Today’s Key Takeaways: Pantheon test North Slope well. AIDEA looks go Japan for LNG investment. Trump metal tariffs draw retaliation. AK youth plaintiffs will appeal dismissal of climate lawsuit against AKLNG.
OIL:
Pantheon Resources to test North slope well
Alex Procyk, Oil and Gas Journal, March 3, 2025
Pantheon Resources plc will test multiple zones of the Megrez-1 well on Alaska’s North Slope before the end of March 2025.
- The well intersected multiple zones
- Flow testing of the shallowest zones will start before the end of March
- Expected flow rates are 200-2,000 b/d for any specific zone
Pantheon Resources plc will test multiple zones of the Megrez-1 well on Alaska’s North Slope before the end of March 2025.
The well was directionally drilled from the western side of the Dalton Highway on about a 45° angle. It pierced multiple horizons, and data from logs, cores, cuttings and seismic indicate seven discrete interpreted pay zones.
Integration of Megrez-1 drilling data is sufficiently complete to begin well operations. Completion and flow testing programs will cover more than six horizons beginning with Topset 1 of the Upper Schrader Bluff and working up the well to Lower Sagavanirktok zone 3, the shallowest interpreted pay zone. Flow tests will prioritize data quality rather than maximize initial flow rates increase understanding of the reservoirs and optimize future appraisal and development.
Detailed core analysis indicates average reservoir qualities in the deepest horizons more aligned with the Ahpun West topsets (1 md or less) while the permeabilities improve significantly in the shallower Prince Creek and Lower Sagavanirktok formations, even exceeding a Darcy in the shallowest horizons.
GAS:
Alaska agency pitches strong-arming Japan to finance LNG project
Ben Lefebvre, Zack Coleman, E & E News, March 12, 2025(subscription required)
The state development group suggested leveraging the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the U.S. and Japan to draw investment for the $44 billion project.
The Alaska state development agency is seeking to press Japan into investing in a massive natural gas export project by tying it to the Asian nation’s decades-old security agreement with the United States.
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority has promised backing for the Alaska LNG project that has for years struggled to attract the tens of billions of dollars in financing needed to build the 800-mile pipeline and gas liquefaction plant for the Alaska LNG project that would allow North Slope gas to be exported to Japan and other Asian customers. But the high cost and difficulty building the project has kept it from proceeding since it was first proposed more than a decade ago.
But in its latest presentation to Alaska’s Senate Finance Committee dated Feb. 17, the authority said President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade tactics had changed the economic picture.
MINING:
Trump metals tariffs draw swift retaliation from Canada and EU
Reuters/Mining.Com, March 12, 2025
President Donald Trump’s increased tariffs on all US steel and aluminum imports took effect on Wednesday, stepping up a campaign to reorder global trade in favor of the US and drawing swift retaliation from Canada and Europe.
Trump’s action to bulk up protections for American steel and aluminum producers restores effective tariffs of 25% on all imports of the metals and extends the duties to hundreds of downstream products, from nuts and bolts to bulldozer blades and soda cans.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said nothing could stop the tariffs and Trump would impose trade protections on copper as well.
Canada, the biggest foreign supplier of steel and aluminum to the United States, announced 25% retaliatory tariffs on goods including steel, aluminum, computers, sports equipment and other products worth C$29.8 billion in total.
POLITICS:
Alaska youth plaintiffs plan to appeal dismissal of lawsuit challenging $44B gas pipeline
Sean Maguire, Anchorage Daily News, March 11, 2025
Eight young Alaskans are planning to appeal a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit that challenged the environmental impacts of Alaska’s planned natural gas pipeline.
The youth plaintiffs filed the lawsuit last year, arguing that the $44 billion project would unconstitutionally exacerbate climate change. The plaintiffs wanted the state to recognize a constitutional right to a life-sustaining climate system.
Anchorage Superior Court Judge Dani Crosby dismissed the legal challenge on Monday as being beyond judicial review. She noted that the Alaska Legislature has passed laws in support of constructing the 800-mile pipeline from the North Slope for export.
“This Court lacks the authority to second guess the legislature’s policy choice,” Crosby said in her five-page order.
Crosby suggested to the youth plaintiffs that the courts were not the proper venue to challenge the Alaska LNG project
“Rather, direct engagement with their elected officials, participation in public awareness campaigns, or becoming involved with Alaska’s political process is the proper means to effectuate change,” she said.
Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor welcomed the court’s dismissal of the case. He said in a prepared statement that the lawsuit implicated where decisions should be made in Alaska’s democratic system.