Fourteen DUCs Reported As Completed -- Not Much Production; Hess With Permits For Another 8-Well Pad -- May 15, 2018

Before we get started, this note: XTO to close HQ in Ft Worth; move to Houston.

Now, back to the daily activity report.
 
Active rigs:

$71.02→	5/15/2018	05/15/2017	05/15/2016	05/15/2015	05/15/2014
Active Rigs	59	51	27	83	191

Eight new permits:

• Operator: Hess
• Field: Truax (Williams)
• Comments: Hess has permits for an 8-well Gene/JCB pad in SESE 8-154-98

One permit renewed: Enduro Operating, a permit in Bottineau County

Two permits canceled: Bruin Operating canceled two Fort Berthold permits in Dunn County

Fourteen producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 29710, A, CLR,Thorvald 3-6H, Rattlesnake Point, 4 sections, A, producing small amount;
• 29711, A, CLR, Cuskelly 4-7H1, Rattlesnake Point, 4 sections, A, producing small amount;
• 29842, IA, CLR, Hayes 4-6H, Crazy Man Creek, 4 sections, A, producing small amount; now off-line;
• 31425, SI/IA, CLR, Bailey 12-24H, Crazy Man Creek, 4 sections, A, producing small amount; now off-line;
• 33113, A, CLR Bailey 11-24H2, Pershing, 4 sections, A, producing small amount;
• 33114, A, CLR, Bailey 11-24H2, Pershing, 4 sections, A, producing small amount;
• 33115, A, CLR, Bailey 10-24H, Pershing, 4 sections, A, producing small amount;
• 33116, A, CLR, Bailey 9024H2, Pershing, 4 sections, A, producing small amount;
• 33117, A, CLR, Bailey 8-24H, Pershing, 4 sections, A, producing small amount;
• 33465, SI/A, CLR, Omlid 2-19H, Elidah, now off-line;
• 33540, 62 (no typo), BR, Outlaw Wagon 14-23MBH-ULW-A, Sand Creek, 4 sections; t4/18; cum --
• 33542, 340, BR, Outlaw Gap 14-23MBH-A, Sand Creek; t4/18; cum --
• 33543, 243, BR, Outlaw Gap 24-23TFH-A, Sand Creek; t4/18; cum --
• 33591, 441, BR, Anderson Ranch 2C TFH, Camel Butte, t4/18; cum --

The Market, Energy, And Political Page, Part 3, T+7 -- May 15 2018

Korean summit off? Kim Jong-Un cancels summit. Unhappy with ungoing US-SOKO military exercises. The critics were correct: even if a summit is held, even if a piece of paper is signed, it won't be "worth the paper it's written on" when signed by a guy like Kim Jong-Un. Trump needs to cancel this summit sooner than later.

API, weekly US crude oil inventories: a build of 4.854 million bbls. Huge. After the data release, WTI: flat. down 2 cents. From oilprice.com --

The American Petroleum Institute reported a surprise build of 4.854 million barrels of United States crude oil inventories for the week ending May 11, compared to analyst expectations that this week would see a smaller draw in crude oil inventories of 763,000 barrels.

Something suggests to me that "shale" has not yet seen its best days, although I'm not sure how "best days" is defined. But considering the smartest guys in the world expected US crude oil inventories to drop about a million bbls but instead rose by almost 5 million bbls seems quite remarkable.

Gasoline? Same link: a bigger draw than expected. The API reported a draw in gasoline inventories for week ending May 11 in the amount of 3.369 million barrels—a bigger draw than the 1.421-million-barrel draw that analysts had expected. So, a gasoline withdrawal of let's say 4 million bbls vs 1 million bbls anticipated.

Market close:

• API: US crude oil inventories -- see above.
• TSLA: down $8 during the day; continues to fall slightly -- very slightly -- in after-market trading
• COP: closed slightly lower, but at $70.59, hit a 52-week high
• RDS-B: closed slightly lower, but at $75.59, hit a 52-week high
• CVX: slightly lower today, but still offering a great dividend
• UNP: essentially flat
• BTC-USD: down 1.7%
• ETH-USD: down 1.96%

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Job Watch

Original CNBC link is here. Job openings hit a fresh record in March, further defying opinion that the labor market is tightening and near full.

• Job openings in March rose 472,000 from February and hit a fresh record, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).
• Openings jumped in professional and business services, construction and transportation, warehousing and utilities.

Re-tweeted by the president here, May 15, 2018--

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As One Reader Said, "Oops"

I heard part of the story yesterday but did not know "who" lost the weapons. From the Omaha World-Herald: 

The Air Force is offering $5,000 for leads on the whereabouts of a box of explosive grenade rounds that airmen accidentally dropped on a road in North Dakota while traveling between two intercontinental ballistic missile silos — the facilities scattered across the Great Plains that stand ready to launch nuclear warheads at a moment's notice.

Airmen from the 91st Missile Wing Security Forces team, Minot AFB, ND, were traveling on gravel roads May 1 on an American Indian reservation in North Dakota when the back hatch of their vehicle opened and a container filled with the explosive ammunition fell out.

On May 11, the Air Force sent more than 100 airmen to walk the entire 6-mile route where the grenades were probably lost. But the box of explosives wasn't found.

He said the box had been lost near Parshall, on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

The sheriff said his office wasn't notified until three days after the airmen lost the explosives.

Director's Cut -- March, 2018 Data -- Is Posted -- North Dakota Posts Another Natural Gas Production Record

Link here.

Disclaimer: done quickly. There may be typographical and/or factual errors.

The number is: 1,162,071bopd -- down from 1,175,316 in February, 2018.

However, natural gas production increased slightly, setting a new all-time record:

• March: 2,116,294 MCF/day (353K boepd)
• February: 2,106,121 MCF/day (351K boepd)

Completions:

• Well completions in March fell to 65 (preliminary) due to weather.
• February completions: 77.
• January completions: 65.

DUCs + inactive wells: 2,555

• that's a lot of DUCs (915) and inactive wells 
• waiting on completion: 916, up 15 from the end of February to the end of March
• inactive well count: 1,653, down 1 from the end of February to the end of March

Flaring:

• statewide, 88% capture (same as last month)
• statewide, Bakken: 89% capture (same as last month)
• FBIR Bakken: 87% capture (worse than last month)
• ND goal: 88% capture; increasing to 91% beginning November 1, 2020

The Market, Energy, And Political Page, Part 3, T+7 -- May 15, 2018

Link here.

TSLA is now down about $10. Per share.We're not talking about the car itself.

Venezuela: I said two weeks ago that last week might be the tipping point for Venezuela. The country stumbled through another week. Now this, this week.  A lot of tankers across the Caribbean could be "left holding the bag." CNBC talking head feels strongly that Venezuela will become a "narco-nation." The nation is now running narcotics, and care very little for oil.

NBA "semi-finals" or conference championships:

• game one, Boston Celtics smash LeBron's team: 108 - 83; series at 1 - 0; game two this evening
• game one, Warriors beat the Rockets (interesting, huh?), 119 - 106; series at 1 - 0; game two tomorrow evening
• this is a tough one; maybe right now, the Celtics are my favorite; not particularly "close" to any NBA team this year

Stanley Cup, "semi-finals" or conference championships:

• Washington leads Lightning, 2 - 0, total goals, 10 vs 4; game three tonight
• Las Vegas - Winnipeg Jets series tied at 1 - 1; total goals, 5 vs 5; game three tomorrow
• the Jets are my personal favorite only because extended family member rooting for the Jets

The Market, Energy, And Political Page, Part 2, T+7 -- May 15, 2018

Elon Musk reorganizing. I think TSLA dropped $9 yesterday. Right now, TSLA is down another $9 and trading at $283. My understanding is that Tesla has run out of the "usual" or "standard" methods of raising cash. I don't know. I have no idea. I thought I would just post that.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

Win a free trip to Calgary, Alberta. The Vancouver Board of Trade (British Columbia, Canada, the province west of Alberta, and known as the province that hates Alberta) is flying "supporters" of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline project for an all-expense paid trip to Calgary to show the movers and shakers in the Alberta oil sector that some folks in British Columbia actually support the pipeline. When a reader sent me that link, I replied:

• hold out for another week, and supporters may get an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii
• hold out until May 30th, and supporters may get an all-expense paid trip to the destination of their choice

Mainstream media dying. This is tracked elsewhere. Warren Buffett, just a few days ago, said print media -- i.e., newspapers -- is dead. The Salt Lake Tribune this week is reporting that the Tribune is laying off one-third of its newsroom, cuts back print offerings, citing plunging revenues. There was another newspaper reporting almost the same thing this week. Can't remember if I posted that; can't remember the newspaper. From the linked article:

In a radical restructuring of Utah’s largest newspaper, owner Paul Huntsman proceeded Monday with cutting 34 Salt Lake Tribune employees from a newsroom staff of 90, along with the elimination of key print sections and some well-known writers who were read for generations.

After sounding the alarm last Tuesday, Huntsman — whose wealthy father, philanthropist and Tribune champion Jon Huntsman Sr., died Feb. 2 — enacted a drastic reduction in costs at The Tribune in light of what he said were unexpectedly sharp declines in print circulation and advertising revenues since he bought the Salt Lake City-based publication in 2016.

Along with cutting one in every three newsroom employees, The Tribune will eliminate its high-profile Utah news section Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, having already gone dark with its Monday version of the local news page. Remaining pages devoted to news, features, entertainment, business, sports and puzzles will all contract slightly.

Too short. This is a good example of a song that is about a minute too short. Bob Dylan wold change this to a 12-minute long-play version. Play with a good woofer, or subwoofer:

Far From Any Road, The Handsome Family