Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Germany In Deep Doo-Doo; No Wells Coming Off Confidential List Today --- October 31, 2023

Locator: 45877B.  

Germany: link here -- let this sink in for a minute -- here at the blog, we've been predicting this for quite some time. This article is by Charles Kennedy -- so you know it's good and it's accurate.

Germany, the European Union’s largest economy, is set to see a significant drop in oil consumption for 2023 as economic output shrinks, crimping demand for industrial fuels.
With only Pakistan on track for a steeper decline worldwide, Germany is poised to lose 90,000 barrels-per-day of oil consumption.
“Oil product demand, which includes biofuels and direct crude burn, will fall by more in Germany than any other OECD country during 2023. Globally, we think only Pakistan will see a steeper annual decline.” -- Source at link.
Germany’s GDP fell slightly in the third-quarter, shrinking 0.1% compared to the previous quarter. At the same time, Germany's Q2 GDP has been revised to indicate 0.1% growth, while previous calculations had put it at 0%. Q1 GDP was also revised higher. Germany’s Q4 2022 GDP was down 0.4%.

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Back to the Bakken

NOG. Link here.

WTI: $83.03.

Wednesday, November 1, 2023: 83 for the month; 83 for the quarter, 653 for the year
34544, conf, MRO, Storedale 11-17TFH,
39597, conf, CLR, Brooks 5-9H,
39202, conf, Murex, PB-Paul Brian 1-12H MB,
39201, conf, Murex, PB-Gunner 1-12H MB,

Tuesday, October 31, 2023: 79 for the month; 79 for the quarter, 649 for the year -- Halloween
None.

RBN Energy: fierce opposition, lack of regulatory framework squeeze CO2 pipeline projects.

When Navigator CO2 Ventures decided to pull the plug on its long-planned Heartland Greenway project, a vast network that would have captured carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from dozens of ethanol producers in the Midwest and Great Plains then piped them hundreds of miles for permanent sequestration, it was a significant setback for the Biden administration’s climate goals. More than that, it showed how large-scale carbon-capture projects face opposition from seemingly all sides and how the lack of a meaningful regulatory framework at the federal level only adds to the industry’s challenges. In today’s RBN blog, we look at the Heartland Greenway cancellation, what it says about the future of similar projects, and what regulatory changes might be needed at the federal level to make large-scale carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) a reality. 

Ethanol plants are an obvious choice for carbon capture, given that the CO2 resulting from ethanol fermentation is highly concentrated, which makes capturing it more efficient (and less expensive) compared to many other industrial processes. That was the appeal of the Heartland Greenway project (dashed green line in Figure 1 below), which we first wrote about back in August 2021. One of three projects aimed at capturing emissions from ethanol production, it was ambitious in scope. It would have captured and permanently sequestered CO2 from a diverse group of industrial customers in five states: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota. (Iowa is the top U.S. producer of ethanol, followed by Nebraska, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana and South Dakota.) The project would have helped dozens of ethanol plants finance and construct their CO₂ capture equipment; transported the captured CO₂ over a newly built, 1,300-mile-plus pipeline network; and permanently sequestered up to 15 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) of CO2 at a series of Class VI wells in south-central Illinois (gray oval to bottom-right of Figure 1).

Canceled and Planned Greenfield CO2 Pipeline Projects

Figure 1. Canceled and Planned Greenfield CO2 Pipeline Projects. Source: RBN 

 Much, much more at the link.

Yes, I Would Call This Transitory -- October 31, 2023

Locator: 45876ECON.  

Link here. 

My hunch: the identical chart for used cars.

It was certainly true for eggs.

Holy Mackerel: This Is Stunning -- October 31, 2023

Locator: 45875EUROPE. 

Link here.

Foreign Exchange Reserves -- Russia, Saudi Arabia -- October 31, 2023

Locator: 45874SAUDI. 

Link here. 

Meanwhile, the US economy surged 4.9% in 3Q23.

And, in Russia, link here:

Bidenomics: The WSJ -- October 31, 2023

Locator: 45873ECON.

Link here.

This is probably where some / many / most of my readers reside:

I had a much better "heading" for this blog but my optimism seems to irritate some / many / most of my readers, so I will simply call it "Bidenomics: The WSJ."

From the linked article:

Last week the Federal Reserve revealed that last year the average net worth of American families topped $1 million for the first time, surging 42% from $749,000 in 2019.

Of course, that average is skewed by a small number of billionaires and multimillionaires. Inflation meant real wealth didn’t increase as much. And pandemic-era stimulus boosted asset values, perhaps beyond their fundamental values.

Yet it would be a mistake to therefore conclude that wealth gains are purely a phenomenon of the top 1% and flattered by inflation and asset bubbles.

First, even after inflation, real average wealth was up 23%, according to the Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances, conducted every three years. Second, while the level of median wealth was much lower than the average, it actually rose more than the average between 2019 and 2022—by 37%, adjusted for inflation—to $193,000. That means wealth inequality actually narrowed.

Third, and perhaps most noteworthy, there really are a lot of true millionaires. About 16 million American families—just over 12%—have wealth exceeding $1 million, up from 9.8 million families in 2019. Nearly eight million families are multimillionaires, i.e., their wealth exceeds $2 million, up from 4.7 million.

And the article continues:

The graphic:

Most WSJ articles receive no comments or a very few. This article has 1,109 comments so far. 

This comment was not atypical:

For some investors, it's been a "Goldilocks" economy.

And then there's this:


Anyone remember this book, published in 2010?


And then this, just popped up over at twitter: