Week 10: March 4, 2025 -- March 10, 2025

Locator: 48473TOPSTORIES. 

Geoff Simon's quick connects. 

Top stories:

• President Trump
  

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Top Stories

Geoff Simon's quick connects.

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

Sixth Week Of President Trump's Presidency

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The Top Stories

Top story of the week:

• President Trump flips-flops on tariffs -- impossible for anyone to know what's going on
• President Trump's "State of the Union Address" -- hits it out of the ballpark
• opposition made fools of themselves; Americans who tuned in, not impressed
  

Top international non-energy story:

• tariffs
• Mexico, Canada: tariffs postponed at least for most items
• China: appears to remain unchanged: 20% increase on what tariffs have been
  

Top international energy story:

• OPEC pushing prices down
  

Top national non-energy story:

• Measles outbreak in southwest US
• mostly Mennonite community in west Texas
• now at 200 cases; variously reported, 1 - 2 deaths
• cases now outside Texas for first time -- New Mexico
• so far vaccine seems to "be working"
  
• President Trump
• Minnesota: apparently has completely overspent huge budget surplus; now several billion shortfall;
• California's governor moving to center in anticipation of running for president 
• The Kennedy Center: leadership changes.
  

Top national energy story:

• SD governor signs bill banning eminent domain for CO2 pipeline
• one surface owner can scuttle entire project
  

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

Top North Dakota non-energy story:

• 
  

Top North Dakota energy story:

Three New Permits -- March 7, 2025

Locator: 48472B. 

Tag: mortgage rates measles

Measles: official US policy -- measles vaccines available for those who want to get vaccinated; costs around $25 per vaccine; not "free"; but most American citizens have some way of getting it for free;   measles vaccine appears to be "100%" effective with "zero" serious side effects; vaccine appears to provide lifelong immunity; vaccine provided by Big Pharma; SecHHS lukewarm to vaccination; emphasizes "natural remedies, to include cod liver oil." 

Economy: people are buying houses. Correlation with my favorite chart?

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $66.28. Promises made, promises kept. Energy prices continue to fall.

Active rigs: 33.

Three new permits, #41684 - #41684 - #41686, inclusive:

• Operators: Petroshale
  
• Field: Mandaree (Dunn County)
  
• Comments: 
• Petroshale has permits for three Horse Camp wells, NENE 11-149-93; 
• to be sited 613 / 640 FNL and 1180 / 1233 FEL.
  

Seasonal Flu Update -- March 7, 2025

Locator: 48471FLU. 

Link here. Selected years.

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Unemployment

Latest report, link here.

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Goldilocks Economy

But finally, for those looking for signs of stagflation, we have all three: signs of a slowing economy (GDP); sticky inflation; and, unemployment not dropping. The numbers are still incredibly good, but the numbers are not "improving."

The first quarter, 2025 belongs to Joe Biden. The last quarter, 2025, will belong to Donald Trump.

See this post, from October 10, 2023. 

TGIF -- March 7, 2025

Locator: 48470B.

WTI: $68.13.

New wells;

• Sunday, March 9, 2025: 23 for the month, 139 for the quarter, 139 for the year, 
• 40472, conf, Hess, GO-John-156-98-0508H-5,
• 26468, conf, Grayson Mill, Scott 150-99-13-24-5H,
• Saturday, March 8, 2025: 21 for the month, 137 for the quarter, 137 for the year,
• None.
• Friday, March 7, 2025: 21 for the month, 137 for the quarter, 137 for the year, 
• 40496, conf, Hess, GO-Olson-157-98-2536H-4,
• 40370, conf, Enerplus, LK-Quilliam 147-97-14-23-8H,
• 40366, conf, Enerplus, LK-Erickson 147-97-11-2-5H-LL,
• 40363, conf, Enerplus, LK-Quilliam 147-97-14-23-5H-LL,

RBN Energy: Targa Resources, Phillips 66 detail plans for expanding Permian-to_Gulf infrastructure. Part 1 archived. Part 2 archived.

The handful of midstream companies that provide a full range of “wellhead-to-water” services between the Permian and the Gulf Coast are in growth mode, advancing a long list of gas processing plants, takeaway pipelines, fractionators and export terminal expansions. Last time we looked at what Enterprise Products Partners and Energy Transfer are up to. In today’s RBN blog, we shift our spotlight to what Targa Resources and Phillips 66 are planning, with Targa building a slew of projects and P66 growing primarily through organic opportunities that have arisen following recent bolt-on M&A. 

As we said in Part 1, a small but gradually growing group of midstreamers have seen the benefits of owning and operating the infrastructure that processes, transports and, in many cases, exports the increasing volumes of crude oil, natural gas and NGLs emerging from wells in the Permian Basin. Companies that offer the full gamut of midstream services can reap a number of important benefits — chief among them, the ability to operate with extraordinary efficiency, collect fees from shippers each step of the way, and feed pipelines, fractionators, storage and export terminals along the network’s value chain.

In that blog, we also detailed plans by Enterprise to add another 900 MMcf/d of gas processing capacity in the Permian over the next year or so, as well as bring online its 600-Mb/d Bahia NGL pipeline from West Texas to Mont Belvieu (in Q3 2025) and yet another fractionator (also in Q3). Several projects that will boost the company’s NGL export capacity out of Beaumont and Houston are also planned. Energy Transfer has similarly ambitious plans: 875 MMcf/d of incremental Permian gas processing capacity, upgrades to its Lone Star and West Texas Gateway NGL pipelines, a new fractionator at Mont Belvieu, an expansion at its Nederland Terminal to handle more NGL exports, and — last but not least — the 400-mile, 1.5-Bcf/d (and maybe larger) Hugh Brinson gas pipeline from West Texas to south of the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Figure 1. Targa Resources Assets and Projects in Texas. Source: RBN 

 

Jump In Production -- An Old MRO Well In Bailey Oil Field -- March 6, 2025

Locator: 48469B.

The well:

• 23699, 1,374, MRO, C. O. 34-20H, t11/2; cum 284K 11/18; cum 333K 10/21; cum 341K 5/22; cum 531K 1/25;

Note the jump in production, originally drilled back in 2012:

BAKKEN	10-2024	31	4998	5004	7649	13751	11135	2537
BAKKEN	9-2024	30	5648	5630	5106	15569	15487	3
BAKKEN	8-2024	25	4760	4769	5157	11932	11847	22
BAKKEN	7-2024	31	6346	6352	5785	16403	15000	1318
BAKKEN	6-2024	30	6045	6041	3960	16871	16711	87
BAKKEN	5-2024	31	7712	7733	6819	20569	20439	55
BAKKEN	4-2024	30	8937	8964	10036	17516	17187	266
BAKKEN	3-2024	31	10808	10761	13934	17820	16551	1207
BAKKEN	2-2024	22	8211	8216	11212	13353	13277	31
BAKKEN	1-2024	31	10765	10777	17717	16713	15550	1106
BAKKEN	12-2023	31	17799	17796	25447	27076	26929	79
BAKKEN	11-2023	30	17558	17546	28003	22310	22147	109
BAKKEN	10-2023	31	19547	19548	36914	19685	19336	304
BAKKEN	9-2023	30	18182	18178	51506	16810	16543	222
BAKKEN	8-2023	29	16032	15996	60777	14506	14385	73
BAKKEN	7-2023	3	3052	3034	18684	2436	2403	23
BAKKEN	6-2023	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	5-2023	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	4-2023	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	3-2023	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	2-2023	7	244	379	128	321	241	39
BAKKEN	1-2023	31	1145	1126	632	1281	922	164
BAKKEN	12-2022	30	1097	1066	634	1316	897	151
BAKKEN	11-2022	30	1011	1053	660	1418	918	209
BAKKEN	10-2022	31	1273	1206	727	1701	1250	256
BAKKEN	9-2022	30	1167	1206	704	1463	1172	6
BAKKEN	8-2022	31	1280	1239	817	1692	1384	113

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The Book Page 

Link here.

I did not realize until recently I had a first edition of this book. Whoo-hoo!

I've read it twice. Time to read it again.

I was reminded of the book when reading Isaac Asimov's Guide To Shakespeare, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," pp 50 - 51. 

Memoirs of Hecate County. Published in 1946, but banned in the state of New York until 1959, when it was reissued with minor revisions by the author. [Minor revisions? Essentially changed one line in one story.]

Which led me to this question: what is the most intimate question one can ask a married woman over the age of 39?  A rhetorical question. Please don't reply. For the archives.