Today’s Key Takeaways: Drill, Baby, Drill out of reach? One Big Beautiful Bill and Alaska’s oil and gas. Alaska gold-copper project at Whistler is a standout!
OIL:
WHERE ‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’ STANDS: The Trump administration’s goal to “drill, baby, drill” keeps stretching out of reach, as the number of active drilling rigs in the U.S. has once again dropped.
Baker Hughes released the latest numbers of active domestic drilling rigs this afternoon, revealing that there are two fewer rigs when compared to last week and nearly 50 fewer than this time last year.
As of Friday, there were only 537 active drilling rigs in the U.S., down from 584 in 2024. Of the 47 rigs that have been dropped, Baker Hughes estimated that the majority were oil rigs. The U.S. has added at least eight new gas drilling rigs over the year.
The impact: The number of active drilling rigs has consistently decreased for months – having sat at around 587 active rigs in late April. Oil executives have warned that dropping prices combined with high tariffs on products like steel and aluminum have placed a lot of pressure on drillers, threatening future levels of production.
British oil major BP even admitted today that low oil prices are expected to hurt its second quarter earnings, by up to $800 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. Gas earnings are also set to be down as much as $300 million. Still, as tensions in the Middle East have settled and OPEC continues to unwind its production cuts, BP said it expects higher levels of production in the coming months.
Where prices sit now: As of around 2:30 p.m. both international and domestic benchmarks were poised to close on a high note, with both increasing by more than 2%. Brent Crude had jumped by 2.53% and was selling at $70.38 per barrel. Similarly, West Texas Intermediate rose by 2.79% and was priced at $68.50 per barrel.
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy, July 11, 2025
GAS:
Budget reconciliation bill aids Alaska oil development, but also presents near-term challenges with gas crisis
Alex DeMarban, Anchorage Daily News, July 13, 2025
The newly signed tax, spending and immigration bill seems likely to complicate efforts to resolve the natural gas crisis in Southcentral Alaska because it quashes Biden-era tax credits that supported wind and solar projects, people familiar with the state’s energy industry say.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act alsocould boost oil and gas development in the state, though it will be years before those benefits could pan out, they say.
With more lease sales on federal land and eased permitting requirements, the law opens the door for potential investment from the oil and gas industry, they say.
But whether those companies move through the door is another question because of the enormous cost of development in remote areas of Alaska.
“The bill solves the access issue of oil and gas development, but the economics still remain challenged,” said Brad Keithley, a former oil and gas attorney and longtime industry observer in Alaska.
He said the bill moves the needle about 3 points on future oil and gas production in Alaska, out of 10.
Sullivan: A ‘giant home run’
President Donald Trump signed the bill into law on July 4, extending tax cuts implemented in 2017 and taking unprecedented steps to overhaul the federal government.
The bill, which was aggressively opposed byDemocratic lawmakers, has faced sharp criticism for benefiting the wealthy while making massive cuts to social safety net programs, including Medicaid and food assistance.
Alaska-favorable provisions in the law that the state’s all-Republican congressional delegation fought to include are meant to blunt those impacts in the state.
The Alaska perks also helped win a key vote from U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Murkowski was unavailable for an interview for this story. U.S. Rep. Nick Begich’s office did not respond to requests for an interview.
Alaska’s congressional delegation has celebrated several aspects of the bill, including that it will boost Coast Guard spending by billions of dollars for polar ships and provide $300 million to homeport an icebreaker in Juneau.
MINING:
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, July 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ – U.S. GoldMining Inc. (NASDAQ: USGO) (“U.S. GoldMining” or “the Company“) is advancing the Whistler Gold-Copper Project (“Whistler” or “the Project“), located in Alaska, U.S.A. As the Company progresses its previously announced initial assessment study (“PEA“) (see news release dated June 9, 2025), it is closely tracking consensus and spot metal prices, and is encouraged by the price of copper which has risen approximately 14% over the past month, and is up approximately 20% compared to the same time last year.
Tim Smith, Chief Executive Officer of U.S. GoldMining, commented: “We believe that the existing gold-copper-silver deposits already delineated at the Project, combined with district-scale exploration potential and proximity to existing and planned future infrastructure in south-central Alaska, makes the Project stand out among other American gold-copper projects. Whistler is further poised to benefit from recent increases in the price of gold, copper and silver, the three metals contained within the Whistler mineral resources. Current federal policy further emphasizes the advantage for U.S.-based gold-copper developers such as U.S. GoldMining, and as an American domiciled company with a project located in the Tier 1 jurisdiction of Alaska, the Company is positioned to benefit as domestic copper supply becomes increasingly vital. We believe U.S. GoldMining offers investors a compelling opportunity to gain exposure to both gold and copper upside as demand accelerates.”
Over the past six months, the U.S. federal administration has begun to implement initiatives to speed up the permitting processes for potential future U.S. mine development projects which are crucial to securing domestic resource security. Additionally, the Trump administration’s action on trade policy, including the recent announcement of a proposed 50% tariff on foreign copper imports into the United States on July 8, 2025, which is aimed at strengthening America’s critical minerals independence, sent the price of copper to all-time highs. For U.S. GoldMining, it marks a potential inflection point for the Company’s flagship Project, with district-scale exploration potential and a large copper-gold-silver mineral resource in one of America’s most prospective and mining-friendly jurisdictions, Alaska.