John Kerry Missed The Memo On Social Distancing, Atmospheric CO2, Webex/Zoom -- Takes Private Jet To Iceland For Mtg On Global Warming -- February 3, 2021

Too much to track: Wow, this has been an incredible day on so many levels. I stopped following the market a week ago Wednesday with the GME debacle, and will probably ignore it for the rest of this week. Having said that, a couple of readers have sent me items I would have otherwise missed, and these are huge (AA, AAPL, Daimler, Qualcom). In addition, through a number "subscription-alerts" I'm getting items of interest that are blowing me away. Some of them are posted below. Through "subscription-alerts" MDU and NOG reported today, I believe. Haven't looked at them; saw the NOG headline, but not the MDU earnings.

Sports: all the talk is on the Super Bowl this week, of course. The Waste Management PGA tournament begins tomorrow and Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will be there. Apparently Rory got excited in a press conference earlier today but I missed it. I will try to find it later tonight.

AAPL: after-hours spiking -- it is now almost confirmed what I posted earlier -- that Apple and Hyundai-Kai will, in fact, build the Apple Car in the US, targeting the West Point, GA, factory. Whoo-hoo! Apple just raised $14 billion with 40-year bonds. Targets 2024 for first car; most think it will be pushed back a year. If they wanted, they could produce an Apple Car next year. The hardware is not all that difficult and Apple's been working on the technology for over a decade. Link here.

Apple:

• first car to be fully autonomous; designed to operate without a driver;
• Apple maps "look around" feature now available in San Diego and Portland;

NOG: buys into Marcellus. Press release says "it is transformative."

MDU: reports earnings, press release.

• EPS of 56 cents beats by 4 cents;
• second-best earnings results in 97-year history;
• construction companies shattered earnings records
• regulated energy businesses also had strong results

QCOM: drops 8% after earnings reported -- and the earnings were not all that bad. LOL.
chip shortage hurting sales;

• Barron's;
• Bloomberg: forecast disappoints; semiconductor shortages are spreading;

Chesapeake: on verge of coming out of bankruptcy --

American Airlines: another shoe to drop?

• warns 13,000 employees of furloughs as airlines prepare to lose federal aid next month;

Daimler: spins off its trucking division.

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.

EV revolution: I just don't see it, but if it occurs -- this country is going to need a lot of natural-gas generated electricity and copper wire.

John Kerry flies to Iceland for "global warming" conference. He says he missed the memo on Zoom, Webex. "Says the only way for a 'guy like him' to attend these conferences is by taking a private jet.

Earth warmed this past year due to cleaner air. 

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs, MRO drops a rig:

$55.69	2/3/2021	02/03/2020	02/03/2019	02/03/2018	02/03/2017
Active Rigs	14	54	64	58	40

Two new permits, #38113 - #38114, inclusive:

• Operator: Petro Harvester
• Field: Leaf Mountain (Burke)
• Comments:
• Petro Harvester has tow more Leaf Mountain permits, both in SWSW 15-161-93,
• 38114, 806 FSL915 FWL
• 38813, 841 FSL 915 FWL

Two producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 33763, drl/A, Crescent Point Energy, CPEUSC Jean 6-9-4-157N-99W TFH, 33-105-04490, Lone Tree Lake, no production data,
• 37462, loc/A, Petro-Hunt, USA 153-95-13C-1H, 33-053-09364, Phelps Bay, no production data,

Active Rigs In North Dakota Jump To 15; Hess Adds A Rig -- February 3, 2021

Get Up!

• WTI: up 1%; up 57 cents; now trading at $55.33;
• 10-Year Treasury: link here. 
• DXY: link here.
  
• Silver: link  here. 
• CBOE volatility index: link here.

Apple:

• to invest $3.6 billion in Kia Motors;
• hires former Porsche chassis vice president for car project;
• US senators urge White House action on auto chip shortage;

Mideast:

• Kuwait in deep doo-doo; has run out of cash;

Covid-19:

• How the EU tripped; why is this not surprising?

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$55.33	2/3/2021	02/03/2020	02/03/2019	02/03/2018	02/03/2017
Active Rigs	15	54	64	58	40

Rigs by operator:

• MRO: 4
• CLR: 2
• Hess: 2
  
• WPX: 1
• Slawson: 1
• Whiting: 1
• Petro-Hunt: 1
• Oasis: 1
• Ovintiv: 1
• BR: 1

Hess, drilling:

• EN-Joyce-LE
• CA-Russell Smith

No wells coming off the confidential list today.

RBN Energy:Canadian refiners grappling with morphing market realities, part 1.

Canada may be the land of backyard hockey, lacrosse, and loonies, but Canadians have many similarities to folks in the U.S. The same holds true for Canada’s refining sector, which like its American counterpart has been adjusting to big changes in domestic crude oil production, a declining need for imported oil, and, most recently, a period of severe refined-product demand destruction caused by the pandemic. 

What Canadian refiners lack, though, is the attention they deserve. After all, nearly 2 MMb/d of crude oil flows through their 17 refineries. And, by the way, they now turn to U.S. producers for virtually all their oil imports — a far cry from where things stood before the Shale Era. Today, we kick off a three-part series that examines Canada’s refining sector in greater detail.

The Incredible Maddy Federal Wells

For Bakken 4.0, these are not atypical wells.

These were extended long laterals (three sections). Interestingly, there was no "parent" well in this drilling unit.

The wells:

• 32069, PNC, XTO, Maddy Federal 24X-34A, North Fork,
• 32066, PNC, XTO, Maddy Federal 24X-34C, North Fork,
• 32064, PNC, XTO, Maddy Federal 24X-34G, North Fork,
• 32071, A/F, XTO, Maddy Federal 24X-34AXD, North Fork, first production, 7/20; t--; cum 202K 12/20;
• 32065, A/F, XTO, Maddy Federal 24X-34B, North Fork, first production, 7/20; t--; cum 212K 12/20;
• 32070, A/F, XTO, Maddy Federal 24X-34D, North Fork, first production, 7/20; t--; cum 253K 12/20; re-entered on December 4, 2018; TD reached on December 21, 2018; fracked 3/30/20 - 4/20/20; 33 million gallons of water; 93.3% water by mass;
  
• 32068, A/F, XTO, Maddy Federal 24X-34H, North Fork, first production, 9/20; t--; cum 181K 12/20;

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The Graphic

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Production

32068:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	12-2020	23	31811	31880	32614	69682	68184	970
BAKKEN	11-2020	30	55204	55297	45799	119951	112439	7396
BAKKEN	10-2020	31	59066	58859	45821	121707	110000	11586
BAKKEN	9-2020	13	34676	34482	23975	68912	63402	5474
BAKKEN	8-2020	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	7-2020	0	0	169	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	6-2020	3	169	0	13318	1206	633	573
BAKKEN	6-2019	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

32070:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	12-2020	31	47418	47143	41210	107971	105651	1502
BAKKEN	11-2020	8	14490	14569	15097	29624	27770	1825
BAKKEN	10-2020	15	23655	23765	22531	54988	49699	5235
BAKKEN	9-2020	29	48185	48353	48931	107634	99027	8550
BAKKEN	8-2020	31	63027	63327	65171	139484	122181	17247
BAKKEN	7-2020	26	55673	55185	49053	115963	112384	3516
BAKKEN	6-2020	2	250	0	6795	616	358	258
BAKKEN	6-2019	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

32065:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	12-2020	31	32753	32719	41308	82523	80743	1155
BAKKEN	11-2020	30	38004	38056	46974	94153	88261	5801
BAKKEN	10-2020	28	38858	38732	50046	89431	80829	8513
BAKKEN	9-2020	17	24688	24984	30110	59815	55033	4751
BAKKEN	8-2020	31	62430	62194	70990	144782	126822	17902
BAKKEN	7-2020	7	14910	15382	12721	30595	29650	928
BAKKEN	6-2020	4	670	0	14216	1675	1181	494
BAKKEN	6-2019	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

32071:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	12-2020	30	27643	27957	29507	67056	66466	0
BAKKEN	11-2020	30	30462	30291	31943	71306	65663	5484
BAKKEN	10-2020	30	36136	35945	40654	83169	71916	11098
BAKKEN	9-2020	17	21889	22136	24689	51376	47195	4139
BAKKEN	8-2020	31	47347	47989	57151	105317	96327	8908
BAKKEN	7-2020	24	38217	37460	42327	78894	78835	0
BAKKEN	6-2020	4	540	0	13481	1714	1169	545
BAKKEN	6-2019	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

WTI Surges; Trades Higher Than OPEC Basket -- February 2, 2021

Perfect storm:

• pipeline bans, drilling lease bans
• winter storm Orlena
• weak dollar

Pre-market trading (6:07 a.m. CT, February 2, 2021):

• WTI: surges 2.33%; up over $1.25; trading at $54.80
• natural gas: surges almost 5%; up over 13.3 cents; trading just under $3.00
• OPEC basket: flat; no change; trading at $54.51
• Brent: up 2.25%; trading at $57.62
• Urals: flat; no change; trading at $42.22

COP earnings: press release --

• loss lighter than expected; loss at 72 cents/share; same qtr last year, earned 65 cents/share;
  
• EPS beats by 6 cents:
• beats on revenue; beats by $1.36 billion
• production: 1,118 vs 1,154 Mboe/d forecast;
• cash flow fell 44% to $1.67 billion but topped forecast of $1.39 billion;
  
• dividend unchanged at 43 cents/share;

Overnight, social media:

WTI Just Broke Through $54 -- February 1, 2021

At 10:59 p.m.CT, WTI is up about 1%; up about 51 cents, and now trading at $54.06.

347 Wells Change Hands In The Bakken -- February 1, 2021

In today's Daily Activity Report, a change of operator for 347 wells was noted.

From: Newfield Production Company
To: Ovintiv Production Company

Permits, numbered as low as 11181 and as recent as 37277.

Scanning the list it appears that about 95% were in McKenzie County, the rest in Dunn County. 

From "Bakken operators":

Ovintiv Production, Inc:

• very active in the March, 2020, hearing dockets;
• Ovintiv: already forgot who this is? The old Encana. Link here:
  

Ovintiv Inc. will update investors Wednesday on its progress for the shale oil assets in Oklahoma it amassed after the $5.5 billion acquisition of Newfield Exploration Co. in 2018. The Stack and Scoop fields in the Anadarko Basin have faced investor scrutiny and operational challenges that sent a handful of small explorers into bankruptcy. -- January 30, 2020

• Ovintiv update: Encana Corp. won investors’ approval to relocate to the U.S. and change its name to Ovintiv, a plan that has dented morale in Canada’s beleaguered energy industry; January 15, 2020;
• Encana re-branded as an American company, October 31, 2019;

So, mostly a paperwork exercise following the "strategic combination" of the two companies. From a press release dated November 1, 2018:

Encana Corporation and Newfield Exploration Company today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement whereby Encana will acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Newfield in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $5.5 billion. In addition, Encana will assume $2.2 billion of Newfield net debt. The strategic combination will create a leading multi-basin company and has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies. Subject to receipt of regulatory and shareholder approvals by both companies, the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019.

From a Rigzone/Bloomberg article of the same date:

After years of slimming down its oil and gas holdings, Canada’s Encana Corp. is reversing course with a $5.5 billion acquisition of a U.S. shale producer in what will be the company’s biggest-ever deal.

Encana agreed to purchase Newfield Exploration Inc., which will give it positions in the Stack and Scoop shale fields in Oklahoma, the Bakken region of North Dakota and the Uinta play in Utah. The all-stock deal also will create North America’s second-largest shale explorer, the companies said in a statement on Thursday. Encana’s stock plunged the most on record.

The acquisition signals a sea-change for North American oil producers that spent the last few years building so-called pure-play drillers focused on a single shale region such as the Permian Basin on West Texas and New Mexico. For its part, Encana had spent years whittling its holdings to a core group of fields: the Permian, Eagle Ford, Montney and Duvernay.

Since its 2009 spinoff of oil producer Cenovus Energy Inc., Encana has sought to reduce its reliance on gas, and the Newfield acquisition represents the biggest step so far in that direction.

Note: the count may be off by a few. The "347" is what I counted but it could be off by ten or so in either direction. If this is important to you, go to the source.

Closer Look At Completion Strategies For DUCs Reported As Completed Today -- February 1, 2021

These DUCs were reported as completed today. 

The wells and frack data from FracFocus. Frack data has not yet been reported by NDIC.

Eight producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed, data to be posted later:

• 30539, SI/A, Slawson, Badger 1 SLH, 33-061-03543, Big Bend, fracked 9/18/20 - 9/30/20; 13.6 million gallons of water; 92% water by mass; no production data,
  
• 28113, drl/A, Slawson, Sniper Federal 6-6-7TFH, 33-061-03069, Big Bend, fracked 10/3/20 - 10/16/20; 14.7 million gallons of water; 92.2% water by mass;
  
• 28114, dlr/A, Slawson, Sniper Federal 7-6-7TFH, 33-061-03070, Big Bend, fracked 10/3/20 - 10/16/20; 14.8 million gallons of water; 92.3% water by mass;
  
• 36548, drl/A, Oasis,Thelen 5297 11-6 4B, 33-053-09085, Banks, first production, 7/20; t--; cum 77K 12/20; fracked 3/2/20 - 3/20/20; 14.8 million gallons of water; 92.8% water by mass;
  
• 36486, SI/A, CLR, Sefolosha 4-23H, 33-105-05194, Epping, fracked 2/8/20- 2/22/20; 8.7 million gallons of water; 86.6% water by mass;
  
• 36224, drl/A, MRO, Valerie USA 21-2H, 33-053-08985, Antelope-Sanish, 35K over 12 days extrapolates to 88K bbls over 30 days; fracked 11/21/20 - 12/8/20; 6.6 million gallons of water; 39.5% fresh water by mass; 46.9% produced water by mass;

Completion strategies are tracked here.