Locator: 51506ARCHIVES.
Irony: Europeans have been on the forefront of the dangers / risks of climate change / global warming for decades, did nothing, and now the Europeans seem least prepared.
Initial jobless claims: pretty much in line. White noise. Really, really good numbers. Economy doing really, really good.
Trump: South Korea or Israel. Trump favoring Israel?
WTI: CNBC now has WTI at $89. CVX up 1.5%; up over $3; trading at $208.80, trending toward 52-week high, $214.71.
Iran: another unresolved "Korean War"?
DOW futures: down 402 points right now (90 minutes before open). Probably much to do with WMT and Trump / Bessent policies.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's decision to double long-term debt buybacks is an action of fiscal policy (managed by the Treasury Department), though critics note it actively interferes with and complicates the Federal Reserve's monetary policy goals. Why didn't Trump think of this when Jay Powell was in charge?
MPC: it appears MPC will gain back today all its losses from yesterday.
WMT misses. By a lot. Shares drop 6%.
BRK-B and INTC: it looks like both will be down again today.
NASA's latest mission fails. Link here. One wonders if NASA should have contracted with Elon Musk / SpaceX on this one, instead of giving it to .....
LDC: some argue the biggest headwind is adequate land to build these LDCs ... the Carlyle Group says, "not so fast." The federal government has a lot of federal land ... and a lot of it is very, very secure.
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Back to the Bakken
WTI: $87.12. CNBC reporting WTI has gone over $88.
New wells reporting:
- Friday, August 21, 2026: 42 for the month, 83 for the quarter, 427 for the year,
- 41991, conf, Hess, EN-Edwards-157-94-2203H-1,
- 41358, conf, Whiting, Gullikson Federal 5203 42-31 5BX,
- 41129, conf, Whiting, Gullikson 5203 42-31 4B,
- Thursday, August 20, 2026: 39 for the month, 80 for the quarter, 424 for the year,
- 42209, conf, Murfin Drilling, CD Steffan 1-17H,
- 42208, conf, Murfin Drilling, CD Steffan 1-18H,
- 41357, conf, Whiting, Gullikson Federal 5203 42-31 3B
- 41158, conf, Whiting, Dobias 5203 44-32 2B,
RBN Energy: new natural gas pipeline to overwhelm the Permian Basin with outbound capacity. Link here. Archived.
The Permian Basin is the nation’s second-largest natural gas-producing region, and over the past couple of years it has been dominated by one overarching story: pipeline takeaway constraints and periods of negative prices at the Waha Hub. That has changed recently, however, as more pipelines out of the region have entered service. Now, a consortium led by WhiteWater Midstream has reached a final investment decision (FID) on the Solitude Pipeline System, which will have the capacity to take an astonishing 4.5 Bcf/d of gas from the Permian by the early 2030s. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll explain why Solitude has the potential to upend the Permian gas story, bringing us a market where takeaway capacity is so great that production cannot keep up and multiple lines out of the Permian run largely empty.
Before we look at the potential effects of Solitude, let’s look at what the project aims to do. Despite the lonely sounding name, Solitude (dashed orange line in Figure 1 below) will consist of two 48-inch pipelines, each capable of transporting 2.25 Bcf/d (for a total of 4.5 Bcf/d). Solitude is the name of a ski resort in Utah, which is probably the source of the name, as many WhiteWater-affiliated pipelines in Texas are named after mountains (Whistler, Blackcomb, Matterhorn, Eiger). Solitude will run from the Permian to Katy, just west of Houston. This is a familiar route for WhiteWater, which has been operating the Matterhorn Express pipeline (yellow line) since late 2024 and is building Eiger Express (dashed red line), which is planned to enter service in 2028. While the route is similar, Solitude has a different ownership group than other WhiteWater-led pipelines. WhiteWater will own 50% of Solitude, followed by Devon Energy (25%), MPLX (10%), Diamondback Energy (7.5%) and Western Midstream Partners (7.5%). The current plan is to have the first Solitude pipeline flowing gas in late 2029, with the second to follow in 2030.
