind the meter electric power. Link to Dan Tsubouchi over at X. Reminder: whenever you see "1 GW" of power capacity -- that's the average power capacity of a single nuclear reactor in the US.

Gulf of America: Google maps now shows "Gulf of America." I just checked: that is absolutely true. Bounded on four sides: Florida, Texas, Mexico, and Cuba. I'm lovin' it.

Facebook: just closed the day higher for the 15th trading day in a row continuing the longest win streak in its history. Link to Evan over at X.

Tulsi: her nomination has just passed its final procedural vote in the US Senate. Odds she is confirmed are now up to 98%. Link to Polymarket over at X.

McDonald's App Economy Insights posted, over at X. Net profit, 32% margin. Operating profit, 45% margin. Gross profit, 58% margin. I'm lovin' it.

Palantir closed at all-time highs today.

RFK, Jr.?; US Senator Susan Collins will vote for RFK, Jr. Odds the latter will be confirmed just went to 100%.

Posted without comment:

Brilliant, Absolutely Brilliant -- Why Did It Take So Long -- February 10, 2025

Locator: 48532MAGAZA.

MAGAZA:

• Link here. Finally, someone who wants to try something different. 
• there's never anything new under the sun; the "trick" here is to think what "page" in history Trump is reading?
  

And what's wrong with this? Why does The NYT think this is all that newsworthy?

Awesome: Trump is a New Yorker through and through. Good for him.

Super Bowl: in the big scheme of things, Super Bowl LIX was a real dud -- the game, the commercials, and the half-time show.  The game was so bad, the "talking heads" on "First Take" really had nothing to say, but repeat everything for two hours, the same thing we had all seen. I guess the game was a real dud except for the Eagles and their fans. LOL.

Immigration Control -- February 9, 2025

Locator: 48531ICE.

I get a kick out of "journalists" / politicos focusing on one one leg of the triad, deportation.

Stop / control

• at the border

Deport / jail

• back to their home country
• to Gitmo

Target / isolate

• sanctuary cities
• criminal element
• professional agitators

Now, it's the duty of Congress to figure out the rest: particularly how to save the Dreamers.

BR With Four New Permits — February 10, 2025

Locator: 48530B.

Brilliant, brilliant: President Trump says Nippon Steel has agreed to invest in US Steel instead of buying the company outright.

*******************************
Back to the Bakken

WTI: $72.32.

Active rigs: 34.

Four new permits, #41601 - #41604, inclusive:

• Operator: BR
• Field: Elidah (McKenzie)
• Comments: 
• BR has permits for four Sivertson wells (6D, 6E, 6F, and 6G), SWNW, 
• to be sited 1815 FNL and 867 / 963 FWL.
• spacing unit: sections 9 / 16 / 21 - 151-97
• bottom hole: SWSW 21-151-97
  

Five producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 40560, 1,075, Slawson,Prowler 1 SLH, Mountrail County;
  
• 40562, 672, Slawson,Snoop Alley 6-16-9TFH, Mountrail County;
  
• 40584, 1,369, SOGC (Sinclair), Bighorn 4-6H, Dunn County,
• 40585, 1,688, SOGC (Sinclair), Harris Federal 5-31H, Dunn County,
• 40586, 1,766, SOGC (Sinclair), Harris Federal 2-31H, Dunn County,

Copper And Other Metals Are Soaring In Price And A Musk-Led Group Is Offering Nearly $100 Billion For Control Of OpenAI -- February 10, 2025

Locator: 48529COPPER.

Before we get started:

A lot of headlines this morning that Tesla sales are tanking. That's not good for EVs in general. There will be a price point at which folks will buy Teslas, and Tesla's competition will have significant challenges meeting those lower prices. 

Now, back to regular programming.

Link here.

The revenge of the nerds. 

It's amazing how a handful of college software engineers and a few Ph.D. candidates literally became billionaires after a few years of college. I am unable to think of anything that compares to this.

****************************
ISO-NE Spot Price For Electricity

Link here.

Earlier this morning, the spot price was trending toward $350 / MWh.

It looks like the price is has been well above $100 / MWh all day.

There's An Obvious Solution Here -- February 10, 2025

Locator: 48528CALIFORNIA.

Money is fungible. Whatever money California might receive from the Federal government to help re-build after the fires, a significant amount of that money will be carved out for illegally documented criminals and sanctuary cities.  They might even use a bit of that money for the Bullet Train.

Is Trump Simply The Most Transformative President Ever? Trump's Fingerprints Everywhere -- February 10, 2025

Locator: 48527TRUMP.

Headlines over at x:

• Trump press conference today at 1:00 p.m.
• three weeks in, Trump has held more press conferences, unscheduled interviews, etc., than Biden, Obama, Bush II combined over their 20 years -- needs to be fact checked
• the space economy; link here;
• Russia's oil production dropped below its "approved" OPEC+ quote; link here;
• EU running scared:
  
• EU plans simpler rules for billions worth of farm subsidies, but it's only a draft; link here;
• EU will review its multi-billion euro foreign aid allocations; "can't afford to be donor of last resort"; link here;
• busy week for Trump tariffs; link here;
• Trump didn't start this trade war; link here;
• almost every trading "partner" has a higher tariff structure than the US;
• by the way, if that data point is accurate, it limits the response our trading "partners" can make;
• steel and aluminum, 25% on all countries;
• reciprocal tariffs on anyone who tariffs the US;
• the end of the green economies; where's Greta; where's Algroe; link here;
• high price of natural gas --> leads EU to burn oil to produce electricity -- holy mackerel;
• Europe gas prices hit a two-year high today -- February 10 -- as colder weather boosted demand; accelerating withdrawals from the region's fast-depleting storage facilities; link here;
• US: recent cold snap results in fourth-largest withdrawal from underground natural gas storage;
• India won't boost climate goals after COP29 finance outcome; link here;
• EU considering scrapping emissions standards on ICE vehicles in attempt to save Germany's industrial base; link here;
• this is why the Deep State doesn't want DOGE around; link here:

• the Sixth Industrial Revolution; link here;

Car Play -- Apple -- February 10, 2025

Locator: 48526CARPLAY.

Reminder: GM was about the only carmaker that made decision not to go with CarPlay but use their own in-house technology. One of the reasons cited by GM: safety concerns with Car Play. I can't make this up. 

Doubles down on decision, link here.

****************************
Cutting Costs, One Penny At A Time

 The penny costs almost four cents to make.

Link here.

****************************
How To Boil A Hard-Boiled Egg

Scientists solve the problem.

Takes 32 minutes.

Link here to The NYT.

Tariffs -- February 10, 2025

Locator: 48525TARIFFS.

I find it amazing to me the impact Trump's tariffs could have on US companies.

This tells me that over the past decade, Washington, DC, has encouraged American companies to move operations offshore, particularly to China and Mexico.

From Yahoo!Finance last week, link here.

American job seekers want jobs in America.

American consumers want "cheap" prices.

***************************
The Road To The EU

Link here.

Manic Monday -- Super Bowl: No EV Ads -- None. Nada. Zilch. February 10, 2025

Locator: 48524B.

Measles: measles outbreak in Texas. Everything suggests we'll be seeing more of this under the Trump administration. 

AI: France, UAE agree to collaborate on major 1 GW AI data center. Links everywhere. WSJ here.

To finance the first tranche of construction, FluidStack said it plans to deploy its own cash and secure loans for $10.3 billion. It said talks are continuing with some of the world’s largest AI developers about using the new facility, which could house around 120,000 of Nvidia’s AI chips in its first phase and some 500,000 by 2028 if the site is fully built out.

The company said it could further expand to a 10 gigawatt facility, 10 times larger, by 2030. 

Much of the financing is necessary to purchase the chips, which have been in short supply in recent years amid the AI boom. AI-computing companies such as CoreWeave have pioneered new financing vehicles secured by Nvidia’s chips and contracts with AI developers to raise billions of dollars for new data centers, something FluidStack said it plans to do as well.

FluidStack said it is in regular contact with Nvidia about the project and has no worries about being able to finance or get access to the chips. “Nvidia has told me that they will send those chips when we need them,” César Maklary, the company’s co-founder and president, said in an interview. Nvidia declined to comment on the deal.

Tesla: TSLA fell 1.5% in premarket trading. Shares of the electric-vehicle company fell 10% last week, including a 3.4% decline on Friday after data from China revealed Tesla sales in the country during January fell 11.5% from a year earlier.

Super Bowl ads: few auto ads and no (?) EV ads -- Bloomberg. Archived.

• commercial air time bought by carmakers
• 2024: 8%
• 2012: 40%
• Jeep: one exception; long commercial; Harrison Ford; your choice: ICE and plug-in hybrid models (not real EVs)
• no Tesla ads

******************************
Back to the Bakken

WTI: $71.96.

New wells:

• Tuesday, February 11, 2025: 15 for the month, 61 for the quarter, 61 for the year,
• 40842, conf, CLR, Catron 2-26H,
• Monday, February 10, 2025: 14 for the month, 60 for the quarter, 60 for the year, 
• 40851, conf, CLR, Taney 2-23HSL,
• 39844, conf, CLR, Harms West Federal 9-32H2,
• Sunday, February 9, 2025: 12 for the month, 58 for the quarter, 58 for the year,
• 22204, conf, BR, Manchester 24-9MBH,
• Saturday, February 8, 2025: 11 for the month, 57 for the quarter, 57 for the year,
• 40427, conf, Grayson Mill, Alfred North 17-15 2H,
• 38359, conf, Petro-Hunt, Sherven Trust 153-95-27A-26-1HS,
• 36622, conf, BR, West Kellogg 2A-UTFH,

 RBN Energy: Haynesville gas producers hold steady ahead of expected LNG export surge.

Producers in the Haynesville Shale had anticipated that growth in LNG exports in 2024 would goose prices and propel the play’s role as a crucial source of LNG feedgas. Instead, lackluster demand, exacerbated by delays at the Golden Pass LNG project, contributed to lower-than-expected natural gas prices, which caused some producers to scale back drilling plans and trimmed Haynesville production from about 16 Bcf/d in the first half of 2023 to less than 14 Bcf/d by the end of 2024. So, what do they have planned for 2025? In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss the Haynesville’s promise and challenges and highlight what E&Ps there are planning.

Texting Via Satellite -- Beta Testing -- February 10, 2025

Locator: 48523APPLE.

Link here.

Week 6: February 3, 2025 -- February 10, 2025

Locator: 48522TOPSTORIES.

Top stories:

• Kansas City Chiefs shocked by Philadelphia Eagles in LIX Super Bowl, New Orleans;
• Trump shuts down government watchdog agency
• Trump orders US mint to quit minting pennies, citing two cents to mint every one-cent coin.
  
• US human "seasonal flu" surges
• US avian flu continues to result in egg shortages and higher egg prices; evidence of hoarding;
• President Trump floats idea of US taking control of Gaza; turning Gaza into Mideast Riviera
  

******************************************
Top Stories

Geoff Simon's quick connects. 

***************************
The First 100 Days
January 20, 2025 - April 30, 2025

**********************************
The Top Stories

Top story of the week:

• Panama Canal still under discussion; apparently headway made regarding Chinese activity at the canal
  
• US starts deporting illegal immigrants to Gitmo; worst of the worst first to go; Mexico objects to having their citizens sent to Gitmo.
• Colombia objects to criminals being returned to their country in shackles / handcuffs; says murders, rapists must be treated with respect.
• President Trump and Israeli PM Netanyahu have productive meeting; apparently more arms being sold to Israel.
  

Top international non-energy story:

• President Trump delays most tariffs on Canada and Mexico
• President Trump continues with plan to increase tariffs on Mexico by 10%
  

Top international energy story:

• 
  

Top national non-energy story:

• Trump stories continue to dominate political stories
• cabinet nominee Senate confirmation hearings continue: RFK, Jr; Tulsi Gabbard
• EV sales faltering; Ford reports huge loss on EV sales, says losses will continue in 2025.
  

Top national energy story:

• California's biggest (?) solar energy "farm" coming to an end, fourteen years early (Ivanpah)
  
• Doug Burgum (Interior) signs six "Secretary Orders" to "unleash American energy";
• Chris Wright (Energy) signs nine "Secretary Orders" to "unleash Golden Era of American Energy Dominance";
  

Focus on fracking: current link here. Generally updated late Sunday night.

Top North Dakota non-energy story:

• carbon capture looks more and more likely to run into more and more headwinds in North Dakota

Top North Dakota energy story: