Today’s Key Takeaways: Picking up where Shell left off. Japan hires Wood Mac to assess AKLNG. Exclusive VIP site visit in Alaska.
OIL:
A Texas firm is gearing up for a $150 million search for oil beneath the Arctic coast
Max Graham, Northern Journal, September 6, 2025
Narwhal Exploration is planning to pick up where Royal Dutch Shell left off, probing for petroleum beneath the ocean
Last year, one of the world’s biggest oil companies walked away from a handful of promising leases in shallow waters just off the coast of Alaska’s North Slope.
The move by Shell, which some observers attributed to pressure from the company’s climate-conscious investors, raised questions about the future of oil development in the Arctic, particularly in more expensive and technically challenging areas offshore.
Companies can drill wells more cheaply, and with less environmental opposition, in parts of the Lower 48. If a deep-pocketed player like Shell wasn’t going to invest the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to search for oil on remote North Slope oil prospects, who would?
The answer, it now appears, is a company that’s nothing like Shell: Narwhal Exploration, a small, Texas-based firm.
Narwhal, whose officials did not respond to requests for comment, has been quietly gearing up for what industry observers describe as one of the industry’s most intriguing drilling efforts in recent years.
This winter, the company plans to sink as many as five exploration wells into state land beneath West Harrison Bay — a shallow inlet of the Beaufort Sea.
The effort targets an oil-rich geologic formation, the Nanushuk, that had been mostly disregarded by the industry until a decade ago. That’s the same oil deposit being tapped by two huge onshore oil fields already under construction: ConocoPhillips’ Willow project and Santos’ Pikka project.
The closest community to Narwhal’s leases, the Iñupiaq village of Nuiqsut, is some 30 miles south.
Narwhal’s plans signal a notable step toward development in a remote area that geologists have long thought could hold huge reserves, but that has seen little exploration. It would be the first company ever to drill in West Harrison Bay.
A discovery there could be “sizable,” said Pete Stokes, an Anchorage-based, private sector petroleum engineer and consultant who spent years evaluating oil prospects on the North Slope — including, at one point, West Harrison Bay.
“I think there’s probably something there,” said Stokes. “The question would be how big a discovery it is and whether it can be economically developed.”
Narwhal’s search for oil could cost some $150 million, according to the website of a Florida-based private equity group that’s helping the company raise money.
West Harrison Bay has garnered interest from the oil industry for more than a decade. Shell acquired its leases there in 2012, while Narwhal — whose exploration manager and chief operating officer used to work for Shell — purchased neighboring leases in 2016.
“It’s an area that we’ve been real eager to see somebody do some exploration on,” said Derek Nottingham, director of the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas.
Despite reports of favorable geologic data, including promising results from decades-old wells drilled nearby, Shell never conducted any major exploration work in West Harrison Bay. The company cited an inability to find a suitable co-owner to share some of the costs.
Narwhal told state regulators in 2022 that it had made several offers to buy Shell’s leases, or to form a drilling partnership. But the energy giant never agreed.
Narwhal officials grew impatient: During a state legislative hearing last year they publicly criticized the commissioner of the state natural resources department for being “unwilling to hold Shell accountable” for not drilling on its leases or selling them.
A few weeks after the hearing, Shell announced that it was relinquishing its leases.
In a state auction last fall, a Narwhal affiliate called EE Partners and another privately owned company, Juneau Oil and Gas, collectively spent almost $9 million buying up the remaining tracts in West Harrison Bay — including Shell’s former holdings
GAS:
Exclusive: Japan hires Wood Mackenzie to assess Trump-backed Alaska LNG project, sources say
John Geddie, Tim Kelly, Reuters, September 8, 2025
- Concerns in Tokyo over cost, logistics of long-sought project
- Developers in talks with five Japanese firms, source says
- Japan-US trade deal text references Alaska LNG, pipelines
Japan has hired energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie to assess a proposed 800-mile Alaska gas pipeline and LNG plant in a sign it is weighing support for the $44 billion project touted by U.S. President Donald Trump, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
The assessment could help assuage lingering concerns among potential Japanese off-takers and investors about a project that has languished for decades due to cost and logistical challenges, said one of the sources, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The scope and cost of the deal with Wood Mackenzie is unclear, as is whether any resulting report will be made public.
Japan’s Ministry for Economy, Trade and Industry declined to comment. Wood Mackenzie, project developers Glenfarne and the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Since returning to office, Trump has promised to push forward the mammoth project to move gas stranded in Alaska’s remote north across the state before being chilled and shipped overseas as liquefied natural gas (LNG).
As he wrapped up a trade deal with Japan in July, Trump said Tokyo and Washington will form a joint venture to develop an Alaskan LNG project. Japan has not confirmed such a plan.
MINING:
United States Antimony Corporation to Host Alaska VIP Delegation at First DNR Approved Mohawk Antimony Property Today
Newsweek, September 8, 2025
United States Antimony Corporation (“USAC,” “U.S. Antimony,” or the “Company”) (NYSE:UAMY)(NYSE Texas:UAMY), operating the only two antimony smelters in North America, announced that it will host an exclusive VIP site visit at the Company’s Mohawk Antimony Property near Ester, Alaska today, September 8, 2025.
The event will bring together Alaska state and federal leaders, municipal officials, and industry representatives to learn more about USAC’s efforts to responsibly advance critical mineral operations in the Fairbanks general area. Attendees will hear about the importance of antimony to U.S. defense, energy, and technology supply chains, as well as the community benefits this project, among others being conducted by the company, is expected to bring to the region.
Expected attendees include:
- Karisse Ackerman, Fairbanks LIO – Regional Information Officer
- Bernard Aoto, COS to Representative Stapp
- Commissioner John Boyle, Alaska Department of Natural Resources (“DNR”)
- Greg Bringhurst, U.S. Senator Sullivan’s Fairbanks Regional Director
- Kati Capozzi, President/CEO, Alaska Chamber
- Representative Ashley Carrick, House District 35
- Jenna Colquhoun, Staff to Senator Kawasaki
- Representative Maxine Dibert, House District 31
- Leslie Hajdukovich, U.S. Representative Begich’s Fairbanks Regional Director
- Tom Hewitt, Mayor’s Office, Fairbanks North Star Borough
- Senator Scott Kawasaki, Senate District P
- Sonja Kawasaki, Legal Counsel for Alaska Senate Majority
- Nick LaJiness, Assembly Seat E, Fairbanks North Star Borough
- Paul Menke, Staff to Senator Cronk
- Stacy Pense, U.S. Senator Murkowski’s Fairbanks Regional Director
- Representative Mike Prax, House District 33
- Mayor David Pruhs, City of Fairbanks
- Stuart Relay, COS to Representative Carrick
- Anne Rittgers, Staff to Senator Gary Stevens
- Deantha Skibinski, Executive Director, Alaska Miners Association
- Representative Will Stapp, House District 32
- Crystal Tidwell, Fairbanks City Council Member
- Legislative staff from Senators Gary Stevens and Mike Cronk, along with representatives from the Alaska Senate Majority, the Fairbanks Legislative Information Office, and the Fairbanks City Council
- Federal representatives from the offices of U.S. Representative Begich, U.S. Senator Sullivan, and U.S. Senator Murkowski
From United States Antimony Corporation:
- Gary C. Evans, Chairman & CEO
- Rod Blakestad, Vice President & Senior Geologist – Antimony Division
- Rebecca Gower, Assistant Vice President & Geologist – Antimony Division
The site tour will take place at the Mohawk Antimony Property, located approximately 0.8 miles north of the St. Patrick and Henderson roads junction in Ester, Alaska. This historic mining property was acquired by USAC at the end of June and constitutes a patented mining property with already identified significant antimony potential. Approval of our necessary mining permits on this property were received from the DNR on Friday, September 5, 2005. Therefore, the Mohawk Antimony property will be our first antimony where mining operations begin later today, after this VIP Delegation gathering.