So, How Did The Speech Go? April 1, 2026

Locator: 50394WTI.

Certainly you jest.

Random Look At A Very, Very Busy Area In The Bakken -- April 1, 2026

Locator: 50393B.

Narrative to follow, perhaps. 

Disclaimer: with this much activity, I only had room to cite one file number for each multi-well pad. In addition, there may be typographical and content errors. If this is important to you, go to the source, the NDIC. 

Tuesday, April 1, 2026

Locator: 50392B.

TSA / DHS: finally a compromise -- won't be liked by everyone but in the big scheme of things, the right thing to do. 

Iran: we'll know more next week. [But after "the" speech, WTI surged to $104 after being well below $100 earlier.]

Artemis II: less than two hours now -- as I type this, it's 4:08 p.m. CT -- local time. Lift-off is scheduled for about 5:25 p.m. CT so less than an hour and a half. [Successful launch, pretty much on schedule. Folks were confused by the scheduled / planned hold at t-10.00 minutes. Walter Cronkite would have done a better job explaining that.]

******************************** 
Back to the Bakken

WTI: $98.91. 

Active rigs: 23.

Seven new permits, #42802 - #42808, inclusive:  

• the wells below are all sited in NESE 18-148-97, to be sited 1745 FSL and 315 / 495 FEL:
• 42802, conf, XTO, Monroe Federal 43X-18E, Haystack Butte, 1280-acre spacing; BH: section 30-148-97;
• 42803, conf, XTO, Monroe Federal 43X-18B, Haystack Butte, 1280-acre spacing; BH: section 30-148-97;
• 42804, conf, XTO, Monroe Federal 43X-18F, Haystack Butte, 1280-acre spacing; BH: section 30-148-97;
• 42805, conf, XTO, Monroe Federal 43X-18A, Haystack Butte, 1920-acre spacing; BH: section 32-148-97;
• 42806, conf, XTO, Monroe Federal 43X-18F, Haystack Butte, 1920-acre spacing; BH: section 32-148-97;
• 42807, conf, XTO, Elstrom Federal 43X-18B, Haystack Butte, 1920-acre spacing; BH: section 32-148-97; 
• 42808, conf, XTO, Elstrom Federal 43X-18D, Haystack Butte, 1920-acre spacing; BH: section 32-148-97;

The map:

Nine permits renewed:

• Devon Energy Williston: permits renewed for nine Clark North wells, NWSE 28-147-92, Wolf Bay, Dunn County;

Three permits canceled:

• Whiting, three Roosevelt Federal permits; McKenzie County;

Three producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 40874, 266, EOG, Austin 481-1523H, Mountrail County;
• 41623, 554, EOG, Austin 474-1004H, Mountrail County;
• 41624, 554, EOG, Austin 475-1004H, Mountrail County;

Note the chronologic / sequence numbers of those EOG DUCs. We talked about EOG's naming of wells decades ago!

The Most Dangerous Money Loop -- Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Locator: 50391MONEYLOOP.

Now that the market may be getting back to some sanity: the most dangerous money loop in the world. Link here. 

SRE Hits An All-Time High -- Ruskin: The Book Page -- April 1, 2026

Locator: 50390SRE.

Truth social: Trump says "Iran" has asked for a ceasefire. Trump's response was "on target." Let's see what happens Monday.

Ticker: SRE --  

 ***************************
The Book Page

The book: Modern Painters, John Ruskin, Edited And Abridged, David Barrie, c. 1987

Notes will be kept here.

Interestingly, this brought me to my own notes on "the whale," from November 13, 2012. Link here. 

Note, there are two editions of The Whale by Philip Hoare. I have a copy of each. 

This gives me a chance to put another plug in for chatbots. Simply incredible. Chatbots make the original search engines look amateurish and incredibly un-useful. I cannot imagine where chatbots will be twenty years from now. If you're using google now, you're using a chatbot. So folks who tell me they don't use / trust chatbots have no idea what they're talking about.

Back to Moby Dick for a moment:

****************************
Young America -- Going Down That Rabbit Hole

***************************
Father of the Welfare State

AI prompt: 

In the massive book, Modern Painters, John Ruskin, abridged and edited, in the introduction it is stated (unless I have the wrong reference and read it elsewhere), John Ruskin was the father of "The Welfare State" or something to that effect. I recall reading that but I may have the wrong book and/or even the wrong man? Am I recalling this correctly?

Reply: