Saturday, June 19, 2021

Off The Net For Awhile -- June 19, 2021

Going swimming. Got my second of two Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine(s) earlier today. 

If I drown in the pool, blame it on the vaccine.  

Later: procrastinating. I hate doing "top stories" of the week.

Listening to Brenda Lee.

Lee's total of nine consecutive top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits from "That's All You Gotta Do" in 1960 through "All Alone Am I" in 1962 set a record for a female solo artist that was not equaled until 1986 by Madonna.

Teresa Wright. [Later, this was posted June 19, 2021. I did not "know" her. My wife did. Today, June 21, 2021, Ms Teresa Wright is being featured on TCM. LOL.]

Mercedes McCambridge.

Something very charming and refreshing in this.

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Week 24: June 13, 2021 -- June 19, 2021

Top story of the week:

  • Joe Biden is still president.

Top international non-energy story:

Top international energy story:

  • Volatility in price of oil;

Top national non-energy story:

Top national energy story:

Top North Dakota non-energy story:

Top North Dakota energy story:

Geoff Simon's top North Dakota energy stories:

Operators:

Operations:

Wells:

Fracking:

Pipelines:

Bakken economy:

Commentary:

We're Being Played -- Best Video Of The Day -- Juneteenth, 2021

Every one of these wind turbines needs natural gas back-up. LOL. 

Notes From All Over -- Is The Dickinson Meridian Davis Refinery Dead? - Early Saturday Afternoon, Part 2 -- Juneteenth, 2021

Back with a vengeance: US crude oil exports surge / bounce back / now above three million b/d.

  • number to follow, for US exports, crude oil: three million bbls
  • most recent data: April, 2021
  • destinations:
  • the Netherlands, #1; where all the refineries are; they are optimized for Brent:
  • FoB WTI hit an 18-month high against Ice Brent; quick link here;
  • remember: a lot of WTI is blended with Brent;
  • India, #2
  • full Argus Media article here;

Top three ArgusMedia stories today, link here (this is likely to be a dynamic link)

  • Vitol sees 2021 oil at $70 - $80/bbl;
  • Argentina shale oil beckons
  • Johan Sverdrup: potential benchmark savior;

But, is the story of the day? Is the Meridian Davis refinery dead? If so, died from a thousand cuts? Regulators give the developers three more months to begin construction ... otherwise, sayonara. Link here.  Also, here, no paywall.

Notes From All Over - Early Saturday Afternoon, Part 1 -- Juneteenth, 2021

Reminder: y'all with a joint income less than $150,000 and at least one child: a $600 check / child each month through the end of the year, six months. At a minimum: $3,600 for the last half of the year. If y'all three children, $1,800 / month. And with six kids, yes, it's a lottery -- $3,600/month. What a great country.

Iran: quality of its key crude grades, link here

The exodus: only one US city saw a bigger pandemic exodus than San Francisco. San Jose, across the bay. Link here.

While Seattle was the fastest-growing city in 2020, San Francisco’s population shrank by 1.39% between July of 2019, and 2020, U.S. Census data shows. Before that, San Francisco’s population had been growing modestly since 2010. Baltimore, meanwhile, declined by 1.42%.

Meanwhile, back in Baltimore:

  • back in March, 2020: Baltimore population dropped below 600,000, the lowest total in a century; but it was bad even before the pandemic;
  • back in April, 2019, a year earlier and before the pandemic: Baltimore notes the biggest population loss in a single year since 2001;
  • it took awhile for folks to finally get the message, money, and move; it was several years earlier, April, 2015, when the Baltimore mayor famously said, "Give those who want to destroy space to do that."

On the way to zero:

  • US 30-year yield falls to 2.002%; lowest since February, 2021;
  • and just yesterday everyone was worried about hyperinflation;
  • this story has not yet played out
    • it seems about a week ago, the split was 80 - 20, steep inflation vs stagflation, on business talk show and in print media;
    • now, the shift seems to have become 20 - 80.

******************************
Now Tesla

Quips:

  • from social media: fantasy, Elon will sell twenty million cars a year; reality, Elon can't sell a single plant's worth of cars domestically in China, there's no need to talk of a second plant there, and he is already forced to export excess production to the EU, where he has 6% "BEV" market share.  
  • BEV is dead -- look at the graphic carefully;
    it was reported earlier that US EV owners, to the tune of 20% or more, would not buy another EV, even to replace their first one;