by wp_sysadmin | Apr 30, 2019 | Home, News
Marathon Submitted Application To FERC To Modify LNG Plant
Jennifer Williams, KSRM 920 AM, April 29, 2019
Marathon Petroleum submitted a request, dated on April 12, to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requesting authorization to construct and install modifications to the existing Kenai LNG Plant located in Nikiski. Referred to as ‘Trans-Foreland’ Pipeline Company, who operates under Marathon, is listed on the application. The request submitted to FERC asks to make facility modifications to bring parts of Kenai LNG Plant out of its current warm idle status and add a 1,000 horsepower electric-driven boil-off gas compressor unit.
Our Take: Exciting to see activity surrounding LNG in Kenai!
How Russia contaminated $2.7 billion of oil exports to Europe
Olga Yagova, Gleb Gorodyankin, Dmitry Zhdannikov, Reuters, April 30, 2019
The oil was contaminated with organic chlorides, compounds used in the industry to boost extraction from oilfields by cleaning oil wells and accelerating the flow of crude. Germany and Poland would need to reverse the flow and pump the crude back to Russia, or ports in Poland, as the refineries in those countries lack sufficient storage tanks to keep it until it can be diluted. “This will take months and Russian exports and even production may have to fall,” said Sen at Energy Aspects, adding that European countries might have to tap strategic oil stocks if the outage lasts longer.
What Oil at $100 a Barrel Would Mean for the World Economy
Enda Curran and Michelle Jamrisko, Bloomberg, April 28, 2019
What does it mean for the world’s biggest economy?
While U.S. oil producers try to take advantage of any sales boost from customers moving away from Iran, the broader U.S. economy won’t necessarily see benefits with oil price tags as high as $100 a barrel. It would be a squeeze on American consumers that are the backbone of still-steady economic growth. Prices at the gas pump already have risen more than 7 percent this month to $2.89 a gallon, which could weigh on retail sales that jumped in March by the most since 2017. And if things go awry in global oil markets, there’s risk that political blame shifts back to the U.S. for the sanctions, which could mean backlash via investment or other channels that threatens economic stability.
From the Daily on Energy:
REPUBLICAN CLIMATE COMMITTEE HIRES FORMER TRUMP ENERGY ADVISER: Republicans of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis announced Wednesday they hired [George David] Banks as the panel’s chief strategist.
Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., the climate committee’s ranking member, also announced the hire of Marty Hall to serve as Republican staff director.
Banks and Hall both worked on climate and energy issues in the George W. Bush administration. Hall currently works for the ClearPath Foundation, a conservative group that advocates for clean energy technology.
But the selection of Banks really caught our eye: The hiring of Banks is telling for how Republicans could approach the committee, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi created to bring more attention to climate change ahead of the 2020 election.
Banks was a moderate Republican voice in the Trump administration who unsuccessfully lobbied to remain in the Paris climate agreement, promoting a compromise in which the president would commit to less stringent emissions reductions targets than the Obama administration proposed.
Banks has also encouraged Republicans to cooperate with the Green New Deal. He told Josh recently: “There are components of the Green New Deal I would support in principle. The majority of their climate policy reflects a centrist position.”Banks, however, offered a more conservative statement upon being hired for the select climate committee, emphasizing “promoting policies that help preserve a role for all fossil fuels.”
Our take: Banks spoke at our 2019 Meet Alaska trade show and we are pleased to see him take a role that embraces the role that fossil fuels play in the greater climate change conversation.
by wp_sysadmin | Apr 29, 2019 | Home, News
O’Rourke might halt new oil and gas drilling on federal land
Scott Sonner, AP News, April 25, 2019
The Democratic presidential hopeful told reporters while campaigning in Nevada on Thursday that the nation needs to rethink how it protects its public lands and “keep them from being diminished in size as has happened under” the Trump administration. O’Rourke said that concern, combined with the need to reduce total greenhouse emissions, makes it especially important that U.S. taxpayers don’t allow oil and gas companies “to contribute more to the problem.”
Related:
From Daily on Energy, April 29, 2019
BETO O’ROURKE RELEASES $5T PLAN TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE: 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke released a plan Monday to combat climate change, vowing to mobilize $5 trillion in spending over 10 years to address what he called “the greatest threat we face.”
His plan calls for $1.5 trillion in “fully paid for” government spending to mobilize a total of $5 trillion in funding over a decade, to be spent on infrastructure, tax incentives, clean energy research and development, housing and transportation grants in low-income communities, and mitigation measures to help communities prepare for extreme weather events.
To help pay for it, O’Rourke says he would raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy, while ending “tens of billions” of dollars in tax breaks for fossil fuel companies.
Oil Prices Retreat Further From Six-Month High
Dan Molinski, The Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2019
Oil prices fell further Monday as investors continued to book profits after prices hit a six-month high last week and President Trump urged OPEC to boost production to lower oil and fuel prices.
President Trump said his call for OPEC to boost oil production was aimed at reducing U.S. retail gasoline prices, which now stand at $2.88 a gallon, 19 cents higher from a month ago and 8 cents higher from a year ago, according to price-tracking firm GasBuddy. “The national average has resumed its upward climb in the last week with average gas prices rising in nearly all states yet again,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “This spring certainly has brought furious price increases at faster paces than we’ve seen in past years.”
U.S. wildlife regulator slams Trump’s Arctic refuge drilling study
Valerie Volcovici, ArcticToday, April 29, 2019
The Fish and Wildlife Service said the ANWR Coastal Plain draft environmental impact study (EIS) failed to include oil spill response plans, analyze the effects of climate change on the Arctic, or ensure that surveys of polar bear denning habitats are required.
“BLM has an obligation to consider all of these comments — including those from its sister agency (Fish and Wildlife) — and anticipates they will inform the Final EIS in multiple ways,” spokeswoman Molly Block said in an email.
Department of Defense awards deal for new polar icebreaker
Associated Press, April 27, 2019
The U.S. Department of Defense announced Tuesday that it has awarded a Mississippi-based shipbuilder a roughly $745.9 million contract to construct a Polar Security Cutter to bolster the defense’s Arctic presence. The department announced that VT Halter Marine Inc. will construct one of three ships intended to revitalize the U.S. Coast Guard’s fleet of heavy icebreakers, KTVA-TV reported on Friday.
by wp_sysadmin | Apr 26, 2019 | Home, News
Trump administration hits pause on offshore oil plans after Alaska court ruling
Dino Grandoni, The Washington Post, April 25, 2019
A recent federal court decision appears to have struck a blow to President Donald Trump’s plans to expand offshore oil and natural gas drilling across the U.S. continental shelf, with the aim of turning the United States into an energy-exporting behemoth. In his first interview since being confirmed to Trump’s Cabinet, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt told the Wall Street Journal that a recent ruling by a district court in Alaska has stalled plans that at one time called for opening up most U.S. continental-shelf waters to oil and gas companies. Last month, U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason ruled that Trump’s revocation of a ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans is illegal. The judge ruled that Congress would need to step in to reverse a decision by President Barack Obama to ban offshore drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.
Related:
Drilling pause could help Trump in 2020
Oil prices plunge 3% after Trump says he told OPEC to tame fuel costs
Tom DiChristopher, CNBC, April 25, 2019
Oil prices tumbled as much as 4% on Friday, extending early losses after U.S. President Donald Trump said he told OPEC to take action to temper fuel costs. “The gasoline prices are coming down. I called up OPEC. I said, ‘You’ve got to bring them down. You’ve got to bring them down, and gasoline’s coming down,” Trump told reporters en route to a National Rifle Association event in Indianapolis. In fact, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is $2.883 per gallon, up from $2.877 a day ago and $2.839 a week ago, according to AAA. Wholesale U.S. gasoline prices have ticked lower in recent days but are still up about 10% from a week ago and nearly 7% from a month ago.
Lindsey Graham: ‘Climate change is real, the science is sound, and solutions are available’
Dallas Business Journal, April 26, 2019
Former Texas governor and current U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry delivered a keynote address Wednesday evening in which he said executives and politicians should continue to embrace innovation, not regulation, to tackle global warming. At the same event, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) took it a step further, saying there will be drastic economic consequences if politicians can’t come together to combat climate change.
Speaking as part of an EarthX2019 discussion in Dallas on climate change and its economic impact, Perry said there isn’t a profitable path to giving up on fossil fuels entirely. He said that renewable sources of energy offer promise, but lack the consistent supply required to be practical as standalone solutions for driving the economy — for now.
Perry said that the U.S. should continue to invest in renewable energy, but that it must do so without surrendering “growth or opportunity.
by wp_sysadmin | Apr 25, 2019 | Home, News
Trilogy keeps refining Arctic project as it awaits road permit
Elwood Brehmer, Alaska Journal of Commerce, April 24, 2019
Trilogy Metals is in the midst of advancing two mineral prospects in Northwest Alaska but it’s still on the lookout for additional opportunities in the region. The Vancouver-based mining company is preparing its most advanced Arctic copper, zinc and precious metal deposit for permitting. CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse wrote via email that Trilogy is specifically developing an environmental evaluation document to ostensibly organize and vet all of the information about the prospect and planned open-pit mining operations before it is submitted in formal state and federal permit applications. The environmental evaluation goes hand-in-hand with a feasibility-level study of the mine and its forecasted economics, according to Van Nieuwenhuyse. Trilogy has $7 million budgeted for the feasibility and environmental work this year with a goal of having the feasibility study done in early 2020.
Murkowski seeks comment extension on mine draft analysis
Associated Press, April 25, 2019
Alaska’s senior U.S. senator has asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to extend from 90 to 120 days the comment period on a draft environmental review of a proposed copper and gold mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region. In a letter to the corps’ Alaska commander, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski cites the draft’s “length and complexity” and the need to ensure Alaskans can provide “meaningful feedback” on it. She also asks the corps to “redouble” its efforts to meaningfully consult with Alaska Natives who live in the region. She says she expects the corps to seriously consider their input in finalizing the review. A corps spokesman says the corps is considering all requests surrounding the length of the comment period, currently set to run through May 30.
Our Take: We agree wholeheartedly with the Pebble Project “We fundamentally disagree with Senator Murkowski that extending the public comment window is needed. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers established a comment window that is twice the norm for a resource project, and we commend them for that. Further, all of Alaska’s major trade and industry groups support the 90-day public comment review as more than adequate and have expressed serious reservations about the implications for future resource projects by extending comment periods beyond the norm. We join with these organizations in recognizing there needs to be accountability via the federal government in meeting permit timeline milestones – an issue we thought Senator Murkowski agreed with. Unfortunately, all that happens through a comment window extension is allowing national environmental organizations to flood the ballot box and continue to raise money through opposing resource projects in Alaska.”
Related:
Opinion: We are an Alaska Native Corporation that backs Pebble Mine. Here’s why.
Brad Angassan, Juneau Empire, April 25, 2019
by wp_sysadmin | Apr 24, 2019 | Home, News
Democrats Dangerously Moving Even More Left on Energy Policy
Daniel Turner, Real Clear Energy, April 24, 2019
The 2020 Democratic candidates are racing to the left, and if you’re an energy worker or an American who cares about strong economic growth and energy independence, their rhetoric and policies should send a shiver down your spine. This week, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders released proposals they say are needed to fight climate change. In reality, they’d decimate energy jobs, the economy at large, and could even hurt environmental conservation efforts. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren struck first, declaring in a Medium post on Monday that if elected President, she would implement a “total moratorium” on new fossil fuel leases on public lands, including offshore drilling, on her first day in office.
Trump Considering Waiving Jones Act Mandate for Natural Gas, Sources Say
Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Jenny Leonard, Jennifer Jacobs, Bloomberg, April 23, 2019
President Donald Trump is seriously considering waiving the requirement that only U.S.-flagged vessels can move natural gas from American ports to Puerto Rico or the Northeast, according to people familiar with the deliberations. The issue was debated during an Oval Office meeting on Monday, following requests from Puerto Rico and pressure from oil industry leaders to ease the nearly 100-year-old Jones Act requirements, according to three people. Although top administration officials are divided on the issue, Trump is now leaning in favor of some kind of waiver, said two of the people, who asked for anonymity to discuss the private deliberations. The move — which would be fought by U.S shipbuilding interests and their allies on Capitol Hill — has been promoted as essential to lower the cost of energy in Puerto Rico and ease the flow of American natural gas to the U.S. Northeast, where there aren’t enough pipelines to deliver the product from Pennsylvania.
