Texas — March 12, 2025

Locator: 48502TEXAS.

Link here.

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Word For The Day: Billingsgate

Link here.

Billingsgate: coarsely abusive language.

"They threw slurs at each other in articulate billingsgate."

Billingsgate has origins in a London fish market.

From its beginnings during the time of the Roman occupation, the Billingsgate fish market in London, England, has been notorious for the crude language that has resounded through its stalls.

In fact, the fish merchants of Billingsgate were so famous for their swearing centuries ago that their feats of vulgar language were recorded in British chronicler Raphael Holinshed's 1577 account of King Leir (which was probably William Shakespeare's source for King Lear).

In Holinshed's volume, a messenger's language is said to be "as bad a tongue … as any oyster-wife at Billingsgate hath." By the middle of the 17th century, billingsgate had become a byword for foul language.

Electric Rates By State: North Dakota Has The Lowest Residential Rates -- March 12, 2025

Locator: 48501ELECTRICITY.

Link here. 

Electric rates, cents / kWh, by state, residential, December, 2024:

• all states with a 10-handle (only three):
• North Dakota: 10.21
• Nebraska: 10.78
• Idaho: 10.97
• neighboring states:
• Montana: 11.87
• South Dakota: 12.42
• Iowa: 12.43
• Minnesota: 14.05
• hydro:
• Washington: 11.83
• Oregon: 14.12
• states of interest:
• Texas: 15.32
• New York: 24.37
• all states above 30.00
• California: 30.55
• Massachusetts: 31.22
  
• Hawaii: 42.34
• highest:
• California: 30.55
• Massachusetts: 31.22
• Hawaii: 42.34

$ / Bbl x Bbl = $ -- March 12, 2025

Locator: 48499SAUDI.

Back to the future.

Link here. 

Saudi cash crunch, 2016. Link here.

And, there was another Saudi cash crunch, in 2023. Tag: SC-23. Saudi Arabia in a world of hurt, June 15, 2023, link here.

Saudi cash reserves: link here.

• 10-year:
  
  
  

• 3-year:

Fred. St Louis Fed. Link here.

Moving from "production cuts" to "increasing production":

Link here.

To balance the budget:

We're well below $90 / bbl.

EOD -- March 12, 2025

Locator: 48498B.

Breaking:

Tea leaves: no one cares. In fact, some may welcome it.

• for the GOP, it's a win-win;
• for the opposition, at best, break-even
• unlike other administrations that attempted to minimize the impact of a government shutdown, the current administration my seek areas that need to be shut down ... perhaps the Department of Education; FEMA; Veterans Affairs. 
• could the Department of Defense furlough all but mission essential?
• could certain bases, posts, stations be mothballed to standby (particularly in blue states, like California?)
• another BRAC?
  
• some folks seem to forget that Trump cannot run for another term.
  

US equity market:

• I keep hearing the word "correction."
• to the eighteen-year-old who is just starting to invest, it seems "opportunity" is a better word.
• same with almost anyone with a 30-year rolling horizon

Eggs: the price of eggs, still expensive, but the prices have either leveled off or decreased slightly; no shortage of eggs, in general; the story is going away. 

Liberty Plaza: google black lives matter liberty plaza. Link here.

• reparations? LOL.

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $67.68.

Active rigs: 30.

Four new permits, #41696 - #31699, inclusive:

• Operator: Hess
• Field: Truax (Williams)
• Comments: 
• Hess has permits for four SC-Bingeman wells, SWSE 9-154-98, 
• to be sited 405 / 508 FSL and 2249 / 2348 FEL.

One permit canceled:

• 39731, PNC, Neptune Operations, CPEUSC Walters, Williams County.

Permitted for recompletion:

• 13785, Scout Energy, Steffan 2-2, SWSW 2-139-97, Stark County, sited 1140 FSL and 1320 FWL. Dickinon Heath Sand Unit.

• Production history:

• This well is about a quarter-mile away from #13785:

• 13715, 2,707, Scout Energy, Knopik 1-11, Lodgepole formation, t12/94; cum 1.450253 million bbls of crude oil:

My Favorite Chart -- MMFs --> $7.03 Trillion -- March 12, 2025

Locator: 48497MMF.

This is a bit old, but will post it regardless, from last week. The update should be out tomorrow.

Link here. 

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The Recipe Page

Chocolate cake. The NYT.

Link here. 

Intel Update And Bakken Update; Google Set To Be Broken Up? -- March 12, 2025

Locator: 48496B.

Intel: new CEO named, March 12, 2025 -- Lip-Bu Tan. He is currently CEO of Cadence Design Systems. INTC shot up 11% on the news. Links everywhere.

Intel: 

Quickies:

• Intel: in market corrections, the wheat starts to separate from the chaff. Some companies will not recover after a stock market correction.
  
• Texas measles: cases continue to increase, though not at same rate as earlier -- subtle indications epidemic starting to level off -- but very, very subtle -- and, again, an epidemic that never should have happened in the first place; link here;
• Trump tariffs, government's reductions in force (RIF) -- too much stuff to report and it changes too quickly; readers are on their own here; minimal updates on the blog; exhibit A, see below.
  
• Germany: the fact that the Greens are now the "power brokers" in Germany speaks volumes; link here.
• Middle East: Peter Zeihan on Turkey as Kurds begin to disarm (?); link here.
• Religion: a NYT essay brought me to this wiki page;
• Gail Slater: wiki.
• Google: set to be broken up?

Shale: link here. 

Chart of the day, link here:

US market, link here:

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $66.90.

New wells:

• Thursday, March 13, 2025: 35 for the month, 151 for the quarter, 151 for the year,
• 40876, conf, Oasis, Barnes Federal 5202 41-11 3B,
• 40858, conf, BR, West Kelloggg 4C-UTFH-B,
• Wednesday, March 12, 2025: 33 for the month, 149 for the quarter, 149 for the year, 
• 41104, conf, Medora Minerals, LLC, Davis Creek 2-28H,
• 40780, conf, Oasis, Barnes Federal 5202 43-11 4B,

RBN Energy: location, connectivitiy, quality help set apart WTI futures contracts. 

As the global crude oil market continuously evolves, so do the tools that traders, refiners and producers rely on to navigate its complexities. Among these tools, futures contracts play a pivotal role, allowing market participants to manage risk and ensure liquidity. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll explore what sets apart two major futures contracts for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil, focusing on the differences in location, connectivity and quality — and how those distinctions define their roles in the market.