The Million Dollar Way (The Bakken Oil Blog): 11/09/25

Sunday, November 9, 2025

Activity In Antelope Creek -- Hess BW Wells -- Kraken Steen / Triangle South Wells -- November 9, 2025

Locator: 49381B.

The maps:

The wells:

Pad 1:

41584, drl/conf, Hess, BW-IDA-LN-149-101,1416H-1, Antelope Creek,
41585,
41307,
41586,
41587,
42588,
41589, drl/conf, Hess, BW-JLP-149-101-2321H-2, Antelope Creek,

Pad 2:

40733, drl/conf, Kraken, Steen LE 13024 12H, Antelope Creek,
40734,
40735,
40740,
40741,
40742, drl/conf, Kraken, Triangle South 12-1 9H, Antelope Creek,

There are four active wells in that section; they're pretty good wells; nothing particularly exciting. Three of the four are off-line suggesting drilling / fracking activity in the area.

Holy Mackerel -- No One Mentioned This On CNBC This Past Week -- November 9, 2025

Locator: 49380MMFS.

Tag: MMF MMFs money market funds.

Last week there was a "sell-off" in the US equity market last week. Where did all that money go?

Some of it was simply rotating: folks rotating their profits out of tech into consumer retail.

But the rest?

Link here.

Normally I expect to see the range between a minus $10 billion and a plus $30 billion. I can't remember when I saw a number this big -- up $116 billion. Wow. $116 billion.

The Rogue Gallery -- November 9, 2025

Locator: 49379POLITICS.

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Politics: Trump's Inner Circle Of Those We Know

Updates
November 27, 2025

The revised list, November 9, 2025:

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

first among equals: Doug Burgum -- energy, advisor
first among equals: to carry the torch: Marco Rubio.
Sean Duffy moved to Tier 1, November 9, 2025.
Laura Loomer, November 13, 2025 -- after reading The New Yorker essay by Antonia Hitchens.
Pete Hegseth now on the cusp -- moved a/c carrier into Latin America, November 11, 2025.
US Army Secretary: Daniel P. Driscoll moved to "rogue gallery" -- November 27, 2025

Tier 2: Pete Hegseth; Chris Wright.
Tier 3: RFK, Jr. -- remains at Tier 3. With recent vaccine issue again elevated at CDC (November, 2025), RFK seems to be surviving. But seems to be a one-pony circus; not sure if he could handle major health threat.
Not ready for prime time: JD Vance (?). In fact, November 13, 2025, there are whispers that Trump and Vance don't see eye-to-eye on immigrants. In this case, Trump is correct again; Vance is off his rocker. With Driscoll appointment (November, 2025) JD Vance looks like he may have more influence than I realize.
Jury is still out: Tulsi Gabbard, Kristi Noem (she is looking like the weakest link with the Spirit airplane caper that was just reported).
Wall flowers: most of the rest.

Previous Posts

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.

Financial Independence -- November 9, 2025

Locator: 49378INVESTING.

Updates

Later: 8:06 p.m. CT:

These are not liberals; these are not progressives; they are certainly not patriots. These are anarchists who want the US government to fail, completely. This, of course, includes Schumer who still voted to keep the government shut down. He hates the military, as far as I can tell, but loves illegal immigrants.

Original Post

Tea leaves: for investors, this next week could be an incredible week.

rare earth metals:

shutdown: we've reached a tipping point. It's only a matter nor for the opposition to figure out how to end this shutdown without losing face. The "Fetterman model" is probably the key. [Five minutes after posting that -- US Senate -- may have reached an agreement to end government shutdown.]

7:03 p.m. CT, market reaction:

7:06 p.m. CT, if this works, the credit goes to Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy. But Senator Schumer has to agree. A big "if."

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Financial Independence

This idea for this blog began here: link here.

Reminder: I hate the word "retirement." I prefer "financial independence," which I define as enough "mailbox money" to do what you want to do. "Mailbox money" includes quarterly statements from investment vehicles.

The article linked above included some jargon, which led me to this:

I also consider one's goal in life to be living in one's own home to be incredibly shallow. That's not much more than teenagers' highest aspiration to remain living in their parents' basement. One needs to read the three-volume biography of Graham Greene if that's your "life's goal" -- to have one's one own home.

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Disclaimer

Brief Reminder

Briefly:

I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken and I am often well out front of my headlights. I am often appropriately accused of hyperbole when it comes to the Bakken.
I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.
I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple.
See disclaimer. This is not an investment site.
Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.
All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If something appears wrong, it probably is. Feel free to fact check everything.
If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them.
Many posts are not proofread for several days after they've been posted.
Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken, US economy, and the US market.
I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple.
And now, Nvidia, also. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Nvidia. Nvidia is a metonym for AI and/or the sixth industrial revolution.
I've now added Broadcom to the disclaimer. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom.
And Oracle.
Longer version here.

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A Musical Interlude

Link here.

Permian Update -- The Central Basin Platform Is Back In The News -- November 9, 2025

Locator: 49377PERMIAN.

Link here to Enervus homepage. A lot of information packed into this one paragraph.

A search for the limestone reefs in this area brought me to this link.

The Permian reef complexes of West Texas and New Mexico are among the classic carbonate sequences in the world and have significantly influenced geologic thinking for over half a century. Study of the reefs can be subdivided into 6 broad periods.

The first period involved early exploration of the region, establishment of regional stratigraphic relationships and attempts at dating stratigraphic units. The Guadalupian Fauna typifies this early period.

The second period, during the 1920-30’s, was a time of early petroleum exploration in the region, following on discovery of the Kendrick Field in Winkler County, Texas, and resulted in attempts to explain the complicated subsurface stratigraphy. Development of a marginal reef model and research on facies relationships between the basin and shelf resulted in refinement of stratigraphic nomenclature.

The third period, here termed the King period, was a time of more intense study of the outcrops and their subsurface extensions. It was a time when facies became more clearly differentiated and when the great diversity and abundance of fossils in the region became appreciated. This period ended when World War II curtailed research in the region.

The fourth period began after the war, with heightened interest in reefs and paleoecology. It was a time when carbonate petrology and paleoecology rose as major fields of interest. It was also a time of mega-paleontology. Tens of tons of fossiliferous limestones were processed at the U.S. National Museum and the American Museum of Natural History and collections of literally millions of fossils were assembled. The earlier publication of Geology of the Southern Guadalupe Mountains, Texas and the later publication of The Permian Reef Complex of the Guadalupe Mountains Region,Texas and NewMexico characterize the period.

The fifth period is marked by the return of industry investigators to study the reefs and associated rocks, perhaps spurred as much by Dunham’s “Vadose pisolites in the Capitan reef” as by any single paper. The period was one of concern about origins of the distinctive pisolites of the complex, nature of the massive Capitan Limestone, diagenesis of carbonates and by concern for understanding the economically significant rocks of the backreef sequence.

The sixth period, termed the Wisconsin phase, continued research along lines of the fifth period but was a time when faculty and students of the University of Wisconsin, and their associates, re-examined all facies of the Guadalupe Mountain reef complexes as a major effort, while industry became less broadly involved. Those efforts, and those now initiated by faculty and students of the University of Nebraska and Rice University, bring us essentially to date, but much still remains to be discovered and understood about the reef complexes.

Are we entering the seventh period of research into these limestone reefs?

Apple Toying With Idea To Bring Back The iBook? November 9, 2025

Locator: 49376APPLE.

Is the rumored iBook simply a re-do of the MacBook Air M1? With perhaps less memory?

MacRumors: link here. All of a sudden it's looking like a very, very capable computer.

Apple is planning to use its A18 Pro chip in the MacBook. We first saw the A18 Pro in the iPhone 16 Pro models.

The chip is built on Apple's second-generation 3-nanometer process, featuring 8GB RAM and support for Apple Intelligence. It's fast and efficient, and more than capable of handling day-to-day tasks.

In Geekbench 6 benchmarks, the A18 Pro offers single-core CPU performance scores at the level of the M3 Ultra, and multi-core performance scores higher than the M1 chip that Apple used in the first Apple silicon ‌MacBook Air‌.

Metal scores that measure GPU performance are also similar to the ‌M1‌ chip Metal scores.

The A18 Pro will be equivalent to the ‌M1‌ for some tasks, and faster for other tasks.

Apple no longer sells the ‌M1‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ from its own store, but it has offered the machine through Walmart at a $599 price point.

Link here. Less than $599? Using an iPhone chip for its CPU?

It will be very, very interesting to see what Apple does with this.

Target audience:

young families with children in middle school;
seniors who remember the iBook and would love to see them again;

Comment:

I see almost no form difference between notebooks (screen size 11 - 13 inches) and laptops (13 - 15 inches)
less memory of course, but everything is going to the cloud, anyway;
mostly apps?
supports AI!

History of the iBook to Mac:

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My Work Horse

Airports Affected By Government Shutdown -- November 9, 2025

Locator: 49375TRAVEL.

Two links.

Observations:

about 1 - 3% cancellations in most cases:
exception: Atlanta, Georgia -- really hit hard;

there may be Atlanta-specific reasons; it is way outside the average;
interestingly, in this Yahoo article, Atlanta not even mentioned -- suggests a lot of the flights may be regional flights;
Atlanta with lots of international flights;

government says international flights won't be impacted due to international agreements -- yet ChatGPT said the opposite --

JFK has the highest percentage of international flights among the listed airports (EWR, JFK, ATL, LAX) at 42%, while LAX has 23% and EWR has 28%. However, it's important to note that ATL has the highest total passenger traffic overall, even though a lower percentage of its flights are international

Observations:

huge impact on individual passengers;
some impact on some airlines;
minimal impact on aviation sector;
getting way more attention than it deserves;
sort of like reporting on toilet paper shortage or egg prices.

Production For Wells Coming Off Confidential List This Next Week -- November 9, 2025

Locator: 49374WELLS.