The Million Dollar Way (The Bakken Oil Blog): 10/22/25

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Movie Night -- Vertigo -- Hitchcock -- October 22, 2025

Locator: 49479VERTIGO.

TCM this month: Hitchcock on Sunday nights.

With Hulu I can watch / catch Vertigo.

But how did this ... what led me to this tonight, of all nights. I watch it often, maybe once a year.

It started with the intro by Ben Mankiewicz. He mentioned "Sight and Sound."

Link here.

Something called "Sight and Sound," British Film Institute -- had a brilliant idea. It started in 1952.

Every decade -- every ten years -- "Sight and Sound" comes up with their list of the top films of the "last decade.

1952.

1962,

1972.

1982.

1992.

2002.

2012.

2022. That was the eighth (8th) time "Sight and Sound" came up with the list.

It's quite a story.

2002: Citizen Kane.

2012: Vertigo.

2022:

#1: Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles;
#2: Vertigo
#3: Citizen Kane
#4:
#5....
#8: Mulholland Drive ...
#19: Apocalypse Now ...
#25: The Night of the Hunter...

It's amazing...I see the movie in a completely different light knowing that "Sight and Sound" named this their number one movie, knocking out Citizen Kane, in 2012, and then letting it drop to #2 a decade later, but still ahead of Citizen Kane, #3.

I've never had any problem with Citizen Kane at #1, but seeing Vertigo again tonight with the ranking of "Sight and Sound" I have to admit Vertigo does have a much more emotional pull on me.

Six months from now: would I rather re-watch Vertigo or Citizen Kane.

Stargate: The Fifth Location -- The Lighthouse, Port Washington, Milwaukee -- October 22, 2025

Locator: 49478STARGATE.

Stargate is tracked here, first post, February 8, 2025. Since then, many Stargate posts.

Stargate was to have five locations. Three were to be in the Permian (two in Texas, one in New Mexico just across the state line); one in the Utica. Lordstown, Ohio. But the fifth location was not announced.

Until today.

Link here.

In the above screenshot -- the most important line is the last line.

Stargate.

Vantage Data Centers: link here.

Port Washington, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

AI prompt:

Why would the fifth Stargate location be outside Milwaukee of all places?

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A Norman Rockwell Painting

BR Reporting Some Incredible Kellogg Wells In Elidah Oil Field -- October 22, 2025

Locator: 49477KELLOGG.

Two producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed today:

40857, 3,129, BR, West Kellogg 4A-UTFH-B, Elidah, McKenzie County;
40858, 9,339 (sic) (clearly a typo), BR, West Kellogg 4C-UTFH-B, Elidah, McKenzie County;
36622, 8/25; recently fracked;
36621, 8/25; recently fracked;
36620, 8/25; PNC
40866, drl/A;
40859, production data available;

Production data:

40859, drl/drl, BR, West Ranch 4D-MBH-ULW-B, Elidah, t5/25; cum 137K 8/25; production, frack data not yet available:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	8-2025	31	28245	28309	52017	51147	842
BAKKEN	7-2025	31	40106	40243	107907	106652	1192
BAKKEN	6-2025	30	44761	44448	129850	128467	1250
BAKKEN	5-2025	11	23716	23716	42129	41825	195

Wells of interest:

29168, 933, CLR, Kellogg Ranch Federal 2-32H1, Elidah, t9/14; cum 435K 8/25;

Well of interest:

16890, 321, BR, West Kellogg 24-31H, Elidah, t4/08; cum 497K 8/25; recent production:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	8-2025	1	1807	1411	2590	5525	4733	792
BAKKEN	7-2025	1	2126	2568	353	5587	5575	9
BAKKEN	6-2025	3	368	0	40	682	620	57
BAKKEN	5-2025	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	4-2025	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	3-2025	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	2-2025	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	1-2025	27	662	762	586	3127	2998	48
BAKKEN	12-2024	30	1801	1516	1540	8300	7766	447
BAKKEN	11-2024	0	0	0	20	73	0	73
BAKKEN	10-2024	18	311	720	223	1977	1891	32
BAKKEN	9-2024	30	1365	1401	1022	9543	9374	80
BAKKEN	8-2024	31	1542	1305	1203	12929	12751	86
BAKKEN	7-2024	31	1966	2040	1786	17215	17011	112
BAKKEN	6-2024	30	2061	1881	1755	16732	16512	130
BAKKEN	5-2024	31	2211	2432	1844	15848	15637	119
BAKKEN	4-2024	30	2337	2318	1873	14531	14314	127
BAKKEN	3-2024	31	2547	2564	2021	13167	12936	139

Jump in production:

BAKKEN	4-2015	22	5098	4644	1880	9609	5397	4157
BAKKEN	3-2015	18	3258	3305	1061	6312	0	6267
BAKKEN	2-2015	28	5285	5437	1920	15119	15050	0
BAKKEN	1-2015	31	6293	6021	2315	17986	17909	0
BAKKEN	12-2014	31	6632	6634	2449	19842	19765	0
BAKKEN	11-2014	30	7093	7095	2814	17276	12785	4417
BAKKEN	10-2014	31	8507	8817	3568	19973	19896	0
BAKKEN	9-2014	30	9201	9166	3411	75	0	0
BAKKEN	8-2014	30	9824	9732	3811	75	0	0
BAKKEN	7-2014	31	15187	15087	6358	77	0	0
BAKKEN	6-2014	30	20071	20524	7006	75	0	0
BAKKEN	5-2014	12	7464	6715	0	30	0	0
BAKKEN	4-2014	5	10163	10163	12290	31671	0	31659
BAKKEN	3-2014	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	2-2014	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	1-2014	31	179	244	75	509	424	8
BAKKEN	12-2013	31	334	476	113	126	0	49
BAKKEN	11-2013	30	302	237	130	939	752	113

Initial production:

BAKKEN	1-2009	31	1340	1522	424	2617	1607	1010
BAKKEN	12-2008	31	1415	1243	377	1481	0	1481
BAKKEN	11-2008	27	1474	1435	291	1508	0	1508
BAKKEN	10-2008	30	1224	1143	185	1322	0	1322
BAKKEN	9-2008	30	1454	1636	281	1789	0	1789
BAKKEN	8-2008	29	2034	2104	541	2040	0	2040
BAKKEN	7-2008	31	2136	2119	895	2481	0	2481
BAKKEN	6-2008	30	2099	2155	1001	2298	0	2298
BAKKEN	5-2008	31	3721	3313	1288	4264	0	4264
BAKKEN	4-2008	30	5959	5873	3641	3641	0	3641

We Have The Fifth Location -- October 22, 2025

Locator: 49476B.

Stargate: the fifth location has been identified. Stand-alone blog here.

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $60.03. Link here. Up $1.53; up 2.62%.

Active rigs: 32.

Four new permits, #42420 - 42423, inclusive:

Permits:

42420, loc, Devon Energy, Loomer 11-2 XW 1H, Tobacco Garden, McKenzie County,
42421, loc, Devon Energy, Loomer 11-2 XE 1H, Siverston, McKenzie County,

42422, conf, Kraken, Bregman 6-7-18 2H, Briar Creek, Williams County;
42423, conf, Kraken, Bregman LE 6-7-18 1H, Briar Creek, Williams County;

Fields: Tobacco Garden, McKenzie County; Siverston, McKenzie County; Briar Creek, Williams County;
Comments:

Devon Energy has permits for two Loomer wells, SESW 11-150-99,

to be sited 371 / 491 FSL and 1947 / 1948 FWL;

Kraken has permits for two Bregman wells, lot 1, section 6-152-104,

to be sited 651 FNL and 990 / 1023 FEL.

Five producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

40857, 3,129, BR, West Kellogg 4A-UTFH-B, Elidah, McKenzie County;
40858, 9,339 (sic) (clearly a typo), BR, West Kellogg 4C-UTFH-B, Elidah, McKenzie County;
40953, 733, Hunt Oil Company, Shell 153-89-6-31H 1, Mountrail County;
41342, 3,492, MRO, Jennie USA 34-7H, Dunn County;
41643, 2,605, CLR, Klepp 5-12H, Williams County.

Headline: The President To Demolish The Entire East Wing -- What's To Stop A Future President To Unilaterally Decide To Renovate The Entire West Wing? Or The Entire "Main Building"? -- October 22, 2025

Locator: 49475TEDIOUS.

I don't know anything about this but zoning laws at 1600 Pennsylvania NW, Washington, DC -- 20500 must be incredibly flexible and/or the Homeowners Association incredibly malleable.

The demolition of the "East Wing" should be complete by this weekend; any time line for completion? Who signed off on the permit application and who approved the permit? My dad would have gotten a huge kick out of this.

*****************************

Government shutdown: the current discussion only takes us to the end of November, at which time we have to start all over again, specifically, "The House of Representatives passed a bill to extend government funding through November 21, 2025, but the Senate has not been able to pass it."

So, now that we are heading toward a fourth week and late in October, some politicos are now suggesting that the current US-House-passed CR to fund through the government needs to be "re-done" to take us through the end of the year. US Congressmen/women and US senators have no desire to be doing this through Thanksgiving and Christmas and Kwanzaa. The tea leaves suggest the US House will pass a CR that provides funding through the end of January, 2026.

That will get Schumer's attention. LOL.

Link here.

This is absolutely fascinating. Congressmen -- US Congress and US Senate -- huge egos .... and all of a sudden ... irrelevant.

Totally irrelevant.

Re-making government.

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Politics: Trump's Inner Circle Of Those We Know

Adding Russell Vought to the list.

From August 23, 2025:

I doubt we will ever see another president like Trump in my lifetime. Doesn't waste time. Has a rogue gallery for his cabinet. And they're learning. Among his twenty or thirty lieutenants, there are tier 1 lieutenants, tier 2 lieutenants, etc.

Tier 1: Scott Bessent, Marco Rubio, Doug Burgum, Karoline Leavitt, Howard Lutnik, Pam Bondi, Tom Homan, Susie Wiles, Kevin Hassett. Sean Duffy moved to Tier 1, November 9, 2025.

first among equals: Doug Burgum

Tier 2: RFK, Jr.
Not ready for prime time: Pete Hegseth, JD Vance (?).
Jury is still out: Chris Wright, Tulsi Gabbard, Kristi Noem.
Wall flowers: most of the rest.

I'm adding Russell Vought to the Tier 1 group.

With recent action against drug cartels in the Caribbean; "all hands on deck” (Washington, DC); and, new rules for journalists, I'm moving Pete Hegseth from "not ready for prime time, to Tier 2. RFK, JR, has outlived his fifteen minutes of fame, and is moving to Tier 3. Chris Wright can move to Tier 2.

The revised list:

Tier 1: Scott Bessent, Marco Rubio, Doug Burgum, Karoline Leavitt, Howard Lutnik, Pam Bondi, Tom Homan, Susie Wiles, Kevin Hassett, Russell Vought.

first among equals: Doug Burgum -- energy, advisor
first among equals: to carry the torch: Marco Rubio.

Tier 2: Pete Hegseth; Chris Wright.
Tier 3: RFK, Jr.
Not ready for prime time: JD Vance (?).
Jury is still out: Tulsi Gabbard, Kristi Noem.
Wall flowers: most of the rest.

Huge: 3Q25 Was To Be The Last Huge Quarter For EVs As Incentives In The US Disappear. Tesla's 3Q25 Profits: Drop A Whopping 37% -- October 22, 2025

Locator: 49474TESLA.

Link here to The New York Times.

Natural Gas Volumes And Natural Gas Requirements -- October 22, 2025

Locator: 49473NATURALGASJARGON.

It looks like we're going to have to get conversant with BCFE per day, or simply BCF per day for tracking natural gas discussions.

This page in the blog will track some of these data points.

We will start here:

Largest natural gas pipeline in North Dakota in volume natural gas:

What is the biggest natural gas pipeline in North Dakota in natural gas BCF per day?
Answer: The largest planned natural gas pipeline in North Dakota is the proposed Intensity Pipeline, with a potential capacity of up to 1.5 Bcf/d, according to Intensity Infrastructure Partners.

Currently, the largest operational pipeline is the Greenholly Gathering Pipeline at up to 1.15 Bcf/d, reports Kinder Morgan.

AI prompt:

For a 2-GW AI large data center, in energy requirements for natural gas on a daily basis, how much natural gas -- in BCFE per day -- would be required? Answer: to get this answer, ChatAI provides all the calculations -- way more than I need.

Natural gas. In BCF per day volumes what's the largest natural gas pipeline in the United States.

The largest natural gas pipeline in the United States by capacity is the Transcontinental (Transco) Pipeline, with a design capacity of 17.388 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d).

Another contender for the largest system, though not for single pipeline capacity, is the Northern Natural Gas Company, which operates the largest overall interstate pipeline system in the U.S., consisting of 14,200 miles of pipe, as noted by Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

Transcontinental (Transco) Pipeline: This pipeline has a design capacity of 17.388 Bcf/d, making it the single largest pipeline by capacity.

Northern Natural Gas Company: The U.S.'s largest interstate pipeline system is operated by the Northern Natural Gas Company. It stretches 14,200 miles, from southern Texas to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, but is a large system, not a single pipeline, as stated by Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

Who will be paying the most, in dollars, for natural gas in the near future: Tokyo or Frankfurt?

That's a trick question: in the near future, the two cities who will be paying the most for natural gas: NYC and Boston.

This was stated at CNBC at ~3:30 p.m. CT, Wednesday, October 22, 2025. Time to ask ChatGPT.

ChatGPT: perhaps a kernel of truth but not verifiable. And way too many variables.

But, pressing ChatGPT to provide some kind of answer, after a very exhaustive re-look:

ChatGPT:

North Dakota, right now: for industrial customers in North Dakota, the natural gas price was $4.64 per thousand cubic feet in February 2025. While this is the latest price available for the state, commercial rates are often different and vary based on the specific provider and contract.

Natural gas prices in the US: link here.

AI In North Dakota -- With Some Advanced Math -- An Update -- October 22, 2025

Locator: 49472AI_ND.

Huge story earlier today and then lost in all the other news today. I will come back to this later, if necessary.

AI prompt:

For a 2-GW AI large data center, in energy requirements for natural gas on a daily basis, how much natural gas -- in BCFE per day -- would be required? Answer: to get this answer, ChatAI provides all the calculations -- way more than I need.

Put this in perspective, AI prompt:

What is the biggest natural gas pipeline in North Dakota in natural gas BCF per day?
Answer: The largest planned natural gas pipeline in North Dakota is the proposed Intensity Pipeline, with a potential capacity of up to 1.5 Bcf/d, according to Intensity Infrastructure Partners.

Currently, the largest operational pipeline is the Greenholly Gathering Pipeline at up to 1.15 Bcf/d, reports Kinder Morgan.

0.3 / 1.5 = 20%.

North Dakota update today:

The map:

OpenAI Atlas: First To Apple -- October 22, 2025

Locator: 49471CHATBOTS.

Note: on a completely different note -- Perplexity's browser Comet with embedded AI was also in the news today but was launched some months ago (in 2025).

Major news surrounding Perplexity's Comet browser on October 22, 2025, centers on a new wave of vulnerability reports, and fresh competition from OpenAI with its own AI browser, ChatGPT Atlas.

This comes shortly after Perplexity made Comet free for all users on October 2, intensifying the "AI browser wars." This reminds me of The Pubic Wars during the 1960s and the 1970s. This was probably not lost upon chatbots. LOL.

Disclaimer: I often misread, often misunderstand, often make huge errors in breaking news / often accuse of hyperbole. This could be another such case. But this is where I'm starting and will correct / edit as we go along.

Lost in all the news today, note that this OpenAI Atlas browser came first to Apple Mac.

Or stated another way, Apple got the new Open AI Atlas browser before anyone else. No pre-announcement.

The new ChatAI browser with built in search: OpenAI Atlas. Link here. Same link, download here for MacUsers.

In the browsing world, this announcement is equal to at least an earthquake intensity of 8.0. The San Francisco earthquake in 1906 registered 7.9 on the generally familiar earthquake scale of intensity.

I understand the technical part of this but I honestly do not know what this means for Apple, Inc.; Apple users; Safari: Siri, and the rest of the browsers, particularly Google Gemini and Chrome. This really seems to have caught everyone off guard. At least I was not aware of any pre-announcement or "tease." The announcement / news just popped up.

Tim Cook has been saying repeatedly that the computers being released with the new M5 chip are "AI-ready." This may have been what he was telling us and no one put two and two together. To this blog's credit, the blog has posted all along that Apple needs to do it exactly in this fashion. But the question is, how does this dovetail with Siri AI? Wow, this will take awhile to unravel.

AI prompt:

What’s going on with the OpenAI browser on Apple platforms? What is the exact status and how does one tap into this new OpenAI search?

Supposedly unrelated, Apple shares dropped $5.00 today, down 2%. There is a new EU lawsuit against Apple, announced today, but I think it will be easy for Apple to reconcile this new challenge. And there's new questions about exactly how good Apple iPhone sales are in China. And now, this new browser, a lot of uncertainty and investors don't like uncertainty.

So, first, the CNBC link which doesn't say much about Apple and this new announcement.

And, then the MacRumors link which says a bit more.

US Savings Rate -- Strong -- October 22, 205

Locator: 49470SAVINGS.

And with the price of gasoline dropping significantly -- down to less than $2.40 / gallon in north Texas -- Americans will either spend more elsewhere or save more.

By the way, did others notice that bonds to pay for Meta's new LDC in Louisiana are paying almost double what the US government will pay, almost 7% (rounded) vs 3.5% (rounded), and the "Meta" bonds are rated A+ by the rating agency?

Tech Jargon: TPUs -- October 22, 2025

Locator: 49469TPUS.

OpenAI: ChatGPT will be "embedded" in the Chrome's default browser.

Google (Alphabet) is up 2% in early morning trading
jargon: TPUs.

Jargon -- TPUs:

AI prompt:

Does Apple use (or is there even a place) for TPUs in Apple's AI architecture?

Reply: no.

Excellent question — and very insightful, because it touches the core of Apple’s unique approach to AI hardware design.

TPUs (Tensor Processing Units) are Google-designed ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits) optimized for tensor math — the matrix operations that dominate deep learning workloads. They’re especially good at:

Massive matrix multiplications

Quantized (e.g., 8-bit) neural network inference

Large-scale training efficiency in Google Cloud

They were built for data-center scale AI, not personal devices.

Apple does not use TPUs — and there’s no place for them in Apple’s current architecture.

Apple has built its own dedicated AI accelerator hardware called the Neural Engine.

Introduced in 2017 with the A11 Bionic chip (in iPhone X).

Integrated into A-series (iPhones/iPads) and M-series (Macs) chips.

Designed for on-device machine learning — not large-scale training.

The Neural Engine is Apple’s equivalent to a TPU, but for the edge, not the cloud.

Apple avoids external TPU-type data centers for most user interactions.

It runs on-device inference with Neural Engines wherever possible.

For heavier AI (e.g., Apple Intelligence summarizations, complex Siri tasks), Apple offloads to a private Apple Cloud, running servers built with Apple Silicon.

Apple doesn’t use TPUs, GPUs from NVIDIA, or Google infrastructure — everything is vertically integrated.

So TPUs don’t fit Apple’s model — they’re Google’s solution for massive shared compute, whereas Apple focuses on personalized, privacy-preserving on-device compute.

Summary:

WTI Climbing The Wall Of Worry -- October 22, 2025

Locator: 49468B.

OpenAI: ChatGPT will be "embedded" in the Chrome's default browser.

Google (Alphabet) is up 2% in early morning trading
jargon: TPUs.

EVs: GM to stop making electric vans in Canada. Link to The New York Times. [By the way, this journalistic style of the NY Times story was quite unusual. The Times says it was written by a human (Ian Austen from Ottawa) but every other mention of General Motors was identified differently. I have no idea what to make of this?

General Motors
G.M. (per The New York Times stylebook)
General Motors
G.M.
G.M.
and, never, "GM" as The WSJ would use

The Wall Street Journal does not use periods for proper-name acronyms of four letters or fewer.

Canada: the bigger story is this however, Canada has lost significant automobile production in as many weeks:

yesterday, the GM BrightDrop delivery van -- Canada -- production ends;

a loss of 1,200 jobs;

last week, Stellantis announced that it would move production of a new Jeep model from the Toronto are to a plant in Illinois;

a loss of 3,000 jobs;

"previously," it was announced that GM would eliminate a shift at a pickp factor in Oshawa, Ontario;

a loss of 2,000 jobs.

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $58.39. Link here. Up over 2%; up $1.15 / bbl.

New wells: link here.

RBN Energy: Phillips 66, Kinder Morgan Plan New ‘Gateway’ to Move Refined Products West: link here.

Link here.

Less than two months after ONEOK unveiled plans for a big new refined products pipeline from El Paso to Phoenix, Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan have proposed an even more extensive project of their own that would enable refined products flows from the St. Louis area to Southern California. The company’s newly proposed, 1,300-mile Western Gateway Pipeline — now the focus of a binding open season — would involve the construction of a greenfield pipeline from Borger, TX, to Phoenix and the reversal of part of Kinder’s existing SFPP pipeline system to move product west from Phoenix to Colton, CA. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss the project and what’s driving the race to move more refined products west from PADDs 2 and 3 to PADD 5.

Another long pipeline? Much of it's already in place; some of it will be in Texas. But for a pipeline to work, there can't even be a one-foot gap.

The Million Dollar Way (The Bakken Oil Blog)

Pages

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Movie Night -- Vertigo -- Hitchcock -- October 22, 2025

Stargate: The Fifth Location -- The Lighthouse, Port Washington, Milwaukee -- October 22, 2025

BR Reporting Some Incredible Kellogg Wells In Elidah Oil Field -- October 22, 2025

We Have The Fifth Location -- October 22, 2025

Headline: The President To Demolish The Entire East Wing -- What's To Stop A Future President To Unilaterally Decide To Renovate The Entire West Wing? Or The Entire "Main Building"? -- October 22, 2025

Huge: 3Q25 Was To Be The Last Huge Quarter For EVs As Incentives In The US Disappear. Tesla's 3Q25 Profits: Drop A Whopping 37% -- October 22, 2025

Natural Gas Volumes And Natural Gas Requirements -- October 22, 2025

AI In North Dakota -- With Some Advanced Math -- An Update -- October 22, 2025

OpenAI Atlas: First To Apple -- October 22, 2025

US Savings Rate -- Strong -- October 22, 205

Tech Jargon: TPUs -- October 22, 2025

WTI Climbing The Wall Of Worry -- October 22, 2025

Williston, ND

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