Today’s Key Takeaways: Oil up with different supply options. Worley begins work to finalize cost estimate for AKLNG. More success for U.S. Gold at Alaska’s Whistler project. Big, beautiful bill and battery production decline.
OIL:
Oil Up as Market Weighs Different Supply Possibilities
Anthony Harrup, The Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2025
Oil picks up from the previous day’s selling with the market juggling opposing geopolitical and supply scenarios. Recent sideways trading reflects changing expectations around supply and demand, George Pavel of Naga.com Middle East says in a note. The U.S. blocking Chevron from exporting Venezuelan crude has tightened supply, and the prospect of further U.S. sanctions on Russian energy exports reinforces the potential for a rebound. That’s offset by expectations of another large OPEC+ output increase for July and U.S.-Iran nuclear talks that hold potential for a return of Iranian barrels, he adds. “Production increases over recent months, combined with a build-up in U.S. crude inventories, indicate a market increasingly leaning toward surplus.” WTI is up 1.4% at $61.75 a barrel and Brent gains 1.3% to $64.
GAS:
$44 billion Alaska LNG approaching FID: Partner hunt underway, Worley on final engineering duty
Melissa Cavcic, Offshore Energy, May 28, 2025
By putting Australia’s Worley in charge of the final engineering works, Glenfarne Alaska LNG, a subsidiary of Glenfarne Group, is edging closer to a final investment decision (FID) for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project in Alaska, as a majority owner and lead developer together with its joint venture partner, the State of Alaska’s Alaska Gasline Development Corporation.
Glenfarne has disclosed that Worley, tasked with undertaking additional engineering and preparing a final cost estimate for the Alaska LNG pipeline in sufficient detail to achieve FID for the project, has begun its assignment. The firm will use and supplement the package of previously completed engineering work and update the cost of the pipeline.
In addition, the company has been selected as the preferred engineering firm for the Cook Inlet Gateway LNG import terminal and project delivery advisor to Glenfarne across the Alaska LNG projects. The lead developer of this LNG project has launched a strategic partner selection process to team up with companies that support its execution efforts and have complementary expertise to help bring this development to life.
MINING:
U.S. GoldMining Highlights Northern Exploration Targets at the Whistler Gold-Copper Project, Alaska
U.S. GoldMining, PR, May 27, 2028
U.S. GoldMining Inc. (NASDAQ: USGO) (“U.S. GoldMining” or the Company“) is pleased to provide further detail regarding its high priority exploration targets for the northern part of its Whistler Gold-Copper Project (the “Whistler Project” or the “Project“) in Alaska, U.S.A.
Highlights:
- The Whistler – Raintree mineral system, also referred to as the ‘Whistler Orbit‘, comprises a classic ‘porphyry cluster’ spread over an area of approximately 5 x 5 km, containing multiple mapped and interpreted porphyry intrusions and including the established Whistler and Raintree West mineral resource deposits. Porphyry deposits are the primary source of copper globally and can also contain significant other metals such as gold, silver, and molybdenum.1 Whistler represents a gold-rich variant of the porphyry family.
- Over 25 individual exploration targets are identified within the Whistler Orbit area, comprising a mix of mapped diorite porphyry rocks and/or surface geochemical anomalies, and interpreted diorite porphyry stocks and dykes from 3D magnetic modelling.
- The potential for new discoveries within the Whistler Orbit was exemplified by the recently announced drilling results south of Raintree West deposit (see news release dated February 10, 2025) which included 138.0 m at 0.99 g/t AuEq (comprised of 0.89 g/t Au and 0.05% Cu) plus 17.57 g/t Ag, 0.44% Pb and 0.95% Zn, located 500 meters south of the Raintree West deposit in an area with no previous drilling.
- The Company’s 100% owned Whistler Project, which lies within the emerging West Susitna Mineral District located just 100 miles west of Anchorage, Alaska, encompasses a contiguous land package of 53,700 acres of State mining claims. The footprint of the existing gold-copper deposits makes up <1% of the total Project area.
- The Company is currently planning for potential future exploration programs to test the highest-ranking gold ± copper ± silver targets identified to date and to develop phased exploration programs which could commence this coming summer.
Tim Smith, Chief Executive Officer of U.S. GoldMining, commented: “The Whistler Gold-Copper Project is located within the West Susitna Mineral District, which contains established gold, copper and silver mineral resources, plus potential for other critical metals such as antimony and tungsten. The Whistler Project located just 105 miles from Anchorage, Alaska, encompasses three known mineral systems containing existing gold-copper-silver deposits and numerous additional potential exploration targets. Located in the north of the claim group, the Whistler-Raintree Mineral System already contains two of the three deposits delineated to date and over 25 additional individual potential exploration targets identified over an area of approximately 5 x 5 km. Also known as the Whistler Orbit, this area is underlain by a large causative batholith which has spawned a ‘porphyry cluster’ of multiple high-level intrusive bodies prospective for porphyry-style gold-copper-silver mineralization. We have an established exploration methodology, including the ability to directly image the intrusive bodies by inversion modeling of magnetic survey data coupled with geochemical and alteration data that is helping to vector exploration towards the highest priority targets. We are excited about the potential for systematic exploration to unlock additional resource growth at Whistler.”
POLITICS:
U.S. Battery Production Set to Decline 75% Under Trump’s ‘Big Bill’
Bill Kimani, OilPrice.Com, <ay 2028, 2025
- Council on Clean Transportation: Trump’s big, beautiful bill could slash U.S. battery production by ~75% by 2030 to 250 GWh from the previously projected 1,050 gigawatt-hours, and EV sales by 40%.
- The bill would eliminate 130,000 potential jobs in the EV sector by 2030.
- Red and purple states including Texas, Michigan, Nevada, Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia, would be the most adversely impacted if the bill were to become law.
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed what’s been dubbed the “big, beautiful bill”, with the legislation designed to leverage deep cuts to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) credits to pay for tax cuts, immigration enforcement and extra spending on defense. The contentious bill is now headed for the Senate, where it faces its final test, with all Democrats but only a handful of GOP lawmakers critical of the huge increase it will bring to the national debt. According to a recent analysis by the International Council on Clean Transportation, the bill, coupled with cuts to other climate policies, could slash U.S. battery production by ~75% by 2030 to 250 GWh from the previously projected 1,050 gigawatt-hours, and EV sales by 40%.