Tell Me Again XOM Will Pivot From Hydrocarbon To Renewable Energy -- July 30, 2021

XOM:

• margins completely off the chart; link here.

Original twitter post, followed by comments. The margins were so high in 2Q21 I almost missed them. They are truly off the chart. And see the comments; could be higher in 3Q21.

Natural Gas Shortage In Europe Could Intensify In Coming Weeks -- Sources -- July 30, 2021

CLR press release: 

"Continental's dividend update is a $0.04 increase to the Company's $0.11 per share quarterly dividend paid in second quarter 2021 and triple the Company's initial dividend paid in fourth quarter 2019. With an approximately 1.7% annualized dividend yield¹, our increased dividend underscores the Board's and management's commitment to returning significant cash to shareholders, demonstrates our confidence in the quality and sustainability of our asset base and competes strongly versus industry peers," said Bill Berry, CEO.

ENI: boosts dividend to pre-Covid level after strong 2Q21 earnings. 

Shell: as discussed numerous times on the blog, Shell appears eager to exit the Permian. Now this over at SeekingAlpha:

• Devon Energy and ConocoPhillips are among potential suitors studying Royal Dutch Shell's  portfolio of Permian Basin oil fields, which could be worth as much as $10B in a sale. 
• Chevron also is among companies considering bids for the assets which adds that suitors have been invited to Shell's data room to examine information on the business. 
• Shell has asserted a desire to accelerate its transition to a net-zero emissions business even as it plans to appeal the recent order by a Dutch court to cut its emissions harder and faster than planned.

Natural gas: 

Natural gas prices are rising across Europe and Asia due to tighter supply of the commodity, lower production in Europe, and lower exports from Russia, the Financial Times reports, noting the supply crunch may intensify in the coming weeks. 

In Europe, the report notes, prices for natural gas have hit 40 euros per mWh for the first time ever, with UK gas prices at the highest in 16 years. This is equal to approximately $14 per million British thermal units. In Asia, gas prices have hit $15 per mmBtu.

Did anyone not see this coming? Groningen on the blog. Tracking updates here. Russia played this just right. 

Closing The Week With $74-WTI; No New Permits; Zavanna Renews Eleven Permits -- July 30, 2021

Active rigs:

$73.95	7/30/2021	07/30/2020	07/30/2019	07/30/2018	07/30/2017
Active Rigs	23	12	58	63	61

No new permits.

Eleven permits renewed:

• Zavanna: ten King Charles permits, SWNW section 26-155-100; Williams County; one Galloway permit, also in SWNW section 26-155-100;

Notes From All Over -- The Whisper Number Edition -- July 30, 2021

Whisper numbers, link here. Below, 2Q21: ticker, whisper, consensus:

• ENB: 51 cents; 44 cents;
• CVX: $1.50, $1.54;
• XOM: $1.11; $1.02;
• ROKU: 31 cents; 13 cents;
• DIS: 91 cents; 56 cents;

Earnings.

• CVX:
• IBD. link here.
• buybacks;
• Javier Blas;
• XOM:
• margins completely off the chart; link here.
• IBD. link here.
• no buybacks;
• OVV:
• transcript; Bakken update;
• increases dividend to 14 cents;

Covid - Japan:

• cases: surging; 
• not seeing the rise in deaths (yet):
• report; can Tokyo "hold"?
  

Covid - Louisiana:

• Fourth wave looks the worse to date;
• not seeing the deaths (yet);

Covid, USA vaccinations, link here:

• delivered: 399,090,105
• administered: 344,928,514
• at least one dose: 190,509,183
• fully vaccinated: 164,184,080

No Wells Coming Off Confidential List -- July 30, 2021

To paraphrase Yogi Berra, No one goes to Walmart any more, it's too busy.

I don't go to Walmart any more either, except when I do ... and yesterday, traveling cross-country and needing some particular items, I visited the local Walmart. First sign I saw: "Please be patient. We are understaffed." When one first walked in, the store looked well stocked, but it was amazing how much was sold out. Having said that, the store looked really, really in good shape.

Target, curbside business? Incredibly busy when I last stopped at Target before I started my trip. 

Truck driver shortage. 

Payments to stay home.

I've not yet seen the "real" story connecting all these stories. I might come back to this over the weekend.

But I have much less time to be on the blog due to traveling.

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Miscellaneous

Covid-19: White House using bully pulpit to encourage companies and states to mandate vaccinations. White House staff and White House press corps not required to be vaccinated.

Homeless: Portland, OR, has banned homeless people from camping in forested parks to protect the parks from potential wildfires and prevent them from accidentally sharing blazes during a summer of drought and record-breaking heat.

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Market

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. 

Energy companies reporting great earnings today: ENB, CVX, XOM.

Everybody expected this but it was the whisper numbers that were not being reported. 

Some years ago "whisper numbers" were a big thing, then sort of disappeared. I've always thought "estimates" and "consensus" numbers and results seemed to be "disconnected" for lack of a better word, and never quite understood this "stuff." One wonders: why "whisper numbers"?

But we'll take a look, later. 

Robinhood: IPO -- worst ever, on record, for an IPO of this size. A lot of "retail investors" really, really got burned.  

Economic data points today, most inflation numbers and consumer spending numbers were out today. Inflation growth not as strong as expected. Of the many economic indicators, for me, one of the most useless pieces of data: consumer spending.

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$73.52	7/30/2021	07/30/2020	07/30/2019	07/30/2018	07/30/2017
Active Rigs	23	12	58	63	61

Not wells coming off the confidential list.

RBN Energy: Mexico's Salina Cruz LNG project targets Latin American buyers. 

Just a few years ago, Mexico was focused on importing LNG to help meet its natural gas needs, especially in parts of the country far from Permian and other U.S. supplies. Lately though, most of the talk about LNG in Mexico has been about liquefaction and/or exporting, not importing and regasifying, as evidenced by a final investment decision on the Energía Costa Azul liquefaction project in Baja California and progress on Mexico Pacific Ltd.’s liquefaction/export project in Mexico’s Sonora state. Both projects are aimed squarely at Asian markets, but yet another prospective LNG project “south of the border” is targeting bunkering, transportation, and industrial markets for natural gas along the Pacific side of Latin America — from Mexico itself down to Ecuador. In today’s blog, we discuss plans for what could be Mexico’s third major liquefaction project — this one aimed at both domestic and export markets.