Through All The Doom And Gloom -- There's Amazon -- April 4, 2026

Locator: 50426AMZN.

Link here. 

One might want to read the thread at the link. 

Link here. 

It was one of the last AI companies in which I invested; it may turn out to be my favorite.

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Disclaimer
Briefly

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. 

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.

Longer version here.   

RINOs? Now We Have MINNOWs -- April 4, 2026

Locator: 50425MINNOWS.

I'm starting to see a fair number of those who say they are "major MAGAs" (whatever that means) over at x now, but it seems a fair number of those "major MAGAs" are now "MAGAs in name only" --> MINNOWs. 

It gets tedious.

MAGA? You either are or you aren't. This is not rocket science. 

Chord Energy -- XTO Assets -- Acquisition Closed Last October, 2025 -- Posted April 4, 2026

Locator: 50424CHORD_XTO.

Disclaimer: this information continues to evolve. I do not have the current information. If this affects you, it is probably best to query Chord Energy directly.

Updates

April 4, 2026: a reader contacted me to say that he/she received an XTO payment with a check dated February 27, 2026.  

April 4, 2026: 

Acquisition closed: October 31, 2025. To the best of my knowledge, at the end of 2025, royalties were still being paid by XTO, based on information from readers. I don't know the status of royalty payments with regard to this issue. It took repeated queries to Google Gemini to get the following information, which continues to be incomplete but somewhat helpful: 

Query: Chord Energy acquired XTO assets in North Dakota from Exxon and that deal closed October 31, 2025. What is the status now of XTO royalties on assets in the North Dakota Bakken. Are they still being paid by XTO (2026)?

Reply: 

Oasis, Whiting, and Enerplus are still fully owned subsidiaries of Chord Energy and royalty checks will be issued by those three companies.

That is not true for the XTO assets in the Bakken. Chord is now responsible for royalty checks for the XTO assets, but it is unclear when those first checks will be paid by Chord. 

Chord did send a letter to royalty owners affected by this acquisition but specific dates were not spelled out. 

Previously Posted 

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Chord Energy -- XTO Assets

October 13, 2025: link here. 

Locator: 49365B. 

Chord Energy/ExxonMobil’s Bakken Assets

Also on September 15, 2025, Chord Energy (CHRD), the largest producer in the Bakken since its $11 billion acquisition of Enerplus in May 2024, said it will purchase the remaining North Dakota production assets of ExxonMobil subsidiary XTO Energy for $550 million in cash in a deal expected to close by year’s end. The assets include 48,000 net acres (dark-blue areas in Figure 4 below) and 9 Mboe/d of production (78% oil), the vast majority of it in Dunn County and much of it within the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation (area outlined by dark-gray line). The XTO acreage being purchased is largely contiguous with Chord’s existing acreage (bright-green areas) and in some cases the deal will add to Chord’s working interest (WI; striped areas).

Formed in July 2022 with the merger of Whiting Petroleum and Oasis Petroleum, Chord Energy in June 2023 acquired 62,000 net acres and 6 Mboe/d of production from XTO for $375 million. In Q2 2025, Chord produced 281 Mboe/d (56% oil).

Chord Energy’s and XTO Energy’s Bakken Acreage

Figure 4. Chord Energy’s and XTO Energy’s Bakken Acreage. Source: Chord Energy

Chord Energy said the latest set of assets it is acquiring from XTO have breakeven economics in the $40s/bbl range and will “compete at the front end of Chord’s program.” The E&P noted that the contiguous nature of XTO’s drilling spacing units (DSUs) and proximity to Chord’s acreage “will facilitate 3- and 4-mile lateral development” — a fast-growing trend in western North Dakota.