Locator: 50914EARTH.
Popular Mechanics, link here:
Flashback, who is laughing now?
Locator: 50913B.
Great day on "Wall Street."
AAPL: held its gain after hours, albeit not much.
At the close:
Tech selloff: may not be over. But perhaps slowing (the tech selloff). Big concern: energy.
**********************************
Back to the Bakken
WTI: $92.78.
Active rigs: 28.
Four new permits, #43001 - #43004, inclusive:
One permit renewed:
Four permits canceled:
One producing well (a DUC) is reported as completed:
Locator: 50912INVESTING.
Personal investing: again, for the extended family; not for general readership.
Folks may have noticed this today:
Wow:
********************************
Banks
Re-posting from May 14, 2026, link here:
Locator: 50808INVESTING.
Personal investing: for the extended family; not for general readership.
Some thoughts:
Specifics:
So, what does that mean? Because of my rules:
*********************************
AI Investing
Like all biological phenomena and revolutions, this current AI revolution will also follow the standard "S" curve.
Point A, about 2023: it had become obvious that one should have began investing heavily in AI by now. Interestingly, the term "Magnificent Seven" (Mag 7) was coined in 2023 by Bank of America analyst Michael Hartnett. He created the nickname to describe a group of seven dominant, high-performing U.S. technology stocks—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla.
Point B, about 2028, will be the last opportunity to continue investing aggressively in AI. The Mag 7 will have greatly expanded by then. One might argue we'll see a resurgence of "a" Nifty Fifty.
Between points A and B aggressive investors need to continue aggressively invest in AI, but transition from the Mag7 to the Towering 20.
Many of these new twenty companies will be the results of IPOs between now (2026 and 2028).
Unless there are indications that the growth/excitement of the current AI revolution continues beyond 2030, the investor needs to pivot. And pivot quickly. The market -- certainly the AI market -- could plummet 20 to 25 percent once the average investor sees what is going on. One may already need to consider pivoting from the current Mag 7 to something new.
Between now and then, keep reading everything you can on societal and geo-political changes. The trick will be to anticipate the next Mag 7. My own hunch: pharmaceutical companies that focus on "healthspan expansion" and even, perhaps, "biological age reversal." Beware charlatans.
It's not too late to invest in the current AI revolution, but by next year this time -- maybe sooner -- investing in the current Mag 7 will be challenging -- the real winners (investors) will be those who correctly anticipate the Towering 20 in 2030. Maybe we will see thirty such tickers by 2030 ... "thirty for 2030" --- "30 for 30."
**********************************
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. Now, I've added Amazon. Longer version here.
Locator: 50911TRAVEL.
High on my list would be Highlands, NC -- about two hours of scenic mountain driving southwest of Asheville.
Locator: 50910MONTEREY.
Query: what's going on with California's Monterey Shale?
Reply: dead, dormant, dismissed --
***************************
Cottage Pudding Recipe
This looks suspiciously what my mother used to called cottage pudding, though she topped with a wonderful treacly syrup.
See recipe at this post.
Locator: 50909SHALEGAS.
There are so many numbers here it can get confusing. See data points from Rigzone, back in 2016, see below the asterisks below. These are are a subset:
So, let's see the numbers. Some data points:
Okay, so by 2040 -- that more than ten years from now, back in 2016, analysts expected US shale gas to more than double to 80 bcf/d. What is the current US shale gas production, 2025?
Update: global shale natural gas production -- from AI query -- US, 2025, has already reached 80 bcf/d if I have the numbers correct. China is #2 at 2.2 bcf/d.
*************************************
Shale Natural Gas
Global shale natural gas: reposting from August 18, 2016. Link here.
Data points for shale natural gas from Rigzone: China will be world's 2nd largest shale gas producer by 2040.
So, let's see the numbers. Some data points:
Locator: 50908B.
Amazon Prime Days: June 23 - June 26, 2026. Four days.
NEO: several posts on Apple. See disclaimer.
***********************************
Back to the Bakken
WTI: $95.31.
New wells reporting:
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.