After a long decline, crude oil production on Alaska’s North Slope is poised to increase, and it’s possible that by the early 2030s production could return to levels not seen since the turn of the century. It’s an exciting development for the 49th state, but where will all that oil go? With refining capacity on the decline in California, which has typically handled a lot of Alaska North Slope (ANS) crude, it’s not an easy answer. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss the locations where ANS oil production could land — one of the many essential topics covered in our upcoming Future of Fuels report.
Posts from Lisa Shidler
Monday, 1/13/2025
With just a few days left in office, President Biden on January 6 made a final effort to shape U.S. energy policy and development by permanently banning new oil and gas drilling across more than 625 million acres of coastal waters. Using an obscure provision of a 1953 law, the Outer Continental Land Shelf Act (OCLSA), the president signed an executive order banning future drilling in federal waters off the Eastern Seaboard, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the West Coast and portions of the northern Bering Sea in Alaska. The ban is largely just for show, but in today’s RBN blog we’ll discuss why it might cause headaches for the “drill, baby, drill” Trump administration.
Monday, 1/06/2025
Alaska North Slope (ANS) crude oil production has been sliding for years — decades really — but that is poised to change in the second half of the 2020s. Two long-planned ANS projects — Pikka and Willow — are slated to start up in 2026 and 2029, respectively. By the early 2030s, these and other projects in the works could return North Slope production to levels not seen since the turn of the century. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss these projects and our new, long-term forecast for ANS oil production — a topic in our upcoming Future of Fuels report.
Tuesday, 12/24/2024
The pace of data center development accelerated in 2024, raising questions about how to power these energy-hungry behemoths. Natural-gas-fired plants are a go-to approach to helping local utilities provide the reliable, around-the-clock electricity that large-scale data centers need. Now, two giant oil and gas companies, ExxonMobil and Chevron, want to do something they’ve never done before: build gas-fired plants and sell power exclusively to data centers. And some utilities are partnering with big-tech companies on power plants of their own. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss data center power needs and the unusual notion of building big gas plants to serve those customers.
Thursday, 12/19/2024
The U.S. intends to triple its nuclear generating capacity by 2050 to meet the expected growth in electricity demand and expand carbon-free power production. In a recently related roadmap to achieving that goal, the outgoing Biden administration said the U.S. aimed to have 35 gigawatts (GW) of new nuclear capacity either in operation or under construction by 2035. It also outlined the key roles that restarting previously shut reactors, uprating some facilities to produce more power and the development of microreactors could play in the years ahead. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss the report’s key findings and recommendations and what they tell us about the future of U.S. nuclear power.
Friday, 12/06/2024
Texas is the fastest-growing state for electricity consumption in the nation and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which is responsible for about 90% of the state’s electricity service, said earlier this year that peak power demand could nearly double in just six years — from about 85 gigawatts (GW) currently to as much as 150 GW by 2030. The sudden increase is driven primarily by data centers and artificial intelligence (AI), cryptocurrency mining, the state's growing population and increasing temperatures. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss how Texas intends to address its growing appetite for power.
Tuesday, 12/03/2024
Soaring demand for around-the-clock electricity, tied to the development of large-scale data centers, has sparked a renewed interest in carbon-free nuclear power. Given that conventional nuclear plants can be very challenging to site and permit, there’s been a lot of talk about installing small modular reactors (SMRs) at the sites of coal-fired power plants that have been taken offline for environmental and economic reasons but still have critical connections to the power grid and other infrastructure. In today’s RBN blog, we examine the potential to replace coal with nuclear and preview our latest Drill Down Report on the growing enthusiasm for nuclear power in the U.S.
Monday, 11/18/2024
If all goes to plan, Texas’s isolated power grid will one day be connected to a pair of neighboring states via a massive transmission line called Southern Spirit. The project is designed to increase grid reliability, reduce blackouts and drive down energy bills, but it could be years before it becomes a reality. And while the transmission line will connect Texas with Louisiana and Mississippi, it is more akin to a drawbridge that can be raised or lowered as needed without subjecting the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid to federal oversight. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss what the Southern Spirit transmission line would mean for Texas.
Wednesday, 10/23/2024
The growing number of energy-intensive data centers coming online across the U.S. is spurring utilities to ramp up plans to add new sources of power generation but also complicating efforts to decarbonize. One of the hottest topics in energy today is how plans to restart shuttered nuclear plants and build new small modular reactors (SMRs) could help accomplish both goals. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at why data centers and nuclear power seem like a natural fit, examine which shuttered plants might be brought back to life, and outline plans by a pair of U.S. economic titans to bring new advanced reactors online.
Thursday, 10/10/2024
There is a lot of talk about the best way to meet the expected increases in U.S. power demand, driven by manufacturing growth and the rapid development of large-scale data centers, which has sparked renewed interest in nuclear power. The most recent reactors to come online were Units 3 and 4 at Georgia’s Vogtle nuclear power station, but they came in well over budget and far behind schedule. Still, the startup of those units is a significant milestone as they are the first new reactors to come online in the U.S. since 2016. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss the lessons learned from the Vogtle project and what they might mean for future nuclear development.
Thursday, 9/12/2024
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is preparing to oversee a restart of a shuttered nuclear power plant for the first time — the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan. Other reactors have successfully restarted after stretches of inactivity but Palisades was in the process of being decommissioned and no longer has its operating license, so it faces a complicated — and unprecedented — path forward, helped in large part by a $1.52 billion conditional loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss what it will take to restart the Palisades plant, which could provide carbon-free electricity for 800,000 homes.
Friday, 8/16/2024
The permitting process for energy projects can drag on for years, resulting in multiple state and federal hurdles, environmental studies and judicial reviews. This is true not only of traditional energy projects involving oil and gas but also renewables like wind and solar and long-distance transmission, which are seen as key elements of the energy transition. Legislation proposed by a pair of influential senators aims to help move these projects along every step of the way but getting Congress to agree on anything — especially during an election year — figures to be a formidable challenge. In today’s RBN blog we examine the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024.
Tuesday, 8/13/2024
The 1,413-MW Mystic Generating Station, a longtime workhorse for New England, shut its doors for good May 31. Located in Charlestown, MA, on the north side of Boston, Mystic is adjacent to the Everett LNG terminal, which supplied 100% of Mystic’s natural gas for several decades. The power plant’s closure meant the Everett terminal might also be history. However, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) recently approved new contracts that will keep Everett LNG open for at least six more years. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss the combined impact of Mystic’s demise and Everett’s stay of execution, how the region has handled this summer’s heat wave, and what could be in store for next winter.
Thursday, 8/01/2024
There’s been a lot of discussion lately about the best way to meet the expected increases in U.S. power demand, driven in part by manufacturing growth and the rapid development of large-scale data centers. That has spurred a renewed interest among regulators, industry leaders and the general public in nuclear power. But while traditional reactors are known for their cost overruns and construction delays as much as the massive amounts of carbon-free power they produce, some see a better way forward in the form of small modular reactors (SMRs). Advocates with “uranium fever” say they can be built without many of the problems that accompany their larger cousins and offer a number of potential advantages, including siting flexibility, price and efficiency. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at the state of nuclear power in the U.S., examine the potential for SMRs, and discuss the hurdles they face to obtaining the necessary permits and ultimately beginning operation.
Thursday, 7/18/2024
Power generation is one of the leading consumers of natural gas in Texas — every month last year, generators in the state used between 4 Bcf/d and 8 Bcf/d, on average, with the volumes peaking (as you would expect) in August, when air conditioning and a friend with a pool are must-haves. But as we’ve seen, the Texas power grid is often stressed to its limit, and the state has been taking steps to significantly increase the gas-fired generating capacity available for peak-demand periods in both the hottest and coldest months. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss one of the state’s boldest steps yet: the creation of a multibillion-dollar fund to support the development of thousands of megawatts of new gas-fired generation.
