News of the Day: We salute BP and Alaska Airlines for “lending a helping hand” to Alaska.
From BP Alaska President Janet Weiss:
We are very proud of our relationship with Alaska Airlines and we were inspired to lend a helping hand as they took quick action to step up their support for remote communities in this incredibly challenging time. It is our honor to partner with them to reinforce the supply chain in Alaska by providing 1 million gallons of jet fuel to support critical flying in the state of Alaska. BP will offset carbon emissions from the flights connected to the donated aviation fuel through the BP Target Neutral Program. Today, Alaska Airlines is also announcing that they are “paying it forward” by donating 1 million miles to the American Cancer Society of Alaska’s Flight Partner Program which ensures cancer patients in Alaska have access to transportation for treatments far from home. This donation helps replace the loss of air transportation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
OIL
Canadian
producers see markets stabilizing, offering hope for a rebound
Kevin Orland, World Oil, April 29, 2020
While global oil prices remain near multi-decade lows, the heads of two major Canadian crude producers see reasons for hope that the market will rebound in the months ahead. Cenovus Energy Inc. Chief Executive Officer Alex Pourbaix said he’s seeing demand for refined products in China start to return to pre-pandemic levels. He expects a similar scenario may play out in North America as U.S. states and Canadian provinces begin to relax distancing measures in the months ahead.
Oil jumps 22% on smaller-than-expected inventory build, optimism around reopening economies
GAS
Gas
industry group sees good time for fuel switch
Matthew V. Veazey, Rigzone, April 29, 2020
“As the cleanest burning fossil fuel, natural gas has a key role in providing reliable and cleaner energy to all,” IGU President Joe Kang remarked in a written statement emailed Monday to Rigzone. “Even in the most developed markets, affordability and reliability of clean energy is a key issue and switching to natural gas offers an enormous opportunity.”
MINING
Supreme
Court ruling could be set-back for proposed mine near Haines
Clair Stremple, Alaska’s Energy Desk, April 29, 2020
The Supreme Court ruled last week that the Clean Water Act applies to pollutants that reach protected waters, even from a distance. Conservationists say it’s a win for clean water. It could mean stricter permitting is required for Constantine Metal Resources’ expansion plans for a mine project near Haines. But state regulators remain tight-lipped about what might happen next.
But Gene McCabe, the manager of the state’s wastewater program, wrote in an email that it’s too soon to tell if the Maui case applies to Constantine. He and other regulators are still waiting on the results of a tracer dye study they requested from the company. The study’s results should reveal whether or not there’s significant connectivity between the groundwater and the surface water.
POLITICS
Biden floats climate Cabinet position. That’s complicated
COVID 19
Data
on Gilead drug raises hopes in pandemic fight, Fauci calls it ‘highly significant’
Deena Beasley, Manis Mishra, Reuters, April 29, 2020
A top U.S. health official said Gilead Sciences Inc’s experimental antiviral drug remdesivir is likely to become the standard of care for COVID-19 after early results from a key clinical trial on Wednesday showed it helped certain patients recover more quickly from the illness caused by the coronavirus.
SBA
limits business loans to small lenders
Zachary Warmbrodt, Politico, April 29, 2020
The Small Business Administration on Wednesday said it would temporarily restrict incoming applications for emergency small business loans to only those submitted by the country’s tiniest lenders, an unprecedented move by the agency as it triaged hundreds of thousands of incoming requests for aid. The SBA told banks that for the rest of the day, starting at 4 p.m., its systems would accept only so-called Paycheck Protection Program loan applications from lenders with less than $1 billion in assets, representing the smallest in the industry.