COVID 19
Dunleavy says Alaska is in a better position than other states to reopen some businesses
Remote but not removed, Alaska freezes out COVID 19
Treasury
warns large companies against applying for coronavirus loan program
Sylvan Lane, The Hill, April 23, 2020
The Trump administration on Thursday advised large businesses with ample access to financial markets against applying for emergency coronavirus relief loans as some major companies face backlash for tapping aid for small businesses. In a set of guidelines released Thursday, the Treasury Department warned that valuable, publicly traded companies likely cannot say in good faith that they qualify for an emergency Small Business Administration (SBA) loan program to prevent layoffs and bankruptcies.
Related: Tweaks to SBA loan program could boost money flow to Alaska
OIL
Oil rallies more than 50% in two days in comeback from record lows
Oil and Gas 360, April 23, 2020
Oil jumped more than 30% on Thursday, accelerating the recent rally as the Street eyed continued production cuts and rising U.S.-Iranian tensions. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose 30%, or $4.18, to trade at $17.96 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded 11.8% higher at $22.79 per barrel. On Wednesday, WTI jumped 19.1% — one of its best days on record. In just two days, from Tuesday’s settle price of $11.57 to Thursday’s session high of $18.24, WTI has gained 57%.
The
Chinese Trick That Could Save Oil
Irina Slav, OILPRICE.com, April 22, 2020
China is buying cheap oil to fill its strategic oil reserves–a move that could save the oil industry. But can it really save the entire global oil industry? Some say yes, while others claim it is merely magical thinking.
GAS
Hendrix bid to acquire Furie revived with AIDEA loan
Elwood Brehmer, Alaska Journal of Commerce, April 22, 2020
An Alaskan bid for a struggling Cook Inlet gas producer appears to be back on following revisions to a state-backed loan for the purchase. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority board of directors on April 15 approved technical changes to a March 4 resolution authorizing a loan up to $7.5 million to Hex LLC, a company formed late last year by longtime Alaska oil and gas industry player John Hendrix. Hendrix, through Hex, submitted the winning $15 million bid in a December bankruptcy auction for Furie Operating Alaska, a small Texas-based natural gas producer that operates the Kitchen Lights Unit and has contracts to supply a handful of Southcentral utilities.
MINING
Electric
car sales expected to weather massive pandemic hit
Abby Smith, The Washington Examiner, April 23, 2020
The pandemic could cut electric car sales in half this year, but it ultimately won’t veer the United States off course as it heads toward increasing levels of electric vehicles on the roads in the next decade. Instead, despite the big hit to electric vehicle sales expected in 2020, auto analysts say they aren’t seeing indications the global pandemic is changing the long-term trends pushing automakers toward electric cars. That’s even with extremely low gas prices prompted by the collapse in oil markets.
Our Take: More electric cars, more mining…
POLITICS
Another
Small Business Headache: Some Employees Are Asking To Be Laid Off Thanks To
Higher Unemployment Benefits
Sarah Hansen, Forbes, April 22, 2020
Because of the expanded unemployment benefits in the CARES Act—an extra $600 per week from the federal government on top of state benefits—some employers that have scored coveted emergency loans for small businesses are now finding themselves stuck between the terms of their loan and employees who are asking to be laid off. Here’s the breakdown.