Five New Permits, MRO Reports Another Huge Reunion Bay Well -- November 1, 2024

Locator: 48690B.

WTI: $69.49.
 
Active rigs: 37.

Five new permits, #41303 - #41307, inclusive:

• Operators: Phoenix Operating (4); Hess
• Fields: Murphy Creek (Dunn County); Antelope Creek (McKenzie)
• Comments:
• Hess has a permit for a BW-Ida well, NWSW 13-149-101; 
• to be sited 2525 FSL and 859 FWL;
• Phoenix Operating has permits for four Marshall wells, NWNW 13-144-94, 
• to be sited 381 FNL and between 874 FWL and 964 FWL

One permit renewed:

• 33149, Formentera Operations, Woburn, Burke County.

Two producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 37839, 4,259, MRO, Gladheim USA 34-33H,
• 39387, 757, BR, Watchman Peak 2-8-11TFH,

The MRO well:

• 37839, 4,259, MRO, Gladheim USA 34-33H, Reunion Bay, 47K extrapolates to 79,568 bbls crude oil cumulative over a 30-day period:
  

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	8-2024	28	36987	37131	28416	46930	46707	139
BAKKEN	7-2024	18	47741	47544	47913	56489	53270	3013

TGIF -- November 1, 2024

Locator: 48689B.

Nuked! NextEra no longer bullish on nuclear SMRs.

Previously posted: questions about that "increased dividend" announced by CVX -- did someone else see what I saw?

Earnings:

• Chevron:
• headlines look good;
• just under the surface, huge concerns;
• incredible risk right now as Hess deal stalls.
  
• XOM:
• earnings beat; dividend hike from 95 cents to 99 cents
• EPS: $1.92 vs $1.87
• relied on higher output to offset weakness in oil prices
• ENB:
• six days ago: analysts expect a decline earnings
• today: Enbridge's 3Q24 profit more than doubles on acquisition contributions; link here.
  
• a more than twofold jump in its third-quarter profit
• recent deals make Enbridge the largest gas utility by volume in North America
• debt concerns investors
• EPS: missed by a Canadian penny -- 55 Canadian cents vs 56 Canadian cents

Jobs: another Goldilocks report? Steve Liesman says so.

• buge miss on nonfarm payrolls: 12,000 vs 100,000
• hurricanes and strikes
  
• unemployment rate = 4.1%
• others say it was a "bad report"
• mostly blah, blah, blah -- again 

**********************************
Disclaimer
Brief Reminder 

• I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.
• I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 
• See disclaimer. This is not an investment site. 
• 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. All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If something appears wrong, it probably is. Feel free to fact check everything.
  
• If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them. 
• Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.
• I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 
• And now, Nvidia, also. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Nvidia.
• Longer version here.

 

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

WTI: $71.09

Sunday, November 3, 2024: 6 for the month; 66 for the quarter, 580 for the year

• 40640, conf, CLR, Christopherson 7-14H,

Saturday, November 2, 2024: 5 for the month; 65 for the quarter, 579 for the year

• 40641, conf, CLR, Vandeberg 7-35HSL,
• 39639, conf, Hess, TI-State-LN-158-95-3635H-1,

Friday, November 1, 2024: 3 for the month; 63 for the quarter, 577 for the year

• 40293, conf,  Grayson Mill, Hovland 26-35 5H,
• 40291, conf, Grayson Mill, Hovland 26-35 XW 1H,
• 40246, conf, Empire North Dakota LLC, Pike 32-6 1H,

RBN Energy: "hydrogen-rich" gasoline might provide a boost for refiners, but challenges remain.

Oxygen-containing gasoline additives called oxygenates, including ethanol, have provided an octane boost to the U.S. gasoline pool since 2000. This has allowed refineries to reduce the octane of refinery-produced gasoline, which increases their gasoline production capacity and efficiency while simultaneously helping achieve the goals for cleaner, lower-carbon fuels derived from domestic renewable feedstocks.

A new approach to gasoline formulation promises to take this “sharing” of the octane load much further to exploit the unique octane-enhancing qualities of ethanol, although there are some real-world challenges to wider implementation. In today’s RBN blog, we explain what’s behind the concept of “hydrogen-rich” gasoline.

This Week's Tech / NASDAQ -- "The Wrecking Crew" -- October 31, 2024

Locator: 48688MUSIC.

Hal Blaine.

Wiki.

When I read Hal Blaine's bio and read through the list of songs for which he was the drummer, I come away wondering what in the world Yuval Noah Hahari was thinking when he wrote his "ground-breaking" Sapiens and then a followup Nexus. But I digress. 

Back to Hal Blaine.

Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. His drumming is featured on 150 US top 10 hits, 40 of which went to number one.

Born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Blaine moved with his family to California in 1943 and began playing jazz and big band music before taking up rock and roll session work. He became one of the regulars in Phil Spector's de facto house band, which Blaine nicknamed "the Wrecking Crew."

Some of the records Blaine played on include the Ronettes' single "Be My Baby" (1963), which contained a drum beat that became widely imitated, as well as works by popular artists such as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, Neil Diamond, and the Byrds.

When you get to the wiki site, scroll down to "Selected Performances" and scroll through that list. 

You can find video footage of Blaine on YouTube -- one of the better was the studio session with the Beach Boys recording "Good Vibrations." 

Outside of studio sessions Blaine seldom worked for any time with any given performer. There were two exceptions: Nancy Sinatra in Las Vegas and on tour with John Denver. 

Worcester Magazine, March 20, 2019.  Link here.

Six New Permits; Four BR Permits Canceled -- October 31, 2024

Locator: 48687B.

EV headlines today:

• Ford to halt F-150 Lightning production as EV demand wanes. Better said, "... pause production...," not halt production.
• Slow sales force Stellantis to "hit brakes" on SUV production. Link here. This is the company that promised us a sub-$30,000 SUV sooner than later. That was about a year ago; haven't heard a thing since. Pausing production of the Durango and the Grand Cherokee.
• Ford took an early lead in EVs; now GM is surging. NY Times.
• Ford to halt production of F-150 Lightning EV pickup trucks for six weeks. Reuters.
• Ford CEO loves his Chinese EV. National Review.
  

Dividends increased:

• COP (but somewhat disingenuous).
• ABBV.

Nvidia blades: blazing saddles? Beth:

Magnificent Seven absolutely impossible to keep up with:

• who is partnering with whom, and how those partnerships are changing; and,
• tactical decisions vs strategic decisions. 

For investors, several ways to invest in the magnificent seven:

• invest in individual tickers;
• invest in QQQ
• invest in ETFs like SCHB or SCHG

I've chosen the third option.

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

WTI: $70.52.

Active rigs: 39.

Six new permits, #41297 - #41302, inclusive:

• Operators: Hess (3); MRO (2); and, Grayson Mill
• Fields: Beaver Lodge (Williams); Bailey (Dunn); and, Grinnell (McKenzie)
• Comments:
• Grayson Mill has a permit for a Barbara well, SESE 36-154-97; 
• to be sited 468 FWL and 291 FEL;
• MRO has permits for two more wells in the Bailey oil field, Sunell and Bjorge, NENE 18-145-93; 
• one to be sited 380 FNL and 901 FEL; 
• the other to be sited 340 FNL and 901 FEL.
• Hess has permits for two BL-Kvam wells and one BL-Herfindahl well --  lot 1, section 30-156-9;  
• all three to be sited 527 FNL and between 392 FWL and 458 FWL.

Four BR permits were canceled:

• BR, Shafer permits, two middle Bakken and two Three Forks wells;

COP -- 3Q24 Earnings -- October 31, 2024

Locator: 48686COP.

COP: raises dividend by 34%.

This is a bit ingenuous, I suppose. 

The question, of course, is whether, the company continues to pay a VROC going forward. If not, the company can say they significantly increased its dividend and thus not have to raise the dividend for quite some time, and ... well, one gets the picture. This will be fascinating to watch. 

From Business Insider:

ConocoPhillips (COP) said its Board of Directors approved an increase to the company's existing share repurchase authorization by up to $20 billion. ConocoPhillips also declared a fourth-quarter ordinary dividend of $0.78 per share payable Dec. 2, 2024, to stockholders of record at the close of business on Nov. 11, 2024. The company noted that it is on track to distribute at least $9 billion to shareholders for 2024.

Ryan Lance, CEO, said: "We still anticipate closing the planned acquisition of Marathon Oil this quarter and expect to significantly exceed our initial $500 million synergy guidance."

Third quarter production was 1,917 MBOED, an increase of 111 MBOED from the same period a year ago. After adjusting for closed acquisitions and dispositions, third-quarter production increased 47 MBOED or 3% from the same period a year ago.

The company stated that its full-year production is expected to be approximately 1.94 to 1.95 MMBOED, as compared to prior guidance of 1.93 to 1.94 MMBOED. Fourth-quarter production is expected to be 1.99 to 2.03 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.