Locator: 49920B.
BlackRock's Larry Fink: AI -- there is no bubble. Let me repeat that, there is no bubble. If we do not invest in the hyperscaler sector, China wins.
Venezuela: Trump is playing chess; the pundits can barely play checkers. Lessons learned from the Keystone XL. Link here.
- Venezuelan oil priced at a premium to competing Canadian barrels for US Gulf Coast refiners.
- Trump got a two-fer (or more) when he took out Maduro and put Marco Rubio in charge.
AMZN becomes a miner: link here.
**********************************
Back to the Bakken
Bakken's production y/y: drops all of 54 bbls oil per day. Not only inconsequential but absolutely incredible. Link here.
WTI: $59.34.
New wells reporting:
- Friday, January 16, 2026: 24 for the month, 24 for the quarter, 24 for the year,
- 41964, conf, Petro-Hunt, Lovdahl 158-94-32D-30-1HS,
- Thursday, January 15, 2026: 23 for the month, 23 for the quarter, 23 for the year,
- 41364, conf, BR, Sandie 1B MBH,
- 40912, conf, Hess, GO-Layton-156-97-1931H-2,
RBN Energy: techology, LG pull gas producers into high-stakes western Haynesville. Link here. Archived.
Producers venturing into the substantial natural gas reserves in the far-west part of the Haynesville Shale — south of Dallas and about 200 miles west of DeSoto Parish, LA, in the core Haynesville — were historically thwarted by extreme geological conditions and poor drilling economics, which quickly relegated the area to the back burner in the early years of the Shale Era. Now, technological advancements and bullish market conditions are once again beckoning producers to look beyond the core areas of the Haynesville. Rig activity in the Western Haynesville is the highest it’s been in 10 years and production volumes have been ticking up over the past two. In today’s RBN blog, we begin a series looking at recent activity and production scenarios for the region as it fits into the larger Gulf Coast supply-demand balance.
Before we dive into the latest dynamics of the Western Haynesville development, let’s start with some quick definitions and geography to put it in the context of the larger Haynesville. What we and the broader market commonly refer to as the Haynesville (blue-shaded area in Figure 1 below) is, of course, one of the OGs of shale development, bursting onto the scene in 2008, during the early days of the Shale Revolution. The sweet spots lie on or just off the Cotton Valley Shelf Edge (yellow-shaded area) along the northern stretch of the Texas-Louisiana border. (Please note we use generalized terms for basins and formations, which are commonplace in the industry but not necessarily the precise geological classification. As shown in Figure 1, the Haynesville is a surface area that provides access to formations such as the Austin Chalk, Cotton Valley, and other basins for development and extraction.
