by wp_sysadmin | Jun 28, 2019 | Home, News
1.3M acres of federal land made available to State of Alaska and Doyon, Limited
Sean Maguire, KTUU, June 27, 2019
At a signing ceremony, 1.3 million acres of land managed by the federal government was made available for selection by the State of Alaska and an Alaska Native Corporation. Joe Balash, the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Department of the Interior, signed documents Tuesday that revoked Public Land Orders (PLOs) restricting development in the Fortymile area. The parcels of land, located in the Eastern Interior of Alaska, had been identified by President Barack Obama in early 2017 as areas of critical environmental concern. The designation by the Obama administration largely prevented mining interests from making claims to the land. At the Resource Development Council’s 44th annual luncheon in Anchorage, Balash sat alongside Gov. Mike Dunleavy as he officially revoked the PLOs.
Our Take: Great news for Doyon and Alaska! The opportunity to see more responsible mining happen in the state of Alaska is exciting.
Alaska Railroad and Alaska to Alberta Railway agree to cooperate on rail connection to Canada, Lower 48
Anchorage, July 27, 2019 – The Alaska Railroad Corporation (ARRC) and the Alaska to Alberta Railway Development Corporation (A2A) have established a Master Agreement of Cooperation toward building a 1500-mile connection between the Alaska Railroad and Canadian railroads that also serve the Lower 48 states. The agreement was announced after approval by the Alaska Railroad Corporation Board of Directors today. Under the terms, the two railroad companies will cooperate in applying to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources for a right-of-way guaranteed under state law for a rail connection to Canada. In addition, the two firms will develop a joint operating plan which will specify not only the new track needed to connect Alaska’s rail to Canada, but will also identify work needed to upgrade existing rail facilities, bridges, and track on the Alaska Railroad’s 512-mile mainline which runs from Seward to North Pole, Alaska.
Trade tensions put energy transition at risk – BP Chairman
Ron Bousso, Dmitry Zhdannikov, UK Reuters, June 27, 2019
Trade tensions risk throwing the global economy’s transition to greener energy into disarray and could hurt energy companies’ preparations towards it, BP Chairman Helge Lund said as leaders of the world’s largest economies gather for talks in Japan.
BP forecasts that even with a rapid increase in wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy, fossil fuels will account for the majority of energy supply for decades to come. Lund also warned that attempts to curb fossil fuels too fast could harm societies.
Under investor pressure, Exxon gets into carbon removal technology
Amy Harder, Axios, June 27, 2019
ExxonMobil is looking to scale up zany-sounding technology that takes carbon dioxide emissions out of the sky by partnering with one of the few companies in the world pursuing that tech. Driving the news: Exxon, the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company, announced Thursday it signed a joint development agreement to advance technology capturing CO2 with Global Thermostat, a startup co-founded in 2010 by a former Exxon scientist, Peter Eisenberger. The big picture: Publicly traded oil companies, including Chevron and Occidental Petroleum, are pursuing this type of technology because they’re facing pressure from shareholders to pursue strategies more in line with a world that is drastically reducing CO2 emissions. This technology, costly and unproven on a massive scale, is a way to do that without getting off oil and gas that producers have made big profits on for decades.
by wp_sysadmin | Jun 26, 2019 | Home, News
Energy Stocks Diverge From Oil Prices
Jessica Menton, The Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2019
Energy stocks in the S&P 500 have shed 15% over the past 12 months amid fears of oversupply and worries about slowing demand in a weakening global economy. The most recent declines come as U.S. crude prices have rallied roughly 9% over the past week amid rising friction between Washington and Tehran, though oil prices pulled back from multi-week highs Tuesday.
Related:
Iranians, Already Dealing With Punishing Sanctions, Get Hit With More
EPA’s air pollution chief to step down amid ethics probe
Alex Guillén, POLITICO, June 26, 2019
The former utility lobbyist who has led many of President Donald Trump’s major deregulatory efforts is stepping down from the Environmental Protection Agency, a move that comes after POLITICO’s reporting on his connections to the industry. House Democrats began an investigation in April into EPA air pollution chief Bill Wehrum’s ties to his old law firm, Hunton Andrews Kurth, and especially the Utility Air Regulatory Group, an influential collection of coal-heavy utilities that lobbied against climate regulations. As POLITICO reported in February, 25 power companies and six industry trade groups agreed to pay the firm a total of $8.2 million in 2017, the same year President Donald Trump tapped Wehrum to join the EPA.
Biggest East Coast Refinery to Close, Driving Up Fuel Prices
Jeffrey Bair and Barbara J Powell, Bloomberg, June 26, 2019
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said Wednesday the refinery will close within the next month. The complex produces 335,000 barrels a day, meeting about 3% of gasoline demand in a densely populated region. Futures in New York jumped more than 5% on a Reuters report Tuesday night that the refinery would close. PES will lay off half of its 640 union workers and 130 salaried employees Wednesday, said a person familiar with the plans.
Listen: The Pebble Mine
Zakiya McCummings, June 21, 2019
by wp_sysadmin | Jun 25, 2019 | Home, News
Right Under Our Feet
Mark Green, API Energy Blog, June 25th, 2019
Ten years ago this month the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill died in Congress, and many still argue for a legislative solution to the challenge of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Happily for the United States, there’s a solution right under our feet – one that has led the way on emissions reductions, eclipsing what supporters of Waxman-Markey projected for their proposal, while fueling American economic growth and a range of consumer benefits. It’s natural gas. Together with advanced technologies, many of them innovated by our industry, abundant natural gas has been the agent for progress on multiple fronts. In the decade since Waxman-Markey, we’ve seen increased use of natural gas in fueling power generation become the primary reason U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are at their lowest levels in a generation.
Related:
How Democrats came to oppose natural gas
From the Washington Examiner’s Daily on Energy:
LABOR AND GREEN GROUP ALLIANCE ENDORSES NET-ZERO EMISSIONS BY 2050: The BlueGreen Alliance, whose members include the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club, released a platform called “solidarity for climate action” that presses for a national strategy to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions for the U.S. by 2050.
Their agenda includes “major” investments in domestic manufacturing and innovation, modernizing U.S. infrastructure, and a commitment to at least doubling funding of clean technology research, development, manufacturing, and deployment, including on carbon capture and storage.
The group also encourages increasing union participation throughout the economy, including in the clean technology sector. Unions have generally been skeptical of the Green New Deal and other aggressive decarbonization plans because of the potential to displace fossil fuel workers, so the endorsement of the BlueGreen Alliance for net-zero emissions is a big deal.
“Progress on #ClimateAction must include labor & environmental advocates agreeing on a path forward,” said Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., the chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s climate change subcommittee, in a Twitter post. “I applaud @BGAlliance for their work and I look forward to teaming up with its members to advance meaningful climate progress that lifts up American workers.”
by wp_sysadmin | Jun 24, 2019 | Home, News
May job numbers in Alaska up from last year’s
Associated Press, June 21, 2019
Alaska’s unemployment rate fell to 6.4 percent last month, which would be its lowest level in more than a decade. But the figure is preliminary and could still change; the state’s unemployment rate had stood at 6.5 percent since August. State labor department economist Karinne Wiebold says until there are several months of movement in a certain direction it is too early to say if this means anything. Federal labor statistics show the last time Alaska’s unemployment rate was 6.4 percent was December 2007. The state labor department says Alaska gained 900 jobs between May 2018 and last month. Construction added the most jobs during that time, followed by the oil and gas sector. Manufacturing, which the department says is mostly seafood processing, was down 600 jobs over that period.
Our Take: Great new for Alaska! Construction added the most jobs – let’s keep that trend going- legislators – please fund the capital budget!!!
Related:
Are legislators serving the people?
Russia Withholds Opinion on OPEC+ greement, Waiting for G20
Dina Khrennikova & Olga Tanas, Bloomberg, June 24, 2019
Russia is sticking to its wait-and-see approach on the future of the OPEC+ deal, while its neighbors Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan favor an extension of oil-production cuts due to expire this month. “We need to wait until the G-20 leaders’ meeting” in Japan this week, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters in St. Petersburg. “We’ll see what will be discussed there, how the economic situation will develop.” The Energy Ministry is still holding talks with Russian oil companies on OPEC+ pact options, according to Novak. Just a week remains before the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners will meet in Vienna to decide whether to prolong the deal. While Saudi Arabia has said a rollover “is almost in the bag for OPEC,” with some adjustments possible for non-OPEC countries, Russia, one of the architects of the current deal, has been holding back amid differing views from its biggest oil companies over the benefits of cooperation.
Blue States Roll Out Aggressive Climate Strategies. Red States Keep to the Sidelines.
Brad Plumer, The New York Times, June 21, 2019
At a time when the country is already deeply fractured along partisan lines, individual states are starting to pursue vastly different policies on climate change with the potential to cement an economic and social divide for years to come. A growing number of blue states are adopting sweeping new climate laws — such as New York’s bill, passed this week, to zero out net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 — that aim to reorient their entire economies around clean energy, transforming the way people get their electricity, heat their homes and commute to work. But these laws are passing almost exclusively in states controlled by Democrats, while Republican-led states have largely resisted enacting aggressive new climate policies in recent years. At the same time, the Trump administration is rolling back federal climate regulations, which means many red states now face even less pressure to shift away from coal power or gas-guzzling vehicles.
Our Take: Mandates vs. the Free Market. “States have always competed with each other for business by offering beneficial tax rates, labor laws or health care policies. However, some of the new climate policies are striving to be much more far-reaching, affecting so many different industries that they could reshape the geography of America’s economy.” Our money is on the free market approach.
Related:
House Democrats Spread ‘Lies’ About Climate Change And Hurricanes, Scientist Says
From the Washington Examiner’s Daily on Energy:
TRUMP URGES CALLS ON ASIAN NATIONS TO PROTECT OIL PASSING THROUGH THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ: Trump urged Asian countries Monday to do more to protect oil passing through Strait of Hormuz.
“China gets 91% of its Oil from the Straight, Japan 62%, & many other countries likewise,” Trump said in a Twitter post, misspelling “Strait.”
“So why are we protecting the shipping lanes for other countries (many years) for zero compensation?” Trump said. “All of these countries should be protecting their own ships on what has always been a dangerous journey. We don’t even need to be there in that the U.S. has just become (by far) the largest producer of Energy anywhere in the world!”
Of the 60% of global oil that travels by sea, about 30% of that traverses through the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. has accused Iran of attacking two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz this month.
While the U.S. is depending less on oil imports from the Middle East, it still imported more than 32,000 barrels of oil from Gulf countries in March, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Related:
A U.S.-Iran Conflict Could Impact Gas Markets Much More Than Oil
Oil Posts Best Week Since 2016 as Trump Calls Off Iran Raids
by wp_sysadmin | Jun 21, 2019 | Home, News
AGDC Management and Operational Updates
At it’s June 20th meeting, the AGDC board heard operational, technical and regulatory updates.
Some highlights:
- First third-party financial participation in Alaska LNG in 3 years. (BP and ExxonMobil)
- Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) anticipated June 28th
- AGDC underspending budget by 9% YTD
- $5m reduction in FY 19 contracted commitments
- 90-day public comment period July-September 2019
- FERC public meetings around state
- Final Environmental Impact Statement – March 2020
- Issuance of FERC Final Order – June 4, 2020
Our Take: Thumbs up to Governor Dunleavy for getting the project back-on-track with the private sector. The immediate reductions in spending, the focus on a commercially viable project and the commitment by the private sector to spend their money to get through the FERC process are great accomplishments.
EU leaders fail to agree on 2050 climate goal
Samuel Petrequin & Raf Casert, Associated Press, June 21, 2019
European Union leaders failed Thursday to back a plan to make the bloc’s economy carbon neutral by 2050 in spite of promises to protesters across the continent to fight harder against climate change. Ahead of a U.N. meeting in the fall, the proposal was relegated to a non-binding footnote in the final statement of Thursday’s summit of EU leaders in Brussels. “For a large majority of Member States, climate neutrality must be achieved by 2050,” the footnote read. However, for the change in approach to become an official target, all 28 EU countries need to back the change. The non-decision showed the rift between the western member states and the eastern nations on climate change. According to French president Emmanuel Macron and several other diplomatic sources, 24 countries including Britain, France and Germany supported the initiative, but were held back by Poland and three other nations which heavily depend on a fossil-fuel economy.
Call for Nominations and Comments for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska 2019 Oil and Gas Lease Sale
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Alaska State Office is issuing a call for nominations and comments on all available unleased tracts for the upcoming National Petroleum Reserve—Alaska (NPR-A) 2019 Oil and Gas Lease Sale.
