Today’s Key Takeaways: Energy Secretary tells oil industry tariff uncertainty short-term issue. Top Japanese gas importer looks at AKLNG. Betting big on Alaska gold mine. Trump moves to fast-track permitting.
OIL:
Energy Secretary Aims to Reassure Oil Bosses Amid Trade War
David Wethe, Alix Steel, Rigzone, April 25, 2025
Energy Secretary Chris Wright sought to reassure U.S. oil companies during a visit to Oklahoma.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright sought to reassure US oil companies during a visit to Oklahoma, saying turmoil from President Donald Trump’s trade war is apt to be fleeting and the administration fully supports more crude output.
“The uncertainty you are seeing around tariffs — that’s a short-term issue,” Wright said during an interview with Bloomberg Television at an energy conference in Oklahoma City. He later added: “We’re doing everything we can to encourage production.”
Wright, who previously ran one of the world’s biggest fracking-service providers, said the uncertainty roiling the broader market is because the US in the midst of negotiating more favorable trade deals. He predicted it would only last “a few more weeks.”
When it comes to oil production, Wright said the Trump administration is focused on tearing down barriers to make it cheaper and easier to pump crude and natural gas.
Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum appeared at the event hosted by shale billionaire Harold Hamm as oil prices have plunged more than 10% this month in the wake of Trump’s trade war and a decision by OPEC to beef up a production increase scheduled for later this year. For 14 consecutive days, West Texas Intermediate futures have settled below $65 a barrel — the price many companies need to break even on new wells.
GAS:
Japan’s Top Gas Importer Considers Buying From Alaska LNG
Reina Sasaki, Bloomberg, April 27, 2025
Jera Co. could procure liquefied natural gas from a proposed export project in Alaska, as part of Japan’s efforts to negotiate a trade deal with the US.
“We see Alaska as one promising procurement source,” Naohiro Maekawa, an executive at the world’s biggest LNG buyer, said at a press conference on Monday.
The long-delayed $44 billion Alaska LNG facility is trying to court Asian importers, including Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, and has become a pet project of US President Donald Trump. The plant has been proposed in various forms for decades but has struggled to secure binding long-term contracts and investment. It requires the construction of a pipeline stretching more than 800 miles (1,300 kilometers).
It is important to further diversify the company’s procurement portfolio, Maekawa said, adding that the US accounts for about 10%. The company doesn’t currently have a specific figure for how much the US share will increase.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said earlier this month that the project should be included in a trade package. South Korea may also consider participating. The US is seeking a summit to discuss the project with Japan and South Korea’s ministers on June 2, the New York Times reported.
Tokyo Gas, another Japanese LNG buyer, said it is also monitoring Alaska LNG.
“We will keep a close eye on the project,” Tokyo Gas Chief Financial Officer Taku Minami said at a briefing on Monday. The company isn’t in talks to increase imports of US LNG in 2026, he added.
MINING:
After 15 Years, John Paulson Is Finally Winning Big on Gold
Caitlin McCabe, Joe Wallace, Wall Street Journal, April 27, 2025 (subscription required)
Billionaire is spending $800 million to buy a big stake in an Alaskan mine
John Paulson made a vast fortune betting against the U.S. housing market in what was dubbed “the greatest trade ever.” And his next act—a yearslong wager on gold—is finally turning out to be another great trade.
More than a decade and a half after Paulson went big on gold, the billionaire investor has emerged as one of the winners from the record-setting surge in the price of the precious metal.
President Trump’s trade war and threats to fire the head of the Federal Reserve shook confidence in the dollar and propelled gold prices above $3,500 a troy ounce last week. Gold rose this year even as stocks and bonds floundered.
Rather than cashing out, Paulson is doubling down, tossing in $800 million to buy a big stake in a remote gold mine in a rugged region of southwestern Alaska.
“There’s only one reserve that in physical form will protect you against all these things for literally millennia,” said Paulson, rattling off a list of scenarios ranging from inflation to the confiscation of assets by governments.
Gold has been prized at least as far back as ancient Egypt, where King Tut was buried with a golden mask. It functioned for a long time as the bedrock of the monetary system. While President Richard Nixon unpegged the dollar from gold in 1971, tons of the metal still sits at Fort Knox and in central-bank reserves globally.
Survivalists and big money managers alike assert that gold is a proven hedge against various shocks: inflation, war, catastrophe, and currency devaluation. Most of those crises aren’t currently materializing in the U.S. But global geopolitical tensions, combined with a sliding dollar and expectations that central banks will keep buying the metal, have strengthened Paulson’s conviction in bullion.
POLITICS:
TRUMP TAKES STEPS TO FAST-TRACK PERMITTING: The administration has also announced plans to dramatically slash the typically yearslong permitting process to less than a month for nearly all energy and mining projects on federal lands, except for solar and wind power.
The details: Interior unveiled new emergency permitting procedures yesterday, offering more relief for the fossil fuel industry and a select few clean energy projects. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the measures were designed to expedite the reviewing and approval process for energy and mining projects needing leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, generation, or exploration permits. The process is intended to be completed in 28 days at the most.
The department also plans to use its emergency authority under existing regulations for the National Environmental Policy, Endangered Species, and National Historic Preservation acts to speed up reviews.
What’s included: In its announcement, the Interior Department issued a list of the different energy sources that can receive these fast-track permits:
- Crude Oil
- Natural Gas
- Lease Condensates
- Natural gas liquids
- Refined petroleum products
- Uranium
- Coal
- Biofuels
- Geothermal Energy
- Kinetic hydropower
- Critical minerals
Renewables like solar and wind power were notably absent. Trump has expressed disdain for the renewable energy industry, but solar power has dominated domestic energy growth in recent years. In 2024, it was the largest source of new energy capacity (around 50 gigawatts) added to the national grid.
Read more from Callie here.