Taft, CA hope to “Make Oil Great Again.”
California’s oil capital hopes for a renaissance under Trump
Robyn Beck, Your Alaska Link, October 19, 2025
Every five years, the fading US town of Taft puts on a days-long “Oildorado” festival to celebrate its glory days at the center of California’s black gold rush.
Thousands flock to its parade of cowboys on horseback, antique cars and floats featuring oil pumps — a hat tip to the Wild West of yore.
This year, nine months into Donald Trump’s second term, the tone has shifted from reminiscence to renaissance.
Shrugging off climate change concerns, the US president has embraced fossil fuels with a stated goal of “unleashing American energy” and removing “impediments” to domestic energy production.
Some of Taft’s 7,000 residents are anticipating a comeback for the petroleum industry in California, which has pledged to abandon oil drilling by 2045 to meet its climate goals.
“I’m 100 percent satisfied with President Trump,” Buddy Binkley told AFP, a minority view in a heavily Democratic state. “And as for the state of California, I think he’s putting a nice pressure on them to hopefully turn around their prejudice against oil.”
The 64-year-old retired maintenance supervisor with oil company Chevron sported a red cap with the words “Make Oil Great Again,” a play on Trump’s MAGA motto and a slogan featured on several parade floats.
“The oil industry in California is suffering due to political reasons,” Binkley said. But with Trump in power, “I think it may go back the way it was.”
Bringing Alaska LNG to Japan needs government involvement to bring the cost down, as well as development support from energy security groups.
Alaska LNG Energy Security Promise Faces Cost Challenges
Editorial Board, Sankei Shimbum, October 20, 2025
Japan’s largest thermal power generation company, JERA Co, Inc, is considering procuring liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced in the state of Alaska in the United States.
In September, it signed a letter of intent with Glenfarne LLC to advance discussions about LNG offtake from the Alaska project. The letter of intent is not legally binding and does not promise future purchases. However, it is a preliminary step to negotiate actual prices and procurement volumes.
Alaskan LNG can be transported to Japan in just under 10 days.
Unlike Middle Eastern LNG, Alaskan LNG can also be freely resold to other countries. Therefore, there is no risk of being stuck with surplus LNG. Moreover, it can also be imported in times of emergency.
Increasing Japan’s LNG procurement volume from the United States would contribute to Japan’s energy security and strengthen Japan-US relations. US-sourced LNG currently accounts for around 10% of Japan’s LNG imports.
Trump tariffs a “path to mediocrity at best?”
US cannot attain preeminence in energy, AI if tariffs remain: Liberty Energy
Jeremy Beaman, S & P Global, October 17, 2025
The Trump administration’s tariff polices are making drilling and completion equipment more expensive and could hamper companies trying to build out the power needed to win the AI race, Liberty Energy CEO Ron Gusek said Oct. 17 during a third-quarter earnings call.
Liberty, which is nurturing a burgeoning power business targeting data center loads, reported a slowdown in its oilfield services business for Q3 while stressing growth opportunities in power and announcing a target of delivering 1 GW of capacity through 2027.
Tariffs on imported steel and other materials endanger both businesses and the administration’s priorities around energy production and AI, Gusek said.
“The Secretary of Energy has called the race for AI dominance our next Manhattan Project,” and winning the race requires foreign-made power equipment and other components, Gusek said, invoking Liberty’s founder and former CEO, Chris Wright, who now heads the US Department of Energy.
“Much of this is currently made overseas, and much of it is now subject to tariffs,” he said. “Is this a path to winning a race the administration has identified is so critical to our nation’s future? I would argue, no. It’s a path to mediocrity at best.”