Thursday, June 4, 2026

Already Thursday -- Wow, These Weeks Go By Quickly -- June 4, 2026

Locator: 50908B. 

Amazon Prime Days: June 23 - June 26, 2026. Four days.  

NEO: several posts on Apple. See disclaimer.

  • Amazon; undercuts Apple with quicker MacBook Neo delivery and discounted price (not by much); link here;
  • MacBook Neo: so popular, Apple reported doubled production, link here.
  • MacBook Neo: disrupts PC market, link here.
  • MacBook Neo: outsold very other Mac in its debut quarter, link here. Previously posted. 

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $95.31.

New wells reporting:

  • Friday, June 5, 2026: 3 for the month, 159 for the quarter, 316 for the year, 
    • 42004, conf, Slawson, Cannonball Federal 5-27-34H, 
  • Thursday, June 4, 2026: 2 for the month, 158 for the quarter, 315 for the year,  
    • 42003, conf, Slawson, Cannonball Federal 6-27-34H,

RBN Energy: US E&Ps eschew CAPEX increases despite oil price surge. Link here. Archived.

Anyone stepping out of a time machine might conclude that the world has become a giant game of chance, with sports betting ads flooding the airwaves and prediction markets offering wagers on everything from the duration of world leader handshakes to pop culture trivia. Given that the Iran war-driven surge in oil prices doubled E&P profits in Q1 2026, it would seem that the closest thing to a “sure thing” in this marketplace would be a surge in capex to capture fatter cash flows as the political standoff sustains higher realizations. But that would have been a losing bet, as industry 2026 capex remained virtually unchanged. In today’s RBN blog, we review oil and gas producers’ current investment and production guidance while analyzing potential future strategy as the economic impacts of the Iran war evolve.

As shown in Figure 1 below, E&P capital spending (blue bars and left axis) has been trending lower since the post-pandemic peak in 2023. After slashing investment in 2020 and 2021 as the onset of the pandemic threatened the financial stability of a chronically overspending E&P industry, producers rode a wave of sustained high commodity prices in 2022 and 2023 to increase drilling to offset steep shale decline rates. Inflation as well as increased acquisition-related activity helped spur a 58% increase in 2022 and a 24% rise to $64.5 billion in 2023, which resulted in a 14% production gain.

Figure 1. E&P Capex and Production, 2014-Q1 2026E. 
Source: Oil & Gas Financial Analytics LLC