Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Wednesday -- First Note - Midnight -- July 14 / 15, 2026

Locator: 51175B.

The stock to watch ... later today ... technically this was yesterday, and the smaller print is today .... full year guidance raised again yesterday --- this is the second time guidance has been raised in 2026 .... 

This says all I need to know about fossil fuels: link here. Note: he didn't just buy a few turbines; he bought the whole company. Think about that.

APR Energy: 

Willie Nelson: my sister-in-law attended a Willie Nelson concert over the weekend. Willie Nelson is 93 years of age this year; birthday in April. Apparently it was a great concert. I bet it was.

WTI: the ceiling is currently $80.  Once it breaks through, $80 will be the new floor.  What to watch? Not the mideast. Watch China. At some point, China is going to need to start importing more gasoline. When/where will we first see that data? Over at x

Also, watch the SPR. Some analysts suggest when the SPR gets to a certain level, it is no longer possible -- or nearly impossible -- to pump any more oil out even though the SPR is still not technically empty. 

Geological Unpumpable Limit: 150 million barrels. Pumping oil below this level risks wellbore destruction, pipe shearing, and cavern collapse. 

Statutory Minimum Limit: 250 to 252 million barrels. The Department of Energy and Congress treat this as the operational floor to ensure the nation retains a viable emergency cushion. I believe we are quite close to the "statutory minimum limit." That's also the "headline limit": when we come close to 250 million bbls remaining, the headlines will scream $100 oil (or much worse).

Anticipation: all green is good. 

Apple iPhones:  



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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $80.36.

New wells reporting

  • Thursday, July 16, 2026: 25 for the month, 25 for the quarter, 378 for the year, 
    • 41697, conf, Hess, SC-Bingeman-154-98-0904H-9,
  • Wednesday, July 15, 2026: 24 for the month, 24 for the quarter, 377 for the year, 
    • 41546, conf, Oasis, Ellis 5602 13-17 4B,

RBN Energy: crude oil balances in Louisiana's refining regions; poised for a change? Link here. Archived.

Crude oil sourcing for the three refining regions in Louisiana couldn’t be more different from each other. Southeastern Louisiana relies heavily on offshore Gulf production, Southwestern Louisiana primarily on inflows from Texas and waterborne crude, while Northwestern Louisiana depends on a mix of pipeline, rail and truck supplies. Those supply/demand patterns have defined Louisiana’s crude balances for years, but forces beyond the state's borders may be emerging that could begin to reshape the state’s flow dynamics. In today’s RBN blog, we examine crude oil flows into and out of the Bayou State, assess supply/demand balances, and explore why understanding those balances could be increasingly important in the years ahead.

This is the third blog in our series about crude oil pipelines and refineries in Louisiana and Southern Arkansas. In Part 1, we said the 16 refineries there account for almost one-fifth of total U.S. refining capacity and can consume more than 3 MMb/d of crude oil from a wide range of domestic and foreign production areas. We also divided the refineries into three buckets — Southeastern Louisiana (eight refineries with a combined capacity of nearly 2.2 MMb/d; pink-shaded rows in Figure 1 below), Southwestern Louisiana (three with 911 Mb/d; blue-shaded rows), and Northwestern Louisiana and Southern Arkansas (five with 176 Mb/d; green-shaded rows) — and noted that refineries in each of the buckets generally turn to many of the same sources for their crude oil and use pretty much the same means to deliver oil to their facilities.