News of the Day: Retired Anchorage lawmaker Bob Lynn has died at age 87
OIL
Demand rise, output cuts could mean oil market balance in June
Oil & Gas 360, May 26, 2020
Recovering demand as coronavirus lockdowns ease combined with output cuts by top producers could balance global oil markets as soon as June, some analysts and banks predict. “Bullish sentiment continues to gather momentum as we move closer to June, when … the global crude balance is set to reach net short territory, to the tune of a non-negligible 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd), its tightest point since August 2019,” JBC Energy said.
Oil prices climb as faith in supply cuts grows
Oil & Gas 360, May 26, 2020
Oil prices rose on Tuesday, supported by growing confidence that producers are following through on commitments to cut supplies and as fuel demand picks up as coronavirus lockdowns ease. Brent crude LCOc1 futures were up 0.8%, or 30 cents, at $35.83 a barrel by 1411 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 gained 2.2%, or 73 cents, to $33.98. There was no WTI settlement on Monday because of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday.
GAS
FERC Greenlights Alaska LNG Project
The U.S. Becomes The World’s Swing LNG Producer
Tsvetana Paraskova, OILPRICE.COM, May 25, 2020,
The United States has turned into the world’s swing producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as liquefaction capacity has tumbled in recent months amid an LNG glut, low prices, and weak demand in the pandemic, IHS Markit said in a recent analysis. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the LNG market was already oversupplied because of gushing new liquefaction capacity from the United States, Australia, and Russia. The weak demand and record-low natural gas and LNG prices in major markets, including Asia and Europe, have led to cancellations of at least 20 cargoes of U.S. LNG in recent weeks.
MINING
Army Corps prefers Pebble all-road route
Shane Lasley, North of 60 Mining News, May 25, 2020
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has determined that a road and pipelines around the north shore of Iliamna Lake is the most environmentally sound route to access the proposed Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum-silver mine in Southwest Alaska. Referred to as Alternative 3 in the draft Environmental Impact Statement for Pebble, this roughly 85-mile northern land-based transportation route would connect the Pebble mine site to Cook Inlet without the need for a ferry to transport supplies and concentrates across Iliamna Lake.
Gold giant Australia is firing back up a record exploration boom
POLITICS
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy:
BIDEN OFFSHORE DRILLING BAN WOULD KILL 200K JOBS: Joe Biden’s proposal to ban new offshore oil and gas drilling in federal waters would cost nearly 200,000 jobs, strip the U.S. government of billions in dollars of revenue, and potentially push production to other countries, according to a new study commissioned by the industry’s trade group.
The study, released Tuesday by the National Ocean Industries Association, doesn’t name Biden but is intended to underscore the potential consequences of his proposal to prevent the U.S. government from issuing new oil and gas drilling permits in federal waters, which had experienced record oil production before the coronavirus halted demand.
In 2019, offshore oil and natural gas industry, directly and indirectly, supported roughly 345,000 jobs in the U.S., a number that the study projects to increase to 370,000 jobs on average between now and 2040, absent new policy. The industry study, produced by Energy and Industrial Advisory Partners for the National Ocean Industries Association, projects average employment to decline to 179,000 jobs under a permitting ban.
Biden’s official campaign plan says that he would “ban new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters,” which appears to mean he would stop the government from issuing approvals for drilling through the duration of a lease, even if the lease was issued before Biden took office.