President Biden Blinked -- April 15, 2022

Link here to The WSJ.

Royalties:

• from 12.5% to 18.75%
• very, very reasonable; that's what mom-and-pop mineral owners in the Bakken expect (18.75%)

Area to be "freed up" for permits:

• 144,000 acres 
• an 80% reduction from the footprint of land that had been under evaluation for leasing
  

Comments:

• the three more recent Biden announcements in an attempt to lower gasoline prices at the pump:
• historic, unprecedented, record-breaking release of the SPR: to date, no effect on crude oil prices;
• E15 mandate for refiners; 2% of all retail outlets offer E15; most are in the midwest (fly-over country); and where available, most consumers do not want;
• backtracking: allowing drilling on federal land:
• of the three, the third, politically, is perhaps the most remarkable of all his announcements
• the area involved is so small it will make no difference, none whatsoever
• however, this was a huge blow to his ever-decreasing constituency;
• this was his campaign promise: no drilling on federal land
• this suggests his team is really, really in a panic over price of gasoline determining outcome of the midterm elections later this year
• the administration has run out of arrows in the quiver to affect gasoline prices
  

Week 15: April 10, 2022 -- April 16, 2022

Top story of the week:

• Joe Biden is still president.
  
• Ukraine sinks Russia's flagship battleship, the Moskva ("Moscow") -- truly legendary;
  
• Putin's War entering its sixth week.
• President Biden backtracks: will now allow drilling on federal land. And, here.
  
• Winter Storm Greta wallops North Dakota: three-day blizzard shutting down everything. Snow totals here. And, here. And, here. Historic blizzard.
  

Top international non-energy story:

• Tea leaves suggest Russian economy will implode in the next week or so.
• Much of China still under Covid lock down.
  

Top international energy story:

• Price of oil pretty much back where it was prior to the announcement that the US would release historic amount of oil.

Top national non-energy story:

• A Texan, Scottie Scheffler, wins The Masters in Augusta, Georgia;

Top national energy story:

• Natural gas hits $7; inventories could drop below five-year minimum.
• US petroleum / products exports hit an all-time record.
• Plummeting distillate inventories.
• Most astonishing number this week.
• Haynesville natural gas production hits all-time high.
• US gasoline demand slumps.
  

Top North Dakota non-energy story:

• The blizzard.

Top North Dakota energy story:

Geoff Simon's top North Dakota energy stories:

• Quick connects.

Operators:

• Bakken's RimRock oil and gas up for sale.

Operations:

Wells:

• An XTO Pelton well maintained incredible production over three years.
• Oasis Cliff wells in Willow Creek: nice surprise.

Fracking:

Natural gas:

Pipelines:

Bakken economy: 

Commentary:

• In the Bakken, "PNC" does not mean "forever."

Miscellaneous:

• Family photo of the year.

No Daily Activity Report -- NDIC Remains Snowed-In -- April 15, 2022

Official snowfall records for 24 hours as of 9:00 a.m. Friday, April 15, 2022, link here:

This Is A Bigger Story Diplomatically, Strategically Than Militarily -- Apriil 15, 2022

This tweet suggests to me reports that Russia's economy is about to crater / implode are very accurate. 

Russia does not have the logistics -- food, uniforms, long guns / hand guns, nor ammunition to support such a large mobilization.

In addition, these will be the worst-trained soldiers in the world. This won't happen overnight; this will take at least six months to play out. 

I find it interesting that the tweet has no source, and the mainstream media is not yet reporting this story. Story planted by Ukraine?

It will be interesting to hear what Peter Zeihen has to say about this newest development. 

Back story:

• declaration of war: what? why?
• wiki entry here.

One might also want to look up up what it means if US "finds" evidence of genocide. 

How Bored Am I? And This Is Only The First Six Hours Of A Three-Day Weekend -- April 15, 2022

How bored am I? 

I'm reading IRS instructions just for the "fun" of it. LOL. That's how bored I am.

One of the themes of the blog is the incredible amount of money in the United States, in general, and then, specifically, for some individuals .

Break. Break. You have read that a lot of billionaires do not pay any Federal taxes. I think I have discovered the reason. Read on. 

I know that the US Congress will pass laws with language that specifically pertains to one individual or one corporation but by law the the law cannot name the specific individual or corporation, so they write a law that refers, for example, to any individual who owes more than $3 million in taxes, who lives in an under-populated county in a small midwestern state, and whose last name starts with "R" and ends with "N."

I doubt the IRS posts rules that pertain to only one individual in the entire United States. I assume that any rule the IRS posts is because there are are more than a handful of taxpayers that are targeted by the rule. 

I am beyond flabbergasted that the IRS has to post this rule:

The IRS is unable to accept checks of $100 million or more. Are you serious? Did you know that?

There are so many story lines there. 

I doubt the IRS posted a whole paragraph directed at one individual which means that there at least two folks who have estimated quarterly payments of $100 million or more. 

So, three things.

First, that corroborates my "theory" that there's a lot of money in the US.

Second, it explains why there is no billionaire tax. The IRS would have trouble "handling" quarterly estimated payments.

Third, this proves just how bored I am. Reading IRS instructions and blogging about them. LOL.