“Will the SEC step in to protect Wall Street from aggressive Mom & Pop traders?” - Joe Weisenthal

FEDERAL LANDS.

• The DOI suspended approvals of new drilling permits & leases across U.S. federal lands for 60 days

• Plays affected: New Mexico, GoM, & Powder River Basin

• Plans have leaked that would freeze on new drilling rights across 700k+ acres of federal lands

The current DOI move shouldn’t impact existing federal permits or leases.

However, it should be expected that the current Colorado permitting process playbook (which has situationally blocked new drilling) will be rolled out by the new administration.

Conoco (via Concho) & EOG have some of the best performing recent wells, in New Mexico.

If the temporary DOI permit / lease suspensions turn into outright bans, then they will lose out on some of the best onshore US inventory.

Concho’s (now Conoco) NM wells vs TX

EOG’s NM wells vs TX

Source: ShaleProfile (message Enno, start a trial today)

If federal bans move forward, US oil production will decrease, to the benefit of other producers (both in the US & abroad), as well as to the benefit of oil prices -

NORD STREAM 2.

• 94% complete

• European Parliament calls for halt of construction

• Germany & Denmark have allowed a restart of construction, despite US sanctions

From DW:

“It [the European Parliament] issued the call in response to Russia arresting opposition figure Alexei Navalny upon his return to Russia. He had been in Germany recovering from an attempted assassination with a military grade nerve agent.”

The insincerity of the Germans in their advocacy of peaceful support of democracy was noted across Europe.

Poland's President Andrzej Duda sat down with the FT, making the comment:

“There is no other peaceful tool for applying pressure to a state that breaks the rules of international law. The primacy of international law is fundamental here. As long as international law is observed, there is no war. If international law is broken, the effect of this is always conflict”

That comment was as much a shot at Germany, as it was a shot at Russia -

OTHER NEWS.

• Enerplus is buying Bruin

• SpaceX is drilling gas wells in Texas

• Shell acquires UK's largest EV charging network

• WallStreetBets is winning the GameStop battle

• The now infamous Russian palace video

That’s it for today - catch y’all next week -