Two Late Night Items -- Focus On Fracking Weekly Update Posted; Southern Wall Updated -- The El Paso Edition-- September 27, 2020

Focus on fracking, link here. The lede: distillate demand rose 40% to a six-month high, after flirting with a 26-year low last week.

From the report:

The natural gas storage report from the EIA for the week ending September 18th indicated that the quantity of natural gas held in underground storage in the US increased by 66 billion cubic feet to 3,680 billion cubic feet by the end of the week, which left our gas supplies 504 billion cubic feet, or 15.9% greater than the 3,176 billion cubic feet that were in storage on September 18th of last year, and 407 billion cubic feet, or 12.4% above the five-year average of 3,273 billion cubic feet of natural gas that have been in storage as of the 18th of September in recent years. 

The 66 billion cubic feet that were added to US natural gas storage this week was somewhat lower than the forecast of a 77 billion cubic foot increase from an S&P Global Platts'' survey of analysts, and it was also much lower than the 97 billion cubic feet addition of natural gas to storage during the corresponding week of 2019, and well below the average of 80 billion cubic feet of natural gas that has been added to natural gas storage during the same week over the past 5 years. See graph here.

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Southern Wall Update: The Laredo Edition

Link here. It's a television report so the update is a bit disjointed:

Congress appropriated 69 miles of border wall to be built in the Laredo sector. To date, 31 miles of border wall have been awarded to government contractors, but in the coming weeks the remainder of the 38 miles will be awarded to contractors so the border wall construction can begin. 

Although the City of Laredo passed a resolution against a border wall and were sued by the federal government for access to survey land back in June, they ultimately agreed to allow the federal government to go in and survey land along the city property.

The case was dismissed in early September. On Thursday, surveyors were seen working on behalf of the federal government.

Costco's -- Surges Are Fleeting -- September 27, 2020

There were so many great stories this past week. My favorite might have been the one on the US saving(s) rate.

But this one, mentioned in passing is another story, also huge. Due to the pandemic, Costco reported: less food spoilage; Costco cashing in, The WSJ;

After stockpiling early in the coronavirus pandemic, Americans continue to turn to Costco Wholesale Corp. to buy bulk quantities of groceries and cleaning supplies. 

They have also been loading carts with home furnishing. 

“As people are spending less on travel and dining out they seem to have redirected some of that spending,” said Costco financial chief Richard Galanti on a conference call Thursday. 

The warehouse retailer reported a 14.1% jump in comparable sales for the quarter ended August 30, 2020, excluding gas and currency effects. 

On that basis, Costco’s growth was nearly twice as high as the spring quarter when it was struggling with out-of-stock items and placed limits on shoppers. 

“We expected fresh food,” paper goods and other items already selling well early in the pandemic to continue selling, Mr. Galanti said, “but we were a little surprised in the strength in some of these nonfood, discretionary categories,” such as homegoods and furniture. Food is selling so fast that profit got a boost from the lack of loss due to spoilage, he said. In-stock levels have stabilized, but some items are still hard to come by in some areas, including disposable gloves and sanitizing wipes, said Mr. Galanti. 

Halloween-related sales are weaker, with a “small reduction in the amount of costumes,” he said. Some people are booking travel through the company again, but mostly for far in the future, Mr. Galanti said. 

Much more at the link.

PSAs -- September 27, 2020

First things first: Kurt Busch wins at Las Vegas. Came in to this race in twelfth position; changes everything -- for himself, and a lot of other drivers. Las Vegas is his home town. Surprise winner tonight. With a win, an automatic advance to round of eight. But still two more races in round of twelve: Talladega next week, then Charlotte.

Schitt's Creek:

Compare: 30 Rock / Tina Fey -- 16 Emmys over its lifetime; the most in any one year, I believe was five in 2008.

Stream for free:

• download the Pop app on Apple, Android (five seconds if you can remember your password)
• click on season / episode (five seconds)
• free
• priceless

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Tools

If you are lucky enough to have Harbor Freight within driving range, consider yourself very, very fortunate. 

After Sears disappeared, Harbor Freight set the bar higher. 

Sear's marketing line: "good, better, best."

Same with Harbor Freight.

Need a special tool for one weekend, for one job? Buy the tool at Harbor Freight. Return it Monday; no questions asked.

Which suggests to me: opportunities for Harbor Freight to tweak their business model.

Best price on masks I've seen, which gives me an idea on the rest of the prices in the store.

The Last "Sturgis Rally" Update -- September 27, 2020

This will be the last "Sturgis Rally" post. It's been well over a month now since the rally; time to move on. It was a low-impact hurricane that quickly degraded into a tropical storm and the press forgot all about it.

For now, one last "Sturgis Rally" follow-up.

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The Sturgis Rally Update

Link here.

Sturgis Rally: August 7 - August 16, 2020.

At link above, set "search" for "yesterday."

Number of cases means absolutely nothing.

Number of deaths associated with Covid-19 "means more" but numbers are incredibly questionable. Criteria for diagnosis varies across jurisdiction.

But be that as it may, new deaths in last 24 hours (these numbers were updated, again, after 6:00 p.m.) Low numbers are probably a function of Sunday reporting a Saturday.

• Iowa: 3
• Minnesota: 4
• Nebraska: 1
  
• North Dakota: 4
• Montana: 1
  
• South Dakota: 0 -- wow, so much for the Sturgis Rally story
  
• Wyoming: 0 -- several days in a row with zero new deaths;

Deaths per million population, and (ranking among 50 states and DC):

• Iowa: 416 (23) -- ranking unchanged
  
• Minnesota: 365 (28)  -- ranking unchanged
• North Dakota: 298 (34) -- ranking unchanged
• Nebraska: 242 (40) -- up one (bad)
  
• South Dakota: 237(39) -- dropped one, from 40 (good)
  
• Montana: 160 (44) -- ranking unchanged
• Wyoming: 86 (50) -- ranking unchanged -- only Alaska is lower with 71 deaths / one million

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Channeling Calvin And Hobbes

Sophia reading a bedtime story to Corky:

Update On The New Saudi Refinery On The Red Sea -- September 27, 2020

Re-posting:

All that talk about the end of oil. Sorry. Not sorry. Saudi Aramco ships first cargo from Jizan refinery; headed to Singapore. Link here. 

Breaking down that article:

Name of refinery:

• Jizan, also spelled Jazan

Location of refinery:

• in the far south of Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea
• about 35 miles from the Yemeni border

Capacity and timeline of refinery:

• construction completed in 2020; operations ramp up in 2020
• operations will start with 200,000 bpd before ramping up to 400,000 bopd
• refinery about one year behind planned date of completion; full operations

Currently:

• first shipment on its way
• UACC Eagle: 475,000 bbls of gasoil
• destination: Singapore

How rebels feel about this refinery:

• several missile attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen
• Saudi says they have intercepted each attempted strike

Transit of tankers from this refinery:

• through the narrow strait of Bab el-Mandeb
• 18 miles wide at its narrowest point
• connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea
• limits tanker traffic to two 2-mile-wide channels for inbound and outbound shipments

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Sunday Afternoon Movie

The Great Gatsby.

I finally understand re-makes. I would like to see a re-make of The Great Gatsby. 

From the most recent issue of The New York Review of Books: "The Oracle of Our Unease," an essay by Sarah Churchwell, October 8, 2020. 

So, I'll watch the 2013 re-make of "The Great Gatsby," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, et al. Like Sunset Boulevard, the movie begins with the voice-over.

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Just Waitin'
Just Waitin', John Prine, cover, Hank Williams