OIL
Oil jumps 18% in fifth day of gains on demand recovery and production cuts
Oil & Gas 360, May 5, 2020
Oil prices surged on Tuesday as optimism around ongoing production cuts and a recovery in demand with the reopening of economies around the world pushed prices higher.
Goldman Sachs Predicts $51 Oil in 2021
Tsvetana Paraskova, OILPRICE.com, May 4, 2020
Goldman Sachs raised its estimate for WTI Crude prices in 2021 to $51.38 per barrel from $48.50, expecting a gradual recovery in global oil demand and production cuts from OPEC+ and shut-ins elsewhere to support oil prices next year. “Oil production has started to decline quickly from a combination of scaleback in activity, shut-ins and core-OPEC/Russia production cuts,” Goldman Sachs Equity Research said in a note carried by Reuters. “Demand is also beginning to recover from a low base, led by a restarting Chinese economy and in transportation demand in developed market economies,” analysts at Goldman Sachs said in the note.
GAS
Has
the coronavirus pandemic affected gas and LNG as badly as oil?
Matthew Farmer, Offshore Technology, May 4, 2020
The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has had a ruinous impact on global oil markets, but gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) businesses also face downturns, albeit less significant. Offshore Technology takes a look at how gas and LNG markets are coping.
MINING
State
confirms support for completing mine project
Margaret Bauman, The Cordova Times, May 3, 2020
Alaska Department of Natural Resources officials are urging full speed ahead by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in completing the Pebble mine project final environmental impact statement. “We strongly encourage you to adhere to your defined NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) schedule,” DNR Commissioner Corri Feige said in a recent letter to Col. Phillip Borders, Alaska District Engineer with USACE. “With economic impacts felt at the federal, state and local levels from COVID-19 and the current oil prices, we should be doing everything in our authority and ability to keep projects of statewide importance moving forward.”
POLITICS
House
Democrats want to slow down Alaska oil project
Heather Richards, E & E News Reporter, May 5, 2020
Several House Democrats want the Department of the Interior to tap the brakes on an oil and gas project in Alaska, adding to criticism targeting the department’s pivot to virtual public hearings during the coronavirus-driven pandemic. ConocoPhillips’ Willow Master Development Plan, under review by the Bureau of Land Management, would expand the oil and gas company’s drilling activities along the eastern border of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska on the Arctic Coast in the northern part of the state by drilling up to 250 new wells, laying pipelines and building associated infrastructure.
Our Take: This project is critical to Alaska’s economy. Critics who claim that virtual meetings limited participation need to look at the data – “The livestream had more than 2,000 “unique views” compared with approximately 250 in-person attendees during previous Willow hearings held in six towns and cities,” said BLM. Enough said.
COVID 19
Alaska’s fate in massive Paycheck Protection Program rests on the shoulders of local bankers
Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media, May 4, 2020
Northrim Bank made 1,300 loans before the money ran out for Round One of the Paycheck Protection Program. The massive loan-a-thon for the Anchorage-based bank – the equivalent of three years’ worth of applications, in less than two weeks – required people to do jobs they never thought they’d do. “I would say 80% of our employees are directly involved in the process in some capacity or another,” said Northrim Chief Administration officer Amber Zins.