Wednesday, September 9, 2026

Daily Activity Report -- Two New Permits; Six Permits Renewed; Four DUCs Reported As Completed -- September 9, 2026

Locator: 51699B.

Marriage made in heaven, link here: 

Sept 9 (Reuters) – Enbridge  said on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, it will acquire Blackstone -owned Tallgrass Energy’s crude oil business for $2.55 billion in ​cash, expanding its U.S. liquids pipeline network by buying a majority ‌stake in the Pony Express Pipeline and other assets. [We've heard those names on the blog many, many times over the years.]
The Canadian pipeline operator said the deal would strengthen its presence in key U.S. crude-producing regions, including the Bakken, Powder River and ​Denver-Julesburg basins, while creating operational synergies with its existing Express-Platte pipeline system.

Enbridge will acquire a 75% interest in the Pony Express Pipeline, ⁠a 1,050-mile (1,690-km), 460,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) crude system that links production in the Rockies to ​the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub and provides access to about 500,000 bpd of ​refining capacity.

U.S. President Donald Trump had issued several pipeline permits in April, including one for construction of a new pipeline, to facilitate the transportation of crude oil and petroleum products between the ​U.S. and Canada. 
The acquisition, expected to close later in 2026, subject to ​regulatory clearance, also includes a 51% stake in the Powder River Gateway pipeline system, nearly 8.4 ‌million ⁠barrels of storage across nine crude terminals connected to Pony Express, and the crude marketing business Stanchion Energy.

Tickers: 

  • AAPL: slightly lower today after it's semi-annual presentation; but up nicely after hours. 
  • CVX: up 2% today; up $4 today; very near its 52-week high.
  • MPC: another 52-week high intraday, but dropped a bit at the close.
  • SCCO: up slightly today; recommended as "last trade" on "Fast Money."
  • GLW: another nice "up" day but still way off its highs.  

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $96.05. Already expensive, up $3.02; up 3.25%. 

Active rigs: 34.

Two new permits, #43292 - #43293 --

  • Operators: BR, Oasis
  • Fields: Dimmick Lake (McKenzie County); Murphy Creek (Dunn County)
  • Comments:
    • BR has a permit for a Stortroen well, SESW 7-151-96, 
      • to be sited 1022 FSL and 1225 FWL;
    • Oasis has a permit for a Chang 4595 42-19 6B well, SWSE 19-145-95, 
      • to be sited 838 FSL and 2314 FEL.

Six permits renewed:

  • Hess (5): fuve RS-Holland permits, Cottonwood oil field;
  • Foundation Energy Management, #33867, Audrey 3526 2H, Beaver Creek; Golden Valley;

Four producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

  • 41997, 985, Slawson, Rebel Federal 2-32-17H, Mountrail;
  • 42034, 255, Slawson, Rebel Federal 3-32-17H, Mountrail;
  • 42218, 843, CLR, Louisville Federal 6-7H, McKenzie;
  • 42470, 523, Petro-Hunt, Estby 159-94-26A-35-1HS, Burke County.

Court Says "No" To LNG Pipeline From Pennsylvani Into New York -- September 9, 2026

Locator: 51698LNG.

Tag: pipeline pipelines Williams LNG insanity

Link here. I have no dog in this fight. I no longer care. Let the northeast coastal and the New England democrats remain in the 20th century as the rest of us move into the 21st century.

The Apple Presentation -- Hardware -- iPhone 18 Pro; iPhone 18 Pro Max; And iPhone Duo -- iPhone Handoff -- Apple's Recap -- September 9, 2026

Locator: 51697APPLE.

Note: I don't plan to add any more to this, but there is so much more. Best source: Macrumors.  

Updates

It appears we've come to an important crossroads. It appears that Apple's iPhone is so incredible that Apple has no desire to go back to an "affordable" iPhone. Users will have no choice but to pay more for their phones. They don't have to make a quick decision. Their current phones will last for quite some time. But this is huge: Apple is offering a subscription plan -- wow, this is clever. $35 / month for 24 months and then the option to buy ($840 has been paid), or upgrade. The carriers have been doing this for quite some time but Apple wanted / wants some of that money. Maybe more on this later. I may actually consider that. $35, which will quickly turn into $45 with taxes, fees, etc., but that's not an impediment / disincentive. Wow. If I want to impress my family and/or friends, it will cost me less than $45 / month. 

Regardless of the cost, Apple is counting on the fact that Apple users have nowhere else to go. 

Query: 

It sounds like Apple is offering a subscription model, $35 / month for two years with option to own after two years with "balloon" payment or maintain the subscription and upgrade.

Reply: 

Original Post 

In order of appearance:

Tim Cook (a cameo, 3-second appearance).

John Ternus

iPhones. 

  • iPhone 18 Pro 
  • Siri
  • iPhone 18 Pro Max
  • All native Apple apps are going to replace a lot of non-Apple apps.
  • Data limits for basic price because search / compute is so incredibly expensive.
  • A20 Pro chip. 
    • CPU, GPU with neural accelerators, a neural engine, a second neural engine (means 2x compute power), new: custom packaging, brand new thermal design.
  • Brand new thermal design: critical. Vapor chamber -- ionized water. Three layers to absorb / dissipate / mitigate heat including a new industry standard, a copper layer which pulls away heat from the chip.
  • Battery life: 36 hours (Pro) / 45 hours (Pro Max).
    • Much quicker to charge. Perfect for commercial flights of 6 hours or less.
  • Games on iPhone.
  • Camera. Variable aperture. Low-light situations.
  • OS27.
    • Two iPhone telephone numbers: iPhone hand-off. HUGE, HUGE, HUGE.
  • Price: 
    • $1199 / $1299.
    • $34.99 / month for 24 months lease with ability to own at end of two years.
    • $1200 off with certain trade-ins.
    • More than affordable.

AirPods 5. $30 less than previously. 

Apple Watch. All about personal health. Medical results can be loaded on Apple Watch and analyzed on your iPhone. So much more. Again, AI-centered. Recaps (notes from audio!). Again, security / encryption.

Will pick this up later.

iPhone Duo. The $2,000 foldable iPhone. Everyone with an annual income greater than $200,000 will get one. But it could be a long wait. That's fine. And then think of "iPhone Handoff" -- one telephone number for two iPhones. Starts at $1995. Pre-orders begin October 16th and available on October 23rd. 

Featured today, a recap by John Ternus:

  • iPhone 18 Pro
  • iPhone 18 Pro Max
  • iPhone Duo

With "iPhone handoff" one can see exactly where the wealthy in Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Wall Street, Florida retirees, and DFW movers and shakers are headed. 

No what was missing? Not one new emoji was mentioned!!!  

Muse -- META Surging -- Americans Love AI It Appears -- September 9, 2026

Locator: 51696AI. 

REMINDER: Apple special event at 12:00 noon today -- in about 20 minutes -- on Safari at the Apple.com website.  

WTI: now above $96.  

Pageviews: just went over 97 million page views. Page view run rate is currently 2.4 million page views / 24 hours.

This is how much Americans hate and/or are afraid to use AI. Link here. See previous note re: Andrew Ross Sorkin, link here. Andrew Ross Sorkin is also the guy that appeared to have agreed that we would all die due to global warming / climate change. It gets tedious.

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New Purchase

No plans to open it in my lifetime. LOL. 

In the "old" -- fifty years ago, I could buy "used," run-of-the-mill" Lego pieces for 5 cents apiece.

Some years ago -- maybe twenty -- the price for most sets, which included special pieces, ran 10 cents apiece.

This particular set is running 12 cents apiece, but with lots of special pieces. However, I still use 10 cents/piece to put new sets in perspective. 

Lego's Harry Potter Ministry of Magic, just released, 3,491 pieces, runs 14 cents / piece. Harry Potter sets are slightly more expensive due to licensing cost. I have never bought Harry Potter sets or Star Wars sets (one or two small exceptions). 

Nice To See That CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin Hasn't Changed -- Says That We Could All Be Dead Within Four Years Due To Superintelligence -- September 9, 2026

Locator: 51695AI. 

At least we don't have to worry about global warming / climate change any more. Whew. We're all going to die within four years due to superintelligence. Ironically, based on all the anxiety about depleted natural gas reserves in Europe, the talk this winter could be about excess deaths due to severe cold and lack of energy to keep folks warm.

***********************
This Scares Andrew Ross Sorkin

Link here. 

On the morning of Tuesday, September 8, mathematicians at OpenAI announced that a group of 10,000 autonomous AI agents under their direction, running on an advanced model not available to the public, had found a “singularity” in the Navier-Stokes equations in three dimensions — thus resolving one of the six remaining (opens a new tab) Millennium Prize Problems posed in 2000 by the Clay Mathematics Institute, each of which carries a $1 million prize. [Wow, that was a long sentence; see if you can diagram it.] 
Their result has been formally checked in the programming language Lean, giving mathematicians confidence that it is indeed correct.  
Asking AI: The Navier-Stokes equations are differential equations that use Newton’s second law of motion to describe how fluids, from ocean currents to air flows, behave. They were first written down in the mid-19th century, and have been central to the study of fluid mechanics ever since. But one basic question about the equations has persisted: Are their solutions always well-behaved? 
Or can their solutions evolve over time so that some infinitesimally small part of the fluid begins to flow infinitely quickly, creating a so-called singularity? 
What is meant by singularity in that paragraph?
In this paragraph, a singularity means a point where the math breaks down because a value becomes infinite.The Navier-Stokes equations are differential equations that use Newton’s second law of motion to describe how fluids, from ocean currents to air flows, behave. They were first written down in the mid-19th century, and have been central to the study of fluid mechanics ever since. But one basic question about the equations has persisted: Are their solutions always well-behaved? In this paragraph, a singularity means a point where the math breaks down because a value becomes infinite. When values become infinite, math cannot deal with infinite numbers and the math breaks down, the system crashes.

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Elizabeth Holmes Documentary

A three-hour Telluride hit! In theaters in October. A three-hour documentary. 

Posted here for the date-time stamp.  

Elizabeth Holmes is projected to serve a total of 9 years and 6 months in federal prison, making her scheduled release date February 22, 2030. Having entered prison in May 2023, she will remain incarcerated for approximately 3.5 more years.

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LIV Files For Bankruptcy

Good riddance. Tea leaves: LIV will be back in a different form. 

Copper -- Hard To Believe All The Stories On Copper Right Now -- September 9, 2026

Locator: 51694COPPER. 

On another note, WTI just went over $95. Trading at $95.33 right now.

WTI: $95.39, up $2.36; up 2.54%.

SCCO: 


GLW:


MPC:

Covenant Cruise Missile Development Update -- Factory Announcement For Dallas Announced -- September 9, 2026

Locator: 51693COVENANT.

Covenant announces new factory in Dallas.


Look at the size of Mach Industries interest in Ft Worth:

 

WTI To Hit $95 Today? Martin Marietta -- Stargate -- Update -- September 9, 2026

Locator: 51692MARTINMARIETTA.

WTI: $94.99 (4:39 a.m. CT, September 9, 2026).

Martin Marietta: early on CNBC this morning an interview with the CEO of Martin Marietta. An update with regard to Stargate --

Devon's Lindvig Wells -- McKenzie County -- Directly South Of Williston -- September 9, 2026

Locator: 51691LINDVIG.

The maps:


 

For the Hess SC-Foster wells, see this link.

Magnum Files -- Baker Oil Field -- September 9, 2026

Locator: 51690MAGNUM.

Some day these Enerplus wells will go on confidential list. Right now the files are still available:

  • 43144, loc, Enerplus, Magnum 5301 36 6BX/Magnum 5201 23-4 6BX; 1280-acre spacing; sections 25 / 36 - T153 - R101W and sections 30 / 31 - T153-R100W, Baker.
  • 42951, loc, Enerplus, Magnum 5301 36 4BHP / Magnum 5201 23-4 4BHP; 2560-acre spacing; sections 25 / 36 - T153 - R101W, Baker.