Friday, August 29, 2025

The New High-Speed Northeast Amtrak Corridor -- An Update -- The Wall Street Journal -- August 29, 2025

Locator: 48994AMTRAK. 

Link here.

Amtrak's own data:

We've talked about this before. See this post. From April 2, 2025. 

*****************************
Reminiscing

Amtrak's Northeast Corridor brings back a lot of memories.

She was my first love. 

Her home was in a suburb on the Jersey side of NYC.

She was going to school in Boston.

She flew.

I took ground transportation between Boston and NYC/New Jersey.

Link here.

American Century Acquires More Shares In Enbridge; Adds To Position -- August 29, 2025

Locator: 48993ENB. 

Link here.


Allison Ritter's Quick Connects -- August 29, 2025

Locator: 48992B.  

The links:

North Dakota oil and gas production up about 3.5% in June -- Bismarck Tribune
Fedorchak talks data centers as more facilities planned for North Dakota -- KFYR - TV
Williams County commissioners to financially support new power plant -- KFYR - TV
Settlement talks continue over civil case involving Atlas Power Data Center -- KFYR - TV
Data center proposed for Harwood prompts anger, questions from community -- North Dakota Monitor
Clean energy careers among fastest growing; union-scale jobs look for place -- Minot Daily News
ND Supreme Court allows landowner challenge to CO2 storage law to proceed -- North Dakota Monitor
EPA grants Wyoming state primacy over coal ash management, storage and disposal -- WyoFile
District 42 Republicans ready for 21-day window to select state House replacement -- Grand Forks Herald
A fragmented party: Why was a rural North Dakota district leaderless for 4 months? -- Bismarck Tribune
Canadian tourism down in North Dakota, with poll linking downturn to tariffs, rhetoric -- North Dakota Monitor
North Dakota DOGE task force's second session highlights ongoing challenges -- Bismarck Tribune
Ray commissioners approve agreement with day care provider after lengthy discussion -- The Journal
Annual Faces of Coal Golf Tournament celebrates the present and invests in the future -- Hazen Star
Minot City Council members weighing multiple proposals ahead of 2026 budget deadline -- KFYR - TV
Large influx of federal money expected to help stabilize rural health care in North Dakota -- KFYR - TV
Sixteen citizens filed letters of intent to be considered for Minot's vacant City Council seat -- KFYR - TV
Behind the scenes work underway to establish public charter schools in North Dakota -- Dickinson Press
Killdeer High School's agricultural education program wins state innovation award -- Dickinson Press
Dickinson State says nursing program re-launch will happen ahead of schedule -- Dickinson Press
Williston State looks to add more four year programs in business and addiction studies -- KFYR - TV
Port: North Dakota needs to promote from within; selection of Sanford 'breath of fresh air' -- InForum
School enrollment hold strong; Divide County down 2 while Ray has ninth straight increase -- The Journal
North Dakota school boards to give new public comment law now in effect a test -- KNOX Radio
North Dakota lawmakers, university reps reevaluating higher education funding structure -- Dickinson Press
As nationwide teacher shortage deepens, rural ND school relies on international recruits -- KFYR - TV
New Beulah school board member Reich driven by love of kids, school-oriented community -- The Beacon
Dakota College at Bottineau awarded $1.4M to address healthcare workforce needs -- Minot Daily News
Danielle Benz hired as Center-Stanton elementary counselor and interventionist -- The Center Republican
Dunn County Sheriff Deputy Jesse Hellinger is the new SRO at Killdeer High School -- The Beacon
China releases interim measures tightening controls on mining, processing of rare earths -- Minot Daily News
DOE Boss Chris Wright: Let's have a real climate debate and discussion -- The Empowerment Alliance
Interior Department unveils offshore leasing schedule for Alaska and the Gulf Coast -- Energy in Depth
23 AGs, including Drew Wrigley of ND, call on EPA to defund radical climate science institute -- The Blaze
Trump to launch investigation into how imports of wind turbine components affect nat'l security -- E&E News
US natural gas consumption on track to set new record in 2025 says EIA short term outlook -- Oil Price
Saskatchewan defends its coal plant extension as environmental groups mount legal fight -- Sask Today
Timeline of Trump administration's moves to dismantle US wind and solar energy industries -- Reuters
China is burning coal at record high levels in 2025, added 21 gigawatts since January -- DW Media
China accelerates coal plant commissioning to 9-year high despite record solar, wind additions -- Oil Price
Coal plants step up when renewables falter during record-breaking demand -- The Washington Times
American fossil fuels key to energy freedom, reduce dependence on adversaries -- Washington Examiner
Exxon projects global natural gas demand will rise more than 20% by 2050 from 2024 levels -- Oil Price
Rescinding the endangerment finding was overdue. But will there be justice? -- Empowerment Alliance
When Washington gets out of the way, we all win, energy workers deliver results -- RealClearEnergy
Department of Interior's new policies will lower energy costs for Americans -- One America News Network
Trump withdraws $716M Biden loan to New Jersey project, latest blow to wind industry -- Free Beacon
Trump unsettles supposedly settled climate science, DOE report debunks alarmist claims -- Townhall

No New Permits; Two DUCs Reported As Completed -- August 29, 2025

Locator: 48991B.  

WTI: $64.01.

Active rigs: 33. Nice jump.

No new permits.

Two producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

  • 35236, 2,392, CLR, Michael State Federal 6-16H1, Williams County;
  • 35237, 2,585, CLR, Michael State Federal 6-16H, Williams County;

Apple Has Ordered Almost Half Of TSMC's Initial 2-NM Production Capacity For The iPhone 18 -- August 29, 2025

Locator: 48990APPLE.

The iPhone 17 is yet to be announced. The iPhone 18 will be introduced next year.

Link here.

All About Refineries Today -- August 29, 2025

Locator: 48989B. 

WTI: $64.13.

New wells:

  • Monday, September 1, 2025: 2 for the month, 95 for the quarter, 535 for the year,
    • 40705, conf, Oasis, Lake Trenton Federal 5302 21-31 4B,
    • 37544, conf, Hess, AN-Lone Tree-152-95-1207H-8,
  • Sunday, August 31, 2025: 55 for the month, 93 for the quarter, 533 for the year,
    • None.
  • Saturday, August 30, 2025: 55 for the month, 93 for the quarter, 533 for the year,
    • None.
  • Friday, August 29, 2025: 55 for the month, 93 for the quarter, 533 for the year,
    • None.

California refiners: link here

Phillips 66 on track to shut down its California refinery as scheduled, or perhaps slightly ahead of schedule. No talk yet of who might buy it. ChatGPT says there are no reports of anyone looking to buy this refinery, and the state of California seems to be caught flat-footed on this development though it was announced years ago; California was very, very aware of this closure; but, failed to come up with a Plan B, except to import refined products.

RBN Energy: US refiners could benefit from struggles refineries are facing abroad.

Refineries in Europe, Latin America, Russia and China are facing a host of issues that could ultimately benefit U.S. refiners. Europe has high operating costs and political pressures. Attacks have damaged Russia’s refineries, and the country continues to get blasted with steeper sanctions. China’s aging plants are closing and there are no new large-scale projects on the horizon. Latin America lags in capacity growth. In today’s RBN blog, we look at how these global issues are boosting opportunities for U.S. refiners. 

First, we’ll offer a refresher of the U.S. refining industry before we address the global arena. As we discussed in Us and Them, the industry has undergone a number of changes in recent years, and more turbulence looks likely as global economic and trade patterns shift and the energy transition moves forward. For some U.S. refineries, this has led to closures due to weak profits, rising regulatory costs and declining demand for products, particularly gasoline. But other refineries have prospered and even invested in expansions. The U.S. refining industry has evolved into the most competitive in the world, and the issues and challenges faced by other countries will likely benefit U.S. refiners.

While 2025 will end up with about 1.2 MMb/d of gross capacity additions worldwide, significant shutdowns will also take place in the U.S., Europe and China, resulting in a net decrease in capacity of about 240 Mb/d (see dashed black oval in Figure 1 below). As detailed in the most recent Future of Fuels report from our Refined Fuels Analytics (RFA) practice, we’ll look at the challenges facing Russia, Europe, China and Latin America, and spell out how the political pressures and potential closures could set up U.S. refiners for growth.

Global Refinery Net Capacity Changes

Figure 1. Global Refinery Net Capacity Changes. Source: RFA

We’ll break down each region, starting with Russia.

Russian refineries have faced relentless Ukrainian drone attacks that have knocked out at least 17% (roughly 1.1 MMb/d) of Russia’s total refining capacity, sparking fuel shortages and panic buying in its southern regions. Since June, Ukraine has struck 10 major refineries, including sites in Volgograd, Saratov, Syzran, Ryazan and Novokuibyshevsk, with some of these facilities being forced offline for weeks. Russia responded by banning gasoline exports in July and shifting crude oil flows toward China and India, despite U.S. pressure to dial back those sales.