Week 14: April 3, 2022 -- April 9, 2022

Top story of the week:

• Joe Biden is still president.
• Putin's war enters its sixth week.
• Premium oil development acreage continues to expand in North Dakota.  
• Tiger Woods back at the Masters.
  

Top international non-energy story:

• China's lock downs.
• Germany's automobile manufacturing slows, stops.
• Saudi Arabia's foreign exchange reserves continue steep slide. And here, along with other metrics.
  

Top international energy story:

• Europe's urgent need for natural gas.
• All indications: Russia's economy will implode by summer, 2022.

Top national non-energy story:

• Judge re-instates Covid vaccine for federal employees.
• ATT - Warner Bros Discovery -- merger-spin-off complete.
• Covid 19 all but over in the US.
• Egg prices soar on back of avian flu.
• Tesla: 1Q22 deliveries.

Top national energy story:

• Gasoline demand more elastic than most thought?
• WTI drops below $100 during Congressional hearings.
• Week 0: Biden Surge
• Futures, after the Biden Surge announcement.
• Immediate price changes after the Biden Surge announcement.
• After the Bide Surge announcement, US oil in storage drops to recent low: 26.1 days.
• Biden Surge: metrics tracked here.
• SPR: the graph.

Top North Dakota non-energy story:

Top North Dakota energy story:

• Active rigs trending toward 40.

Geoff Simon's top North Dakota energy stories:

• Quick connects. 

Operations:

• How the new Whiting Littlefield wells will impact the older Lacey wells in the Sanish oil field.
  

Operators:

Wells:

• A CLR State Weydahl well goes over 500K bbls crude oil cumulative.
• CLR Federal Jorgenson: off line for two years; coming back on line.
• The XTO Darlean wells have been completed.
• WPX Lion wells are now reporting 500K bbls crude oil cumulative.
• CLR's Harrisburg wells starting to report.
• Hess BB-State wells being to report; halo effect noted.
• The Enerplus Winter Fur pad starting to report.
•  MRO's Little Owl pad is starting to report.

Fracking:

• Benefit of ceramic?
• US shale operators unable / unwilling to increase rate of fracking.

Natural gas:

• Fill rate reverses?
• New England's natural gas price differential is insane.
• LNG export terminals: update.

Pipelines:

Bakken economy:

• Exxon looking for windfall profits tax like never seen before.

Commentary:

• Fitzsimmons on US shale, myths, and EOG. The numbers.
• Ethane: the forgotten condensate.
• Energy transition is dead; more corroboration.
• Why are automobile EV manufacturers partnering?
• The US wants more Canadian crude oil, but not via pipelines.
• The EU is in deep trouble.
• New wind turbines destined to fail sooner.
• The SPR release: commentary.
• Cell phones associated with a decrease in brain cancer.

Social Media On Bay Du Nord; Europe's Urgent Need For Natural Gas -- April 9, 2022

Updates 

April 10, 2022: update on Newfoundland and Labrador. 

Original Post

Previously posted: 

Equinor - Canada - Bay du Nord oil project: $12 billion project.

• offshore; proposed by Equinor
• approved by Canada
• one wonders: would the US approve a $12 billion offshore oil project? 
• my understanding: the US is not even approving leases for offshore projects already under development, but that needs to be fact-checked; that may be old news

Now, from Roy Johnston:

At $12 billioon, safe to say that Bay du Nord is Canada's first energy mega project sanctioned since LNG Canada. 

Interesting to read comments at the link. Some folks are eternal pessimists.

*****************************
Europe's Urgent Need For Natural Gas

Link here.

Breaking: Olivia's Soccer Team Won Regionals! Regional Champions! On To State! -- April 9, 2022

Federal Employees Looking For Religion; Easter Services In DC Should Be Standing Room Only -- April 9, 2022

Finding religion: Epoch Times readers advising federal employees to get their religious waivers requests in order; boilerplate examples provided. Link here.

President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal workers is back in effect after a federal appeals court ruling on April 7.

A panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit entered the ruling, overturning a district judge’s earlier block of the mandate.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Trump appointee, had concluded that Biden lacked the statutory authority to issue the mandate.

And remember, it's not just one "shot," it's the full series. This may explain the larger-than-normal issue of vaccine this past week or so.

I had not seen this elsewhere. Let's see how others report it. Here's the link to Reuters. 

And others:

Top 100 US Racehorses Of The 20th Century -- April 9, 2022

Link here.

In 1999, The Blood-Horse magazine assembled a seven-person panel of distinguished horse racing people: Keeneland racing secretary, Howard Battle; Maryland Jockey Club vice president, Lenny Hale; Daily Racing Form columnist, Jay Hovdey; Sports Illustrated senior writer, William Nack; California senior steward, Pete Pederson; Louisville Courier-Journal racing writer, Jennie Rees; and Gulfstream Park steward Tommy Trotter. 

Each of the experts compiled a list of what they considered to be the top 100 thoroughbred racehorses of the 20th century, which was then combined into a master list. The list was then expanded into a book with complete biographies. 

First twenty-six:

Northern Dancer did not make the 100-list as shown above, but there is some question of the accuracy of the list. A reader says he/she "read the book" and Northern Dancer was tied for 17th in thee list.

Northern Dancer: wiki entry. 

Sportswriter Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Northern Dancer is the kind of colt who, if you saw him in your living room, you'd send for a trap and put cheese in it. He's so little, a cat would chase him. But he's so plucky there's barely room in him for his heart. His legs are barely long enough to keep his tail off the ground. He probably takes a hundred more strides than anyone else, but he's harder to pass than a third martini."[

E. P. Taylor: wiki entry. Made his millions with the "toast" invention. As a reader noted, he toasted "bread" and he "bred" horses. One of the most fascinating men ever.

If one reads all the linked articles, one will know a lot of horse-racing history.