Today’s action advances the President’s direction to unleash Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential, consistent with Executive Order 14153 and Secretary’s Order 3422
BLM seeks input, nominations for oil and gas lease sale in Coastal Plain of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Notice marks initial step toward first lease sale under One Big Beautiful Bill Act
Today the Bureau of Land Management took a key step toward holding a lease sale in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by seeking comments and nominations of lands to be considered for leasing.
“Since passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the BLM has had a clear congressional mandate to administer a competitive oil and gas program for the Coastal Plain,” said BLM Alaska State Director Kevin Pendergast. “With the new decision in place, bolstered by Congress’ recent and emphatic direction in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, this lease sale process provides a clear path forward to finally unlock the Coastal Plain’s resource potential.”
A call for nominations and comments notice will publish in tomorrow’s Federal Register to solicit feedback on what tracts should be made available in a lease sale this winter, which will be the first lease sale in the 1.56-million-acre Coastal Plain following passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects global supply growth to accelerate in 2026 to more than 7%, its fastest pace since 2019.
Shell Sees LNG Sector Growing by 3% Per Year
Charles Kennedy, OilPrice.Com, February 2, 2026
The global LNG market is expanding by 3% every year, growing at a faster pace than the overall natural gas market, Wael Sawan, chief executive officer of the world’s top LNG trader, Shell, said at an LNG conference in Doha, Qatar.
Both supply and demand of LNG have surged in recent years, and a new supply wave is coming by the end of this decade.
The supply surge is set to begin as soon as this year, analysts and forecasters say.
New LNG export projects coming online and ramp-ups of recently commissioned facilities are expected to drive a 10% jump in global LNG supply this year, as the market shifts from tightness to abundance.
The supply growth, mostly from the top two exporters, the United States and Qatar, is set to depress Asian spot LNG prices and Europe’s benchmark gas prices at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF).
While lower prices would weigh on the profit margins of the U.S. exporters, they would incentivize additional demand, especially in Asia, where buyers have become more price sensitive to LNG imports, according to the analysts
The model mirrors the country’s emergency oil reserve but focuses instead on materials such as gallium and cobalt used in products ranging from smartphones to jet engines.
Trump launches $12B minerals vault to cut China reliance
Editor, Mining.Com, February 2, 2026
US President Donald Trump is preparing to launch a strategic stockpile of critical minerals backed by $12 billion, aiming to protect manufacturers from supply disruptions as the US accelerates efforts to reduce dependence on Chinese metals.
The White House confirmed on Monday the start of “Project Vault,” which would combine $1.67 billion in private capital with a $10 billion loan from the US Export-Import Bank to buy and store minerals for automakers, technology companies and other industrial users.
The project spans the automotive, aerospace and energy sectors and underscores Trump’s broader push to rewire US supply chains away from China, the world’s dominant producer and processor of critical minerals.
More than a dozen companies have reportedly signed on, including General Motors Co., Stellantis NV, Boeing Co., Corning Inc., GE Vernova Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Commodities traders Hartree Partners LP, Traxys North America LLC and Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. will handle purchases to fill the stockpile.