We will remember every rescuer who died in honor.
We will remember every family that lives in grief.
We will remember.
President George W. Bush
OIL
Current Market Factors Impacting Economic Performance Of Oil And Gas Investments
Jay R. Young, Forbes, September 11, 2020
We have seen oil prices go up and down, up and down over the 100 years my family has been in the oil business. My great grandfather, AP Young, worked the West Texas oilfields until his work boots were sloshing because of all the sweat. Some years, he would sit under a tree and hope someone on the rig got hurt so he could replace them, so he could feed his twelve kids. With the hangover of the COVID-19 pandemic decreasing the need for oil, our daily consumption to fulfill the country’s oil demands will not go away. We’ll need oil production for years to come and will be struggling to keep up with production because today, the total rig count (the number of wells drilling oil) is down over 70% from one year ago. The bottom line is the U.S will start looking for oil and it simply will not be there. This is why oil prices go in cycles. Pretty simple. It is basic supply versus demand.
GAS
Feds to study impacts of potential oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet
Tegan Hanlon, Alaska’s Energy Desk, September 10, 2020
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced Wednesday that it plans to study the environmental impacts of a potential lease sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet. It would be the first federal oil and gas lease sale in the Cook Inlet since 2017. While there are oil and gas production platforms in state waters in the inlet, off Alaska’s southcentral coast, there are none in its federal waters right now, according to the bureau. The potential lease sale would cover about 1 million acres of the inlet and be held next year.
MINING
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy:
MURKOWSKI DEFENDS CRITICAL MINERALS MEAUSRE IN GOP- COVID 19 RELIEF BILL: Murkowski on Thursday rebuked attacks by Democrats, including Bernie Sanders, who said Republicans are “providing corporate welfare” to the coal industry by including a measure to boost domestic production of critical minerals in the GOP “skinny” pandemic relief bill.
The Republican bill, introduced this week, contains a provision sponsored by Murkowski and Manchin to spend millions for research into extracting rare earth metals from coal.
The inclusion comes as Republican lawmakers in both chambers have raised increasing concerns about U.S. reliance on other countries, especially China, for critical minerals used in everything from military equipment to electric cars. Murkowski’s American Mineral Security Act introduced last year, seeks to speed permitting for critical minerals mining, identify U.S. critical mineral deposits, and invest in research and development of recycling and alternatives.
“I was a little bit bemused, I guess, when I saw that this particular provision was the object of partisan scorn,” Murkowski said on the Senate floor. “It was actually the Obama administration that helped fund the research to examine the potential of these technologies.”
“When you think of what we’re doing here, we’re seeking to recover rare earths from coal waste. It’s a little bit like turning your trash into treasure. It is the ultimate in recycling…It could ironically add to our domestic supplies without necessitating new mines.”
POLITICS
State considers asking Alaska Supreme Court for second look at oil credit decision
James Brooks, Anchorage Daily News, September 10, 2020
The state of Alaska is asking the Alaska Supreme Court for more time to consider a decision last week that invalidated a billion-dollar plan to borrow money to pay tax credits owed to oil and gas drillers. Court rules allow 10 days for the losing side in a lawsuit to request another hearing on the issue. On Tuesday, the state asked for additional time to determine whether it will ask for a rehearing. Rehearings are granted only if the court overlooked something, and the court system’s own description of the process says, “The court rarely grants a petition for rehearing.”