The Oscars -- April 26, 2021

I mentioned the other day that as of April 1, 2021, we no longer had television. We ended our television relationship with Spectrum. Long story, but it was time to move on. 

On her own, my wife signed up for another, much less expensive, streaming service on Saturday, April 25, 2021, which was one day before the Academy Awards. If there is one television event my wife will not miss, it's the "Oscars."

So, last night we watched the "Oscars."

Without question, one of the best Academy Awards show I had witnessed. Long story. 

American public: Oscar ratings hit record low "despite diversity." Link here. Not unexpected; folks who did not watch, missed a great event, but apparently the American public has moved on.

Earlier I wrote: 

Oscars; 

• Trent Reznor. Hat trick.
• Netflix: long-time readers are aware of my fascination with Netflix. LOL. Last night, at the 2021 Oscars, Netflix won seven Oscars, beating out the other streaming services. 
• David Fincher's Mank was the lead nominee with ten nods.

Netflix: seven Oscars. Most of any of the streaming services. Obviously the Netflix folks have their pulse on the American television watcher. I'm impressed, to say the least. 

Before we "quit" Spectrum, my favorite network was TCM. After we broke off our relationship with Spectrum, I "lost" TCM. That's really the only television I miss. It's not so much the shows themselves, but it's the presenters putting the shows into context. If they show Casablanca once a month, they have a different "lead-in" every month. It puts the movie in context and explains why TCM is showing it again. 

The primary presenter on TCM is Ben Mankiewicz. His dad was "Mank" the subject of David Fincher's Mank" noted above. Pretty amazing when you think about it. A biography a screenwriter. But not just any screenwriter, but the screenplay Citizen Kane as developed by the screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz. The wiki entry will bring you up to speed. 

There's no question in my mind that Ben Mankiewicz has to be "head over heels" with this. 

And, yes, TCM airs Citizen Kane regularly. I have probably seen that movie four or five times but all in "snippets" until about two months ago when I finally watched it from start to finish. I can see why it's AFI's #1 film (still) but films like Birdman are certainly making it a race.

Notes From All Over -- The Late Morning Edition -- CRC Turns Green -- April 26, 2021

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.  

Late morning:

• NASDAQ near its all-time high; now at its highest since mid-February, 2021

The market:

• the stock of the day? DFS: up 3.40%; up $3.50/share; trading at $106.29; about a dollar below its 52-week high;
  
• all that hand-wringing? 10-yr-treasury holds below 1.6%; whoo-hoo!
  
• TSLA: reports after market close today; at the open, p 2%; up $14.60; trading at $743;
  
• CRC: down one percent at the open; dropped as much as 7% on Friday (after the Newsom announcement before recovering a bit)
• mid-morning: up almost 3%; up 66 cents; trading at $23.11
  
• UNP: at the open, up 0.5%; up almost a dollar; trading at $224.50;
• transcript: 1Q21;
• late morning, up 1.4%; up $3.32/share; trading at $227 
• hits a 52-week high
  
• AAPL: up slightly; trading at $134.62;
• BRK-B: up slightly; trading at $272.86, which is about a dollar below its 52-week high;
• QCOM: up 2%; up $2.85/share; trading at $138.27;
• AMD: up 2.82% up $2.34; trading at $85.08
• XLNX: up 2.93%; up $3.80; trading at $133.46;
  
• Bill Gates' top 10 high dividend stocks: clickbait;

Two Wells Coming Off The Confidential List; The NDIC's Friday Daily Activity Report -- April 26, 2021

These are stories I will follow during the day. There is so much going on, it's impossible to keep up, but I will get back to all these stories throughout the day.

AAPL:

• so many stories and so many story lines this week
• setting up campus in North Carolina;
• commits a half-trillion dollars on spending in US; will add 20,000 new jobs across the country; 
• this is up from $350 billion, 5-year plan back in 2018; 
• so basically, one billion dollars / year
  

Oscars; 

• Trent Reznor. Hat trick.
• Netflix: long-time readers are aware of my fascination with Netflix. LOL. Last night, at the 2021 Oscars, Netflix won seven Oscars, beating out the other streaming services. 
• David Fincher's Mank was the lead nominee with ten nods.
  

Covid-19:

• connecting the dots, even a caveman could do it:
• the JNJ "pause"
• now, Fauci: worried about "vaccine hesitancy" -- well, duh!
• Fauci can read the numbers, too;

Energy:

• EVs: never saw this coming
• why wind and solar energy are doomed to failure, re-posting;

The market:

• all that hand-wringing? 10-yr-treasury holds below 1.6%; whoo-hoo!
  
• TSLA: reports after market close today; at the open, p 2%; up $14.60; trading at $743;
  
• CRC: down one percent at the open; dropped as much as 7% on Friday (after the Newsom announcement before recovering a bit)
  
• UNP: at the open, up 0.5%; up almost a dollar; trading at $224.50;
• transcript: 1Q21;
• Bill Gates' top 10 high dividient stocks: clickbait;

Global economy:

• UK economy set to grow faster than the US this year -- Goldman Sachs
• forecasts 7.8% for the year

Big oil: 

• cash rolling in but it may be awhile before investors see that cash;
• the Newsom announcement;
• Exxon retreated from oil trading even as rivals made fortunes; Reuters;

Taxes:

• capital gains tax will hit the richest 0.3%; 

Fail:

• Haven fizzles; sleeks away quietly; did anyone know? Predictable but the big story? How fast it happened -- in less than three years it crashed and burned.

Global warming:

• This story is big but another story line is even bigger; link here. 

Critical race theory:

• how it relates to the energy story; one word, anecdotal;

Tracking US military:

• smartphones;

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Back to the Bakken

NDIC daily activity report for Friday, April 23, 2021: in addition to the five new Hess BB-Olson permits, #38272 - #38276, inclusive, reported earlier, the following was also reported in the Friday report:

Thirteen permits renewed:

• NP Resources (8): four Little Mo Federal permits in Billings Company; four Elkhorn Ranch Federal permits in Billings County;
• Hunt Oil (2): one Palermo permit and one Nichols permit, both in Mountrail County;
• MRO (2): a Rutledge permit and a Calvin permit, both in Dunn County;

Six producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 36356, incorrectly identified as #34627 in the DAR by the NDIC, drl/A, Slawson, Gunslinger Federal 3-12-1H, Sand Creek, no production data,
  
• 37042, drl/A, Eagle Operating, Wobbly 19-9, Great Northern, target: Madison; vertical well; first production, 2/20; t--; cum 13K 2/21;
  
• 32414, SI/A, CLR, Polk Federal 10-33H1, Banks, first production, 10/20; t--; cum 115K 2/21;
  
• 36358, drl/A, Slawson, Gunslinger Federal 2-12-1H, Sand Creek, no production data,
  
• 36354, drl/A, Slawson, Gunslinger Federal 8-12-1TFH, Sand Creek, no production data,
  
• 36362, drl/A, Slawson, Gunslinger Federal 1-12-1H, Sand Creek, no production data,
  

Back to today.

Active rigs:

$61.27	4/26/2021	04/26/2020	04/26/2019	04/26/2018	04/26/2017
Active Rigs	15	29	64	63	48

Two wells coming off the confidential list --

Monday, April 26, 2021: 21 for the month, 21 for the quarter, 102 for the year:

• 36923, AL/A, MRO, Thorson USA 41-8H, Reunion Bay, first production, 10/20; t--; cum 187K 2/21;

Sunday, April 25, 2021: 20 for the month, 20 for the quarter, 101 for the year:

• 37515, F/A, MRO, Pelarske USA 44-5TFH-2B, Reunion Bay, first production, 10/20; t--; cum 160K 2/21;

Saturday, April 24, 2021: 19 for the month, 19 for the quarter, 100 for the year:

• None.

RBN Energy: how natural gas production has continued to outpace crude since Covid hit. 

Prior to COVID, crude oil and natural gas production in the U.S. had been on a tear, surging in tandem in the years following the 2014-15 price meltdown. But then the pandemic decimated domestic demand, crushing prices. Predictably, producers cut back production, particularly in crude-focused basins, and it was widely expected that associated gas from those regions would suffer in proportion. But that didn’t happen. Gas volumes have dropped somewhat, but not nearly to the extent that crude did. Said another way, the ratio of gas production to oil production has risen — and that’s been true at both the total U.S. level and in the primary unconventional basins for oil production. In today’s blog, we will look at the factors driving the trend of higher gas-to-oil ratios.

College Football -- April 25, 2021

How cool is this?

The FCS quarterfinals. 

Both NDSU and UND are in the quarterfinals. Brackets here.

"Focus On Fracking" And The Newsom Announcement -- April 25, 2021

"Focus On Fracking" has been posted. Link here. The lede:

• gasoline demand an at eight-month high; imports of distillates at a 26-week low ...
  

Early in the post:

US oil data from the US Energy Information Administration for the week ending April 16th indicated that despite a decrease in our oil imports, a big increase in crude oil that the EIA could not account for meant we had surplus oil to add to our stored commercial crude supplies for the sixth time in nine weeks and for the 14th time in the past thirty-nine weeks.... 

our imports of crude oil fell by an average of 448,000 barrels per day to an average of 5,405,000 barrels per day, after falling by an average of 411,000 barrels per day during the prior week, while our exports of crude oil fell by an average of 31,000 barrels per day to an average of 2,548,000 barrels per day during the week, which meant that our effective trade in oil worked out to a net import average of 2,857,000 barrels of per day during the week ending April 16th, 417,000 fewer barrels per day than the net of our imports minus our exports during the prior week... 

over the same period, the production of crude oil from US wells was reportedly unchanged at 11,000,000 barrels per day, and hence our daily supply of oil from the net of our trade in oil and from well production appears to total an average of 13,857,000 barrels per day during this reporting week... 

So, if there was a a big increase in crude oil that the EIA could not account for meant we had surplus oil to add to our stored commercial crude supplies for the sixth time in nine weeks and for the 14th time in the past thirty-nine weeks ... is the "Newsom announcement" even newsworthy? 

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Infrastructure

We'll see the same thing if the Joe Biden plan is passed.

Link here.