OIL
Oil and gas production ETF paces for best quarter on record, but traders say it’s still a ‘show-me story’
Oil & Gas 360, June 10, 2020
Oil and gas stocks are defying the odds. The SPDR S&P Oil and Gas Exploration and Production ETF (XOP) is having its best quarter on record, up over 102% since April 1 despite concerns about oversupply. That’s more than triple its second-biggest gain from June 2008, when it ran nearly 31%.
GAS
Shell CEO Says LNG Market Will Recover to Pre-Virus Levels
Akshat Rathi, Laura Hurst and Anna Shiryaevskaya, Bloomberg, June 10, 2020
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas trader, expects buying and selling of the fastest-growing fuel to recover to levels seen before the pandemic. Global LNG demand took a severe hit when nations-imposed lockdowns to combat the spread of the coronavirus, impacting the fuel’s use in everything from power plants to transport and factories. That came on top of the biggest glut of the fuel the world has ever seen, helped by two mild winters in a row. “We still very much believe that with the current supply-demand outlook, this is a fundamentally strong sector that will grow at a rate that is close to 4% per year, Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive officer, said in an interview.
MINING
Alaska gold mine company slowly restarts drilling program
AP News, June 9, 2020
Donlin Gold announced plans to restart its drilling program as the state loosens coronavirus restrictions. The mining company said the current drilling program is its biggest in 12 years, but operations were suspended in March as the state issued health restrictions on travel and mandated quarantines of out-of-state workers, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported Monday. Donlin announced summer plans to rotate 60 people in two crews, working three weeks on and then three weeks off.
POLITICS
Alaska court sides with proponents of oil tax ballot measure in dispute with state
Alex DeMarban, Anchorage Daily News, June 10, 2020
An Alaska Superior Court judge on Wednesday ordered the state to correct its summary of the ballot measure seeking to raise oil taxes, siding with proponents of the measure. Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer did not provide an “impartial” summary of the measure, as required by law, according to an 18-page order from Judge William Morse signed on Monday. The flawed sentence should be stricken from the summary, Morse wrote.