Now At 69 Active Rigs -- March 22, 2019

Active rigs:

$58.87	3/22/2019	03/22/2018	03/22/2017	03/22/2016	03/22/2015
Active Rigs	69	60	48	32	107

Six new permits:

• Operators: Slawson (3); Whiting (2); BR
• Fields: Big Bend (Mountrail); Sanish (Mountrail), Alger (Mountrail), Corral Creek (Dunn Creek); 
• Comments: 
• Slawson has permits for a 3-well pad in section 15-151-92, in Big Bend oil field
• Whiting has permits for a 2-well Lindseth pad in lot 4/section 1-154-92, Sanish/Alger oil fields
• BR has a permit for a single CCU Prairie Rose TFH well in lot 2/section 30-147-95, Corral Creek

Two permits renewed:

• Whiting: one Niemitalo permit in Mountrail County
• EOG: one Liberty LR permit in Mountrail County

Speaking Of NDSU Vs Duke Tonight -- Quick! Who WIll Be The #1 Fan; Spoiler Alert! -- LOL --- March 22, 2019

Spoiler alert!

Link here. 

Ilhan Omar has refused to answer substantive questions regarding her marriage to husband number 2, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. I think is fair to infer that Elmi is her brother and that she entered the marriage for some dishonest purpose.

If so, the dishonest purpose would likely have something to do with student aid while she and Elmi went to college in Fargo at North Dakota State University.

If Omar is not Elmi’s sibling, the marriage nevertheless appears to involve some serious dishonesty she has concealed....

.... Preya Samsundar picked up the story for the small online Alpha News outlet. Preya was able to follow up on the story in the traditional fashion and through social media. She got a copy of Omar’s 2009 marriage certificate and tracked Elmi down in London. When I met with Preya in 2016, she told me: “I think social media prove without a doubt that there is a familial relationship [between Omar and Elmi] that is not that of a husband and wife.”

As I recall, Preya also told me (I’m stretching my memory here) that the marriage certificate had not been signed by a Muslim cleric, but rather by some non-denominational Christian cleric. She had talked to him or her. [This is imprecise. See update below.] Omar continued to decline any responses to Preya’s inquiries as well. Perhaps mistakenly, I drew adverse inferences.

Much more at the link.

In case you've forgotten who Ilban Omar is, a photo:

Whatever. I hope she enjoys the game. Location of tonight's game: Columbia, South Carolina. 

Natural Gas Fill Rate -- Have We Turned The Corner? -- March 22, 2019

In all the excitement of yesterday's stock market, we completely forgot to post the weekly natural gas fill/withdrawal graph. It certainly looks as if we might have turned the corner. If so, pretty awesome -- huge shout-out to the nation's natural gas companies and their employees.

Watch for in-depth analysis at this site on Sunday. 

Link here. 

Legacy Fund Deposits Recover -- March, 2019, Data

Link here.

The Legacy Fund is tracked here. 

March, 2019, deposits (again, these are deposits, not total assets in the fund): $48,261,532.60.

Back-of-the-Starbucks-envelope:

• February, 2019, deposits: $37,809, 019.90 / 28 days = $1,350,322.14 / day
• March, 2019, deposits: $48,261,532.60 / 31 days = $1,556,823.63 / day
• month-over-month, a 15% increase (daily change)
• month-over-month, a 28% increase (monthly change)
• what a difference three days makes

I don't know but I'm sure the information is readily available, and I assume many readers know, but I would assume the monthly deposits are based on "final" data from one month earlier. If so, then the March, 2019, deposits would reflect February, 2019, production and price data. If the deposits lag two months (like much data) then the deposits would reflect January, 2019, production and price data. Maybe someone will tell us.

At the bottom of the post, click on "Legacy Fund"; one can easily scroll down and through the monthly deposits.

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Sushi: Yuzu Marinated Albacore

Kura Restaurant, Plano, TX

March 22, 2019, T+79 -- Part 2 -- Party School Ranking Across The US -- Keeping American Great

March Madness: Duke vs NDSU. Or if you prefer, NDSU vs Duke -- 6:10 p.m. tonight, televised. This should be a biggie. One not to miss. A reader reminded me that regardless of the outcome of the basketball game, NDSU will out-party Duke. I recall some years ago NDSU was named the #1 party school in the US. Today, not so much. NDSU does not make the top ten list. But let's do a bit more checking:

• Niche.com, link here:

• USD: #106
• NDSU: #144
• Duke: #191
• UND: #192
• SDSU: #228

The Market: with the Fed news and the German 10-year bond news yesterday, one expected the market to show red today -- so let's check --

• pre-market: the Dow down over 183 points
• early trading: recovered a bit, but now down almost 200 points
• the ones I watch, per share if not stated otherwise:

• D: up 60 cents
• Tesla, down $4.00
• XLNX, down $1.13
• UNP, down 55 cents;
• AAPL, up 80 cents;
• RDS-B, down 89 cents;
• CVX, down $1.45;
• COP, down $1.21;
• BRK-B, down $2.05
• NOG, down 11 cents (down almost 4%)
• OAS, down 17 cents (down about 2.6%)
• EOG, down $2.49 (down about 2.5%)
• EW, down $1.20
• JAG, down 22 cents, trading at $10.70

Definitely not as bad I thought it would be.

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.

Reality show for the refiners: over at twitter today, "Crudehead/#OOTT" suggests that the most significant change to the global refining complex in the last forty years is IMO2020. "Crudehead" suggests this will result in a shift of 3 million bopd (supply/demand). This shift will be "out with the sour, in with the sweet." "Crudehead" suggests IMO2020 will be "the mother of all widowmakers." In the big picture, WTI is sweet; OPEC is not. Tectonic shifts are rare but when they occur, huge opportunity for investors.

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At The Dallas Museum of Art 
Last Week