Energy

The 18,000-gallon spill in Point Lay has been contained, according to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

BP’s second quarter 2022 results were driven by the Ukraine war and a surge in global demand.

The measure proposes reinstating a recently canceled Cook Inlet oil and gas lease sale. It also would not stop oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Congress and the EPA have largely failed to regulate methane “super emitters.” That leaves it up to producers — in some cases the very companies that have been fighting regulations — to cut emissions on their own.

Alaska’s U.S. senators sent a joint letter to the Interior Department calling on the Biden administration to keep moving the Willow project ahead in time for the winter construction season on the North Slope.

The White House has opened the door to approving fossil fuel projects that would violate the president’s climate pledges, hoping their approval could help them secure Sen. Joe Manchin’s vote for a historic climate package stuck in Congress.

The announcement drew immediate condemnation from environmental groups, saying advancing the project is contrary to the president’s stated goals to address climate change.

After Alaska North Slope crude oil prices hit a record low in April 2020, they’ve risen to more than $100 per barrel.

Administration officials said fewer lease sales — or even no lease sales at all — could occur, with a final decision not due for months.

Golden Valley Electric Association voted this week to develop a plan to close one of its two coal plants in Healy.

The incident this week led to the release of 5,000 gallons of fuel, according to a final Alaska Department of Conservation report. Some burned and the rest was contained.

The Biden administration will soon weigh in on ConocoPhillips’ Willow project, near the community of Nuiqsut. The decision will directly test how the administration is weighing pressure to deepen America’s ability to produce oil against a desire to make progress curbing climate change and bolstering environmental protection.

Companies see only headaches on the horizon for refineries, undercutting the White House push to boost production.

After hearing concerns about transparency, commissioners argued the monthly meetings had little-to-no attendance and were often canceled.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy and U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan visited Japan last week to help drum up demand for the project.

Regenerate Alaska, a subsidiary of Australia-based 88 Energy, was one of just three entities and the only oil company to vie for the 10-year leases in the sale, which attracted no major companies.

Chevron and Hilcorp have relinquished leases for a small tract of Alaska Native corporation-owned land within the refuge’s boundaries.

AltaGas said it will sell Enstar to another Canada-based company.

The utilities say the upgrades will allow them to take more advantage of low-cost renewable power.

Microreactors are largely in the research phase, and any installation of a microreactor would not happen for several years, the governor’s office said.

ConocoPhillips Alaska said the reservoir is expected to produce up to 20,000 barrels of oil per day, adding to Alaska North Slope oil production rates that lately have run near 500,000 barrels daily.

The solar project is owned by the tribal governments in Shungnak and Kobuk, who are selling the power to rural Alaska’s largest electric utility.

Aging infrastructure, climate change and global conflict are going to keep fuel prices in more parts of rural Alaska unmanageably high, and potentially worse.