This must drive railroad enthusiasts bonkers -- trains on a track, which could be run 1000% remotely, require two engineers. Why? To be there in case of a derailment. But I digress. Have there ever been any studies comparing derailment rates with five engineers vs two engineers vs zero engineers per train?
Back to driverless trucks. Again, this is a huge story. First company to deploy Class 8 -- the big semis you see everywhere -- self-driving trucks -- and where do they launch? In Texas. In Dallas to be specific.
Where they could really use this technology? Road trains in Australia. Link here, from nine years ago.
As for the driverless trucks in Dallas, I can't think of a better state in which to launch driverless trucks.
*************************** I-35
Of all the interstate stretches in the US, the I-35 stretch, from Texas-Mexico border to the Oklahoma state line is the interstate stretch to watch.
1. I-35: Laredo, TX
(Mexico) to Duluth, Minnesota. Doesn't make the top ten list because so
much of I-35 is in fly-over country, but in Texas, I-35 is THE interstate. Along with I-10. Which does make the top ten list among US interstates.
2. Texas I-35: 509 miles, in Texas, from Laredo to Oklahoma border.
3. "Texas Silicon Valley" -- I-35 -- Waco to the north, then Austin, then San Antonio. Easily compares with I-10; I-95, I-5.
4.
DFW -- I-35 divides into I-35 EAST (Dallas) and I-35 WEST (Ft Worth).
Right now north Dallas is population center in geographic DFW; in 2050,
it is projected that northwest Ft Worth will be geographic center --
where there is a yet another airport in the DFW area; where Wabtex
(formerly GE Transportation) manufactures BNSF locomotives; where Texas
Motor Speedway is located (and where Sophia plays her weekend soccer
game this weekend).
5.
I-35 EAST goes straight north from Dallas -- 75 miles -- to the
largest casino in the US (the largest casino in the United States, based
on gaming space, is WinStar World Casino and Resort
in Thackerville, Oklahoma); also huge water recreation center there
where our daughter goes to compete in paddle board competitions.
6.
Amazon fulfillment centers in DFW area are incredibly -- size and
number and more and more and more electric Amazon Prime vans.
7. Where will they get all the drivers? A lot will come from other states -- especially California.
Right, wrong, indifferent: constitutionally, I understand separation of state and church, and the latter's tax-exempt status.
I don't understand why universities earn a tax-exempt status. This will be fascinating to watch. Especially after they have a billion dollars in endowments and seem unwilling to lower tuition and fees. Harvard:
endowment: $55 billion
undergraduate enrollment: 10,000
annual tuition, $100,000 x 10,000 = $1,000,000,000
Harvard Management Company returned 33.6 percent on its
investments for the fiscal year ending in June 2021, skyrocketing the
value of the University’s endowment to $53.2 billion, the largest sum in
its history and an increase of $11.3 billion from the previous fiscal
year.
One assumes the endowment includes "new" money from new contributions, and moving federal dollars from other accounts into the endowment.
Don't bet against MSFT.
Don't bet against AAPL.
Don't take on the President of the US.
Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. See disclaimers -- links to disclaimers -- at every page on the blog.
**************************** Another Crowd-Pleaser
Folks worry about the price of eggs. It's the big-ticket items that should be of concern. But even more: if you don't fly (or fly often), this won't matter to you. For me, it's a big deal: non-stops DFW - PDX incredibly reasonable pricing.
The $1.01-trillion is the highest on record; this is for FY2026; it's 13% higher than FY2025. That means the DOD budget for FY2025 (this current year) must have been in the $895 billion range; the request was for $850 billion for FY2025 early on. Hunch: US Navy will get the bulk of this new funding.
Woodside Energy’s final investment decision (FID) on the $17.5
billion Louisiana LNG terminal was a stunner. For one thing, only 1
million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) of the project’s 16.5 MMtpa (2.2
Bcf/d) of capacity is under contract — U.S. LNG export projects
typically have commitments for two-thirds or more of their output before
pulling the trigger. The project will also have an outsized impact on
gas flows in a region already struggling to keep up, and it may well
upend plans for other projects in the works. In today’s RBN blog, we
take a closer look at Louisiana LNG, Woodside’s daring development
approach, and the terminal’s impacts on gas demand, gas flows and
pre-FID projects.
Australia’s Woodside Energy announced April 28 that it will establish
its LNG foothold in the U.S. by building Louisiana LNG, a project the
company acquired in October 2024 when it purchased the nearly bankrupt
Tellurian — and its Driftwood LNG project — for $900 million. Driftwood
LNG came close to becoming a reality more than once, only to crash, burn
and be rebranded. Now, with a new owner and name, the three-train
terminal just south of Lake Charles will be built, with first LNG
expected in 2029 and its full capacity online in 2031.
We’ll
get to Louisiana LNG’s physical particulars in a moment but first let’s
look at Woodside Energy and the seemingly audacious decision by the
company and its project partner — Stonepeak, the New York City-based
investment firm — to take FID on an 11-figure project with less than
one-sixteenth of its output under long-term contract.
Woodside Energy
Woodside is Australia’s largest independent oil and gas company and
operates primarily offshore; it is also an international LNG supplier.
The company expects to produce up to 537 Mboe/d in 2025, with about 40%
of that to feed its LNG terminals (~1.25 Bcf/d), another 20% as pipeline
gas (~623 MMcf/d) and the rest as oil (~215 Mb/d). The company operates
two LNG terminals in Australia. One is the North West Shelf Project
(NWSP; magenta diamond with No. 5 in left inset of Figure 1 below),
which produces gas for domestic consumption and LNG export. NWSP has
five trains with a total capacity of 16.9 MMtpa (2.2 Bcf/d). Woodside
also operates Pluto LNG (magenta diamond at bottom right of left inset),
a single-train, 4.9-MMtpa (0.65 Bcf/d) export terminal. An 8-MMtpa (1.1
Bcf/d) expansion is underway, with first LNG expected in 2026. The
expansion is part of the Scarborough Energy Project (magenta diamond at
left in left inset), which also includes development of the Scarborough
Field (gold-shaded area) in the Carnavorn Basin off the coast of Western
Australia. Woodside is also part of the Sunrise LNG project in the
Timor Sea (between East Timor and Australia; striped magenta diamond in
right inset), which is still pending development agreements.
