Making America Great Again -- Revising/Freezing 2021 Fuel Efficiency Standards -- Reuters -- July 25, 2017

From Reuters:

The U.S. Transportation Department said on Tuesday it may revise auto fuel efficiency requirements starting with the 2021 model year, a year earlier than previously disclosed, and could adopt lower standards through 2025.

In March, President Donald Trump ordered a review of U.S. vehicle fuel-efficiency standards from model year 2022 through 2025 established under the Obama administration.

U.S. regulators said in a notice published Tuesday they are preparing a new environmental impact statement and could decide to freeze 2021 standards through 2025, rather than raising them every year.

Meanwhile, Britain and France will ban gasoline / diesel vehicles by 2040. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Americans will be driving bigger and bigger SUVs with lots of room for recreational equipment; Europeans will be driving electric golf carts. LOL.

The End -- SunEdison -- July 25, 2017

From Bloomberg:

SunEdison Inc. won final approval for a bankruptcy plan that will leave what was once the world’s largest renewable-energy firm as a shell of its former self, with nothing for shareholders whose investment at one point had been worth about $10 billion.

SunEdison, known for gobbling up other companies and expanding at breakneck speed, will now exit Chapter 11 to “continue business operations to administer and maximize the value of the company’s remaining assets,” including intellectual property and fixtures, Chief Financial Officer Philip Gund said in court filings.

I have more than a dozen posts on SunEdison, I suppose. This post is where I will post the post-mortem. 

Reminder: the "original" list of 36. 

Back To 60 Rigs; 42 Emerald Wells Transferred To Petro-Hunt -- July 25, 2017

Active rigs:

$48.55	7/25/2017	07/25/2016	07/25/2015	07/25/2014	07/25/2012
Active Rigs	60	32	73	192	208

Five new permits:

• Operators: Petro-Hunt (3), Petroshale (2)
• Fields: Charlson (McKenzie); Mandaree (Dunn)
• Comments: the Charlson oil field is an incredible field; it is tracked here.

Two permits renewed:

• Whiting (2): two P Bibler permits, Williams County

Operator transfer:

• 42 wells transferred 
• from: Emerald Oil
• to: Petro-Hunt
• oldest permit: #25919
• most recent permit: #31506
• most in McKenzie County; a few in Stark and Billings counties (SW ND)
• familiar names: Hot Rod; Joel Goodsen; Dudley Dawson; Mary Samsonite; Lloyd Christmas; Dagny Taggart; Robert The Bruce; Chip Diller; Clark Griswold; etc.

Another day with no DUCs reported as completed.

The Energy And Market Page, Part IV, T+186 -- July 26, 2017

Making America great again: Trump says Apple will build three manufacturing plants in the US. If accurate, this tells me all I need to know about "inexpensive energy percolating through the entire economy." It will be interesting if the three plants are built in California.

Whoo-hoo! Bank of New York Mellon increased its dividend significantly, from 19 cents to 24 cents. 

Energy drinks? NYC bars take top cocktail awards. BlackTail, Dante, PDT and NoMad Bar took home awards at Tales of the Cocktail, an annual gathering that brings together the world’s top bar and spirits professionals.

BlackTail has won fans for its fanciful takes on tropical drinks and other classic cocktails, from the daiquiri to the Old Fashioned, since it opened in August 2016. Even the bar’s version of the rum-and-cola is an elaborate affair that goes beyond the namesake ingredients to incorporate Champagne and a bitter Italian spirit.

I'm old school. I don't care for cocktails, in general, unless they are very, very simple. Rum-and-Coke; classic martini; and, that's about it. Scotch? With an ice cube or two and that's it.

Lego: Lego Boost Review. Meet your child’s new coding coach. The new Lego Boost kit makes the classic bricks come to life with programmable motors and sensors. Three junior builders help us put it to the test. Our middle granddaughter attended Lego camp this past summer -- one week of Lego robots.

*****************************

Huntington Beach, Surf Capital, USA

Sophia, just turned three years old, on her way to boogie board for the very first time in her life!

 Hopefully not the last words that she will hear: "Watch out for the sharks!"

Yes! Reason #3 Why I Love To Blog -- July 25, 2017

I have not read the article yet, but just from the headline I know what Mike is going to say. And my hunch is there is yet more that could be said.

The title of his most recent Bakken post at SeekingAlpha: Eagle Ford enhanced completions help show why the marginal cost of production remains low.

I said as much in this post on July 20, 2017, just 5 days ago: if OXY says they are getting Permian for $28/bbl, the "new" bbls coming out of the Bakken are much less -- using the same methodology OXY uses to cost-out oil production.

Summary of the Mike Filloon article:

• New well completions continue to produce more oil and this will continue to pressure the US Oil ETF (USO).
• Production improvements more than offset the increased costs
• The isolation of these well designs provide a look at where economics are headed as operators improve fracturing near the well bore
• Completions using more than 10 million lbs of proppant are improving economics in the Eagle Ford
• This was part of a presentation given at the Bakken Conference and Expo thebakkenconference.com

At the Filloon article, this graphic with the wells that interest me:

We're seeing the same thing in the Bakken. 

******************************

Homeowners Paying A Huge Price For Solar Energy In California

Likewise, oilprice is noting the same thing I noted a few days ago: with the California "duck" or "Twin Peaks," residential users are paying a heavy price for solar energy while government agencies, manufacturing plants, and businesses are getting a huge break. 

Elon Musk, a manufacturer, must be loving it.