OIL
AIDEA-Oil Search MOU eyes Pikka Project
Elwood Brehmer, Alaska Journal of Commerce, August 12, 2020
Officials at Alaska’s state development bank are in early talks to fund basic infrastructure development at the largest North Slope oil project in decades. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority board of directors approved a preliminary memorandum of understanding with Oil Search Alaska LLC on Aug. 5 to investigate the viability of the authority financing road and bridge construction for the Pikka Unit project the company is advancing on the central North Slope. Oil Search Vice President of External Affairs Joe Balash said the Papua New Guinea-based producer envisions the arrangement being similar to that for the 52-mile DeLong Mountain Transportation System for the Red Dog zinc mine in Northwest Alaska, in which AIDEA took ownership of the infrastructure, sold bonds to fund construction and recouped the investment through tolls paid by the mining company.
GAS
Jihadists seize key port in gas-rich northern Mozambique
Joaquim Nhamirre, Yahoo News, August 12, 2020
Islamist militants occupied a key port in gas-rich northern Mozambique on Wednesday following days of attacks claimed by an Islamic State-affiliated group, a military source and local media said. “The port of Mocimboa da Praia was captured by the terrorists at dawn,” the Moz24Horas website reported, while a military source told AFP that the small town and its port had “fallen”. The assault is the latest in an intensifying insurgency in the country’s north since 2017 which has killed more than 1,000 people and complicated plans to develop its offshore gas reserves.
MINING
Donlin a valuable key asset for Barrick
Shane Lasley, North of 60 Mining News, August 12, 2020
Barrick Gold Corp. President and CEO Mark Bristow believes Donlin Gold is “a very valuable asset” that is both blessed and challenged by its location. “If you look at Donlin compared to some of the other assets in our portfolio, it’s a pure gold play, it’s in a mining-friendly jurisdiction, it’s just in a very challenging geographical setting,” he said during Barrick Gold’s second quarter webinar on Aug. 10. Barrick and its executive office have recently been more candid about Donlin Gold and the work being carried out there, including a press release last week detailing results from the 2020 optimization drill program at the 39-million-ounce gold mine project.
POLITICS
Biden VP Pick Has Record of Fighting Oil Industry
Jennifer Dlouhy, Rigzone, August 12, 2020
Less than two hours after Kamala Harris was named Joe Biden’s running mate, President Donald Trump had cast the California Democrat as an oil industry and fracking foe. “She is against fracking. She’s against petroleum products,” Trump said at a White House news conference Tuesday. “I mean, how do you do that and go into Pennsylvania or Ohio or Oklahoma or the great state of Texas? She’s against fracking. Fracking’s a big deal.”
Harris’s positions on the issue put her to the left of Biden, who has made clear he would not seek an outright ban on fracking, which could only be imposed through congressional action. Nevertheless, Harris and Biden have both promised to curtail oil and gas development on federal lands and waters managed by the U.S. government. And a senior campaign official reiterated last month that Biden would block new fracking on federal lands.