by wp_sysadmin | Sep 30, 2020 | News
OIL
I think our best strategy is to milk the legacy fields for every dollar we can get, then cut and run.
GAS
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy:
HMM…VOTERS IN GAS-PRODUCING AREAS CONFUSED BY BIDEN’S ENERGY STANCE: Biden is down 13 points to Trump in natural gas-producing counties of western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, according to polling out Wednesday by ALG Research, as voters struggle to understand how the former vice president’s policies would affect them.
The survey of 500 likely voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania was conducted Aug. 26 through Sept. 1, with an oversampling (200 voters) in gas-producing counties.
The results make the case that Biden has an opportunity to better define himself to voters in fossil-fuel regions when he makes a campaign trip by train today through eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
“Biden should more clearly explain his energy and climate views to pick up support,” said Paul Bledsoe, strategic adviser for the Progressive Policy Institute, which commissioned the poll.
At the moment, voters in these gas-producing counties don’t know where Biden stands on energy, with 22% saying he is pro-natural gas, 42% saying he is anti-natural gas, and 36% not sure. Unsurprisingly, a larger percentage, 65%, are sure Trump is pro-natural gas
MINING
Kinross to acquire 70% of Peak Gold in Alaska for $93m
Northern Mining Staff, Mining.Com, September 30, 2020
Kinross Gold (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) says it plans to strengthen its medium-term production and cash flow profile with the $93.7 million acquisition of the Peak Gold project in Alaska, about 400 km southeast of its Fort Knox mine. The open-pit project, which is expected to start production in 2024, will be “a low-risk ‘tuck-in’” to leverage the company’s existing mill and infrastructure at its Fort Knox mine, and is forecast to produce a total of about 1 million gold-equivalent ounces over four and a half years at mining grades of 6 grams per tonne, Kinross said.
POLITICS
Ballot Measure 1 will hurt Alaska’s struggling nonprofit groups
Flora Theo, Anchorage Daily News, September 29, 2020
OVID-19 has done a number on Alaska’s nonprofit community. Most of the major fundraising events were either canceled outright or scaled down and conducted virtually. Millions in revenues have been lost. Every nonprofit group in this state is nervous about the future. If we are going to recover, we will need more community support than ever. That means we need to defeat Ballot Measure 1.
Many nonprofits are clinging to life during the ongoing pandemic. Now is not the time to create barriers to growth for our state’s largest economic force. Oil and gas sets the pace in Alaska. The industry alone generates 38% of all wages in Alaska, and a quarter of all jobs. But those jobs are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the full social and economic impact of oil and gas in Alaska.
by wp_sysadmin | Sep 29, 2020 | News
OIL
What makes Alaska’s oil industry unique?
Darren Prokop, American Shipper, August 31, 2020
Two words: logistics and politics. These make Alaska’s oil industry unique. It is the longest domestic supply chain in the industry. Alaska’s North Slope is the nation’s most remote and coldest source of crude oil. This environment requires customized equipment able to handle months of subzero temperatures. Logistics is critical to keeping the oil flowing. But politics is critical too. Since Alaska’s government is cash-strapped right now due to low oil prices — and its dependency on the oil industry for 90% of its tax revenue — politicians watch the North Slope very carefully. Since practically all the land in the North Slope is owned by either the federal or state government, the oil companies must devote time and money to acquire leases and pay taxes on production. In Alaska, oil and politics are hard to separate.
GAS
Baker Hughes Announces Major LNG Turbomachinery Order from Qatar Petroleum
Africa News, September 29, 2020
Baker Hughes (NYSE: BKR) (www.BakerHughes.com) announced an order with longtime partner Qatar Petroleum to supply multiple main refrigerant compressors (MRCs) for Qatar Petroleum’s North Field East (NFE) project, executed by Qatargas. The total award is part of four LNG “mega trains,” representing 33 million tons per annum (MTPA) of additional capacity, which will increase Qatar’s total liquefied natural gas (LNG) production capacity from 77 MTPA to 110 MTPA and help to propel the Gulf nation to global LNG production leadership by 2025. This order is among the largest LNG deals secured by Baker Hughes in the past five years, for both MTPA and equipment awarded.
The order reinforces more than two decades of trust and successful turbomachinery collaboration between Baker Hughes, Qatar Petroleum and Qatargas. With Qatargas already operating six existing LNG “mega trains” driven by Frame 9E gas turbine refrigerant compressors provided by Baker Hughes, the NFE project underscores the leadership of Baker Hughes LNG technology in the Gulf region and for the world’s most complex LNG projects.
MINING
Nunavut government may support TMAC-SD Gold sale, but with conditions
Jane George, Nunatsiaq News, September 28, 2020
The Nunavut government has made a submission to federal reviewers now looking at the proposed sale of TMAC Resources Inc. to the Chinese-owned Shandong Gold Mining Co. Ltd. But, speaking on last week in the Nunavut legislature, Economic Development Minister David Akeeagok would not say whether the Government of Nunavut supported the proposed sale in its submission to the federal reviewers. In response to questions from Gjoa Haven MLA Tony Akoak, he said he did not want to comment more because the federal government is still in the middle of its review process. But Akeeagok did say any GN support would be contingent on SD Gold honoring the terms and conditions that are part of the previous environmental reviews and agreements with Inuit on jobs, training and other benefits.
POLITICS
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy:
API’S DEBATE MESSAGE: The American Petroleum Institute will be running a pair of ads during debate coverage Tuesday night as part of its ongoing multimillion-dollar “Energy for Progress” campaign aiming to sell the oil and gas industry as committed to combating climate change.
The ads, titled Solving Big Challenges Requires Energy and How America Is Leading The Way, call for “common ground in the energy debate in 2020 and beyond.”
by wp_sysadmin | Sep 28, 2020 | News
News of the Day:
Trump to approve $22B railway between Alaska and Alberta
Eye on the Arctic, September 28, 2020
U.S. President Donald Trump says he will grant approval to a $22-billion freight rail project connecting Alaska and Alberta. The president tweeted Friday that based on the recommendations of Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan and Congressman Don Young, he will be issuing a presidential permit approving the A2A Rail project.
The project would build a new rail line from Fort McMurray, Alta., through the Northwest Territories and Yukon to the Delta Junction in Alaska, where it will connect with existing rail and continue on to ports near Anchorage. The 2,570-kilometre railway could move cargo like oil, potash and ore, container goods, or even passengers.
OIL
Producer nations will have to compete to persuade companies to drill in their country.
Rochelle Toplensky, The Wall Street Journal, September 23, 2020
After decades of relative maturity, the oil market might be about to enter a second childhood.
Producer nations will have to compete to persuade companies to drill in their country. Geography and geology can’t be changed, but politicians can adjust taxes and regulations. The competition is going on now, says Alan Gelder of researchers Wood Mackenzie. Norway, Russia and Angola are among the countries considering new incentives.
GAS
Australia trims 2020-21 LNG export forecasts on COVID-19, production issues
S & P Global, Platts, September 28, 2020
Australia has cut forecasts for the country’s LNG exports for 2020-2021 (July-June) by some 6% to 75.6 million mt, citing the expected impacts of both the COVID-19 pandemic and domestic technical issues.
South and Southeast Asia to drive LNG demand growth
Chong Zhi Xin, Petroleum Economist, September 28, 2020
Power demand in South and Southeast Asia is growing at a blistering pace to meet the needs of its emerging nations. In recent years, coal has been the fuel of choice—being abundant and inexpensive—but this is at odds with the rise of sustainability, especially given growing concerns about climate change.
MINING
A lot riding on Alaska’s Pebble Mine
POLITICS
Joe Biden Wants to Make Almost Every Policy a Climate Change Policy
Timothy Puko, The Wall Street Journal, September 28, 2020
Joe Biden’s plans to make climate change a major focus across his administration if he wins the White House would have significant ramifications for both businesses and consumers.
The Democratic nominee seeks not just mass use of electric cars, as California’s governor mandated last week, but further changes across the economy, government and society: Electrified public and freight transportation, power plants running without greenhouse-gas emissions, and the placement of climate concerns at the center of social policies and diplomacy.
The plan comes with execution risks, potential unintended consequences and uncertainty about how it will play with voters. It would cost an estimated $1.7 trillion, more than 10 times what Barack Obama pledged to spend in a comparable proposal from his 2008 presidential campaign and would be paid for with tax increases on corporations and the wealthy.
by Owen Phillips | Sep 25, 2020 | General
Vote Yes on One folks are leading Alaskans to believe that $1.1 billion in tax revenue will be spent in the following way:
Creating 11,000 jobs that pay $100,000 annually 1.1 billion
Paying a full dividend 1.8 billion
Filling the budget deficit 2.3 billion
Total 5.2 billion
We see three major problems with this equation:
1. They’ve spent the 1.1 billion, 5 times over.
2.They don’t have the authority to make any determinations on how any revenue is spent.
3.There won’t be $1.1 billion in tax revenue. At current prices and production levels, there will be about $250 million.
by wp_sysadmin | Sep 24, 2020 | News
OIL
OIL EXECUTIVES FORECAST PEAK DEMAND, FEAR BIDEN WILL MAKE IT WORSE: Most executives (66%) from 154 oil and gas companies polled by the Dallas Fed said they believe U.S. oil production has peaked, according to a survey released Wednesday.
In comments attached to the survey, oil executives from companies active in Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana, expressed alarm about the state of the industry, especially if Joe Biden were to become president.
“A Biden administration would wreak havoc on our industry,” said one executive from an exploration and production firm. “It would put us out of business.” A second executive said, “A Biden administration would absolutely kill our industry.”
Another executive said, “we are in a period of energy transition away from fossil fuels,” and predicted “going forward, large investment pools of capital will not invest in petroleum.”
GAS
Amid growing concern over Arctic petroleum, big European lenders have confidence in Russia’s new grand LNG project
Atle Staalesen, The Barents Observer, September 21, 2020
A document obtained by the news agency shows that several of the world’s biggest lenders line up for participation in the major energy project now unfolding on the shore of great Gulf of Ob. The Arctic LNG 2 project will be one of the biggest industrial projects in the Arctic ever. By 2024, almost 20 million tons of liquified natural gas is to be annually produced and exported from the remote tundra of Gydan.
MINING
Tesla is getting into the mining business, buys lithium claim on 10,000 acres in Nevada
Fred Lambert, elektrek, September 23, 2020
Tesla is now officially getting into the mining business with a lithium claim on 10,000 acres in Nevada. At the Battery Day event yesterday, as part of its entire new battery supply strategy, Tesla announced that it is developing its own lithium processing method. Drew Baglino, SVP of engineering at Tesla, said: “We are going to use a new process that we will pioneer. It’s a sulfate-free process again, we skip the intermediate. It will result in a 33% reduction in lithium cost.” They didn’t go into too many details about that process. CEO Elon Musk added: “What is the best way to take the ore and extract the lithium and do so in an environmentally-friendly way? We have been looking at from a first principle physic standpoint instead of just the way it has always been done. We found that we can actually use table salt, sodium chloride, to basically extract the lithium from the ore. Nobody has done this before to the best of my knowledge.”
POLITICS
Congressional delegation: Resource development can be lifeline for Southeast
Peter Segall, The Juneau Empire, September 24, 2020
Southeast Alaska was hit harder than most other parts of the state by the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s congressional delegation told a digital conference room Wednesday morning. The delegation spoke to the Southeast Conference Annual Meeting, held digitally this year, and the state’s senators and representative offered their vision of an economic recovery for the region. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Don Young, both Alaska Republicans, spoke together, opening with an update on the delegation’s efforts in Washington. “Southeast was hurt probably more than any other part of the state,” Young said, citing the lackluster tourism and fishing seasons over the summer.
