News of the Day: How Would You Balance Alaska’s Budget?
From our Friends at Commonwealth North:
What would you do?
With no savings to prop up spending, the Governor and Legislature face difficult choices to balance the state’s budget. We know Alaskans have some ideas about how to do just that. Commonwealth North asked Alaskans to help develop a tool to illustrate these budget choices. We focused on those programs with 80 percent or more of program costs covered by the general fund. There are other options too, but we chose to focus on the budget items with the greatest impact on filling the gap. After completing your budget choices, there’s a place for you to add any other ideas you may have.
The confidential budget choices submitted by Alaskans will be shared with the Governor and Legislature. By better understanding the difficult choices they will make in Juneau and sharing your preferences here, its our hope that we can help chart a path to Alaska’s fiscal future.
OIL
Oil prices up 3% as U.S. crude inventories fall, hurricane hits output
Oil & Gas 360, September 16, 2020
Oil prices rose for a second day on Wednesday, gaining about 3% on an unexpected decrease in U.S. crude inventories and as Hurricane Sally forced a swath of U.S. offshore production to shut. U.S. crude stocks fell by 4.4 million barrels last week to 496 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.3 million-barrel rise, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. [EIA/S] Brent crude LCOc1 was up $1.11, or 2.7%, at $41.64 a barrel by 10:59 a.m. EDT (1459 GMT), while U.S. crude CLc1 added $1.24, or 3.2%, to $39.52.
GAS
Gas will ‘Underpin Transition from Oil to Energy:’ BP
William Powell, Natural Gas World, September 15, 2020
BP is changing course, heading for a low to net zero carbon future, where integrated markets, sophisticated trading and natural gas will help fill the income gap left by oil and petrochemicals. Natural and renewable gas will form the backbone of the newly reinvented oil major BP’s ultimate goal of a low – and net zero – carbon future, said the executive vice president for gas and low carbon energy Dev Sanyal. He was speaking on September 15, the second day of BP Week. As part of the series of webinars to convince the market that BP’s radical shift in its business – from primarily oil, refining and gas to one focused on power and energy trading – he said that gas was the enabler of firm sales of electrical energy. Renewable energy that is firm will require battery storage that is not yet commercially available at scale.
MINING
THE GLOBAL GRAPHITE MARKET IS EXPECTED TO REACH ~US$ 39 BN BY THE END OF THE FORECAST PERIOD 2019-2029
The Daily Chronicle, September 15, 2020
Worldwide sales of graphite reached ~3,100 (‘000 Tons) in 2018, according to a recent report published by PMR on graphite market. According to the study, the graphite market is projected to grow at ~6% CAGR during the forecast period of 2019-2029. Graphite is considered as one of the strongest, thinnest, and stiffest impermeable materials on earth, with good thermal and electrical conductivity, and very high energy efficiency. Commercialization of graphene with application of latest technologies and innovations is expected to lift the graphite market over the stipulated timeframe. The global graphite market was valued at ~US$ 18 Bn in 2018, and is expected to reach ~US$ 39 Bn by the end of the forecast period. According to the brief research, China is expected to display remarkable production of graphite in terms of supply, and hold the largest share among all countries across the globe.
How about producing graphite in Alaska? America’s highest grade and largest known, large flake graphite deposit
POLITICS
GOP fears Alaska gold mine politics could stymie support for other projects
Abby Smith, The Washington Examiner, September 10, 2020
Politics threatening to derail approval of a large gold and copper mine in Alaska have Republican lawmakers worried that other mining projects around the country could face similar fates. “No president has done more for American mining and American mineral security than President Trump,” said Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican and the chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus. “However, on Pebble Mine, they were simply wrong.” “More importantly, we can’t let this process be an example of how we do or don’t permit mining in America,” Gosar told the Washington Examiner, adding that domestic mining is critical for U.S. national security. “It should be a process driven not by radical NIMBYism but science, with an eye on making America more secure and the global mining footprint better.”