Today’s Key Takeaways: Pending: penalty paid to fossil companies when projects are halted. Coordinated decision needed for Asian nations on AKLNG. Record prices, rising production pushing Alaska’s gold output in 2025. ANWR and NPRA lease sales part of revenues stream to pay for tax cut package.
OIL:
Burgum wants to pay fossil companies when government halts projects
Heather Richards, Greenwire, April 30, 2025 (subscription required)
The Trump administration’s energy czar said there should be “sovereign risk insurance” to cover the possibility a future administration could block mining or oil and gas projects.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Wednesday the White House’s National Energy Dominance Council is mulling a plan to force the U.S. government to pay a penalty to energy companies if a president cancels fossil fuel or mining projects.
“Future administrations should not be able to say, ‘No, with the stroke of a pen we’re going to kill this pipeline project,’ even though that company has $3 billion in the ground,” Burgum said at the Hill and Valley Forum, in a nod to former President Joe Biden’s decision in 2021 to cancel a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.
“We’re working on a plan at NEDC where we’ve got to have sovereign risk insurance — not against a foreign country but against our own,” he said.
GAS:
Asian nations’ decision on Alaska LNG should be coordinated
Hirofumi Matsuo, Nikkei Asia, May 1, 2025
A proposed Alaska LNG project has reemerged as a crucial topic in U.S.-Japan ties as the countries prepare for a second round of talks May 1 over President Donald Trump’s tariff plans. As far back as 1998, Marubeni planned a feasibility study with a U.S. oil major and other partners to look at gas production from Alaska’s North Slope. Production was supposed to begin in 2007. But the project, nearly identical to the one floated by the current Trump administration, never came to fruition.
“We considered it, but the environment around the project at the time prevented us from commercialization,” said a Marubeni source. As part of the team that reported on those plans, I felt a sense of deja vu when Alaska came up in February between Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Trump. There are advantages to the idea, which has come up repeatedly over the past decades. Alaska LNG would take seven days to reach Japan, half the time it takes from the Gulf of Mexico through the Panama Canal. But those familiar with the matter agree commercialization is a challenge.
Moving gas to an LNG plant would require more than 800 miles of pipeline. The project is estimated to cost $44 billion, and equipment and materials prices are only rising. There is also concern over the lukewarm response from ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and other energy companies. Asian buyers do not want to end up taking LNG at a premium, even if doing so is beneficial for energy security. “We will carefully assess whether it is economically viable,” Japan Foreign Trade Chairman told reporters.
Taiwan cannot easily turn its back on the U.S., given the threat of a crisis with China. And there is a possibility the U.S. could tie Alaska LNG with issues like increased defense spending in its dealings with Japan. It is important for Asian LNG importers to coordinate their response. Japan cannot be seen to be hesitant to invest in Alaska if Taiwan is seen embracing the idea. The decision to invest should depend on whether the project can provide an affordable and stable supply of energy.
MINING:
The future for Alaska mining is golden
Shane Lasley, North of 60 Mining News, May 2, 2025
Record gold prices and rising production are expected to push Alaska’s 2025 gold output value north of $3.4 billion.
With the gold shattering the $3,000-per-ounce ceiling without hesitation and Alaska mines poised to break above the 1-million-oz mark this year, the future of Alaska’s mining sector is golden.
This combination of record gold prices and production positions Alaska’s mining industry to crush all previous records this year when it comes to the value of the minerals and metals produced in the state.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) calculates that Alaska’s mining operations produced $4.7 billion of non-fuel minerals – gold, zinc, silver, lead, and aggregate products – in 2024. Adding the coal produced for in-state power plants bumps this total up to roughly $4.8 billion.
The roughly 959,000 oz of gold produced at six hardrock and more than 200 placer mines contributed $2.3 billion, or nearly half, of Alaska’s mineral production value during 2024. With gold prices more than 40% higher than they were at this time last year and production on the rise, more than $3.4 billion of this precious metal could be recovered from Alaska mines this year.
This would push Alaska’s mineral production value up to around $6 billion this year, even with a 20% drop in the production of zinc, the second largest contributor to the state’s mining sector, expected at the Red Dog mine.
While breaking above the 1-million-oz-per-year gold production threshold is a momentous milestone for Alaska, output of the precious metal is expected to continue climbing and could break above 2 million oz if the new Donlin Gold owners push that world-class mine project across the finish line.
“With 39 million ounces of gold at double the industry average grade, and an optimal location in the prime jurisdiction of Alaska – already the second largest gold-producing state in the United States – we believe that the project could create value for decades to come,” said John Paulson, a hedge fund billionaire that recently bought most of Barrick’s 50% interest in the world-class gold project.
POLITICS:
GOP Plans Billions in Oil, Gas Sales to Help Pay for Trump’s Tax Bill
Ari Nater, Bloomberg, May 3, 2025
House Republicans plan to raise more than $15 billion in revenue through increasing US oil, gas and coal lease sales, as well as other measures, to help pay for President Donald Trump’s massive tax cut package, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News.
The document, prepared by the House Natural Resources Committee, details plans to mandate at least four sales in the coastal plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge within the next 10 years, and resume lease sales in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Republicans also plan to resume quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales as well as mandate new offshore leases sales, according to the document.
In addition, Republicans are planning to raise revenue through required sales of coal leases and also requiring the Forest Service to conduct timber sales, while rescinding unspecified funds for agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Park Service.
In addition, the legislation, which is slated to receive a vote in by the committee next week, includes a measure streamlining the federal permitting process for big projects, with a goal of major environmental reviews being completed in one year.
House Republicans are aiming for a total of $2 trillion in spending reductions paired with a $4.5 trillion in reduced revenue from tax cuts.