The Million Dollar Way (The Bakken Oil Blog)

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Three New Permits -- February 10, 2026

Locator: 49952B.

Dividends: companies that pay dividends in February -- link here. Some:

AAPL
ASML
ABBV
CAT
SCCO
BK
EPD
BKR
OKE

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $64.28.

Active rigs: 26.

Three new permits, #42704 - #42706, inclusive:

Operator: Formentera Operations
Field: Frazier (Divide County)
Comments:

Formentera Operations has permits for three Palomino Ridge permits, SESW 16-161-97,

to be sited 546 FSL and 1670 / 1740 FWL.

One permit renewed:

41563, Silver Hill Energy, Rice E....East Tioga (Mountrail County)

Four permits canceled:

Kraken (3): three Leslie 42X.... permits; McKenzie County;
Five States: one RH 1-15H permit, Stark County.

Trillion-Dollar Club Investing -- Number 3 In A Series -- February 10, 2026

Locator: 49953INVESTING.

AI prompt: although the fourth industrial revolution (AI) became "a thing" in 2016, it seems the tipping point for mom-and-pop retail investors was 2021 (maybe 2022) after the end of Covid. Thoughts?

Google Gemini:

"Trillion-Dollar Club" Investing -- Number 2 -- February 10, 2026

Locator: 49952INVESTING.

Investing, not trading.

Buy and hold, literally forever. Taken to extremes, poor outcomes.

Concentrate on sectors.

1980s - 1990s, beginning to invest, age 30 - 45 --

mutual funds (three)
individual stock picking -- two sectors:

energy (Big Oil); and,
communications (ATT)

1990s - 2010s, great anxiety about my investing strengths; raising a family, age 46 - 60 --

mutual funds
IRAs
Roth IRAs
TSP
I was maxing out my investing; I literally thought about the market 24/7 (along with work, and family)

2010s - 2020s, glide slope, but up and to the right, rolling horizon, each day: 30-year + one day --

at crossroads: individual stock-picking vs ETFs
foundation in place:

insurance
pension
retirement accounts
established portfolio

heavily weighted in AAPL and energy (CVX, COP, ENB, EPD, etc)

still thinking 24/7 about investing.

2022: then things changed --

although the fourth industrial revolution was a "thing" as of 2016, for the mom-and-pop retail investor, the tipping point came in 202- 2022 --
go to this link, to be continued.

Trillion-Dollar-Club Investing -- Number 1 In A Series -- February 8, 2026

Locator: 49937INVESTING.

Investing: this is meant for the extended family; this is not for the general audience. It's the fastest way I can reach my entire extended family. This is not an investment site. See the blog's disclaimer.

A publicly-traded company with a market cap of $1 trillion looks intriguing:

obviously the company is doing something right;
dollars buy talent; access; leverage;
winners attract big money investors;
the money moat

February 6, 2026:

Walmart: newest member, as of February 6, 2026; link here.
the Magnificent Seven: AAPL, MSFT, GOOG, AMZN, META, TSLA, NVDA
others: BRK, Broadcom (AVGO), TSM, Eli Lilly

Racking and stacking:

WMT
GOOG
AAPL
AVGO
.
.
AMZ
.
.
BRK

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First Among Equals

WMT:

the pivotal moment: decision to move from NYSE to NASDAQ, December 9, 2025;
no small achievement for a traditional retail company to join the club;
silently took the lead in drone delivery in the US

Broadcom (AVGO):

critical for Google's Gemini success: Broadcom makes the chips

AAPL:

slowly but surely; consistent;
not chasing cash; chasing fabs but has best supply chain among the group
seldom makes a misstep; if they do make a misstep, able to recover
"an n of 1": Apple ecosystem; from wristwatch to desktops to studio monitors
supercycle begins and this is before the foldable phone, AI, and iPhone battery dominance

GOOG:

hitting on all cyliners,
even among the other trillion-dollar club members, GOOG is now the standout;

AMZN:

looks like it's ready to widen the moat

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Other End Of The Spectrum

Bottom of the barrel:

MSFT: all of a sudden, cracks showing?
BRK: a mediocre mutual fund; no dividends; what's the appeal?

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The Rest

The other half dozen or so:

your call;
not interested.

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Disclaimer
Briefly

Briefly:

I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken and I am often well out front of my headlights. I am often appropriately accused of hyperbole when it comes to the Bakken.
I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.
I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple.
See disclaimer. This is not an investment site.
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. All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If something appears wrong, it probably is. Feel free to fact check everything.
If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them.
Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken, US economy, and the US market.
I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple.
And now, Nvidia, also. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Nvidia. Nvidia is a metonym for AI and/or the sixth industrial revolution.
I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom.
Longer version here.