Burgum orders review of monuments for energy potential
Under an order issued by...
Under an order issued by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Interior Department staff have until Feb. 18 to review 157 national monuments across 33 states for potential boundary revisions that could open them to oil and natural gas drilling and mining. Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, rich in coal, oil, gas and uranium, are among the likely targets, although presidential authority to alter monument boundaries remains uncertain and is being debated in court.
Alliance Resource Partners Adds More Mineral Interests in 4Q
Alliance Resource Partners closed more oil and gas mineral interest...
Alliance Resource Partners closed more oil and gas mineral interest acquisitions in fourth-quarter 2024, adding to portfolio that includes the Midland, Delaware, Anadarko and Williston basins, the company said in its earnings report.
Alliance said that it closed $9.6 million in acquisitions in the quarter and recorded full year oil and gas royalty volumes of 3.4 MMboe—up 9.6% year-over-year. The company didn’t specify where the interests were acquired.
As of December, Alliance reported owning69,372 net royalty acres, with 53% of its interests in the Midland and Delaware.
Hart Energy: Occidental Shops ~$1B in D-J Basin Minerals Sale
Occidental Petroleum is marketing a minerals package in the Denver-Julesburg...
Occidental Petroleum is marketing a minerals package in the Denver-Julesburg (D-J) Basin valued around $900 million to $1 billion, a panelist said at the 2025 NAPE Summit on Feb. 5.
“Kind of in the rumor mill right now, Oxy is selling... [a] D-J minerals asset. The dust hasn’t settled on that yet, but the bids are in, and I believe there’s a winner,” said Tim Pawul, president of the Minerals & Royalties Authority, during a panel session at the 2025 NAPE conference in downtown Houston. The authority is a specialty firm focused on minerals and royalties space for oil, gas and renewables.
Occidental is a leading producer in Colorado’s D-J Basin, where the company holds interests in 700,000 net acres—including a “vast minerals position,” the company touted in third-quarter results last year.
Trump signs executive order banning trans women from women’s...
Trump signs executive order banning trans women from women’s sports. The order seeks to prevent people biologically assigned male at birth from competing in women’s sports, acting on an issue that was a key part of the president’s 2024 campaign. On his first day in office, Trump signed an order that called on the government to define sex as only male or female. Now, he’s using Title IX, the landmark civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools and other activities that receive federal funding, to argue that allowing trans women in women’s sports creates an unsafe and unfair advantage. While research on the topic is limited, studies have shown transgender athletes do not have an athletic advantage.
Tesla sales plummeted in Germany last month, following similar drops in other European countries as CEO Elon Musk gets increasingly involved in global politics.
West Point is disbanding clubs for women and minorities after President Trump’s executive order cracking down on DEI programs.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore unveiled designs for the replacement for Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which was destroyed last year after it was struck by a container ship.
Nissan reportedly rejected Honda’s terms to merge the two Japanese automakers, though talks are continuing.
Oil prices slide 2% despite U.S. President Trump reinstating...
Oil prices slide 2% despite U.S. President Trump reinstating maximum pressure on Iran, as rising U.S. crude inventories and fears of a trade war raise demand concerns.
Brent crude is down 1.9% to $74.75 a barrel, while WTI falls 2.1% to $71.21 a barrel.
The latest data from the Energy Information Administration show crude stockpiles rose by 8.7 million barrels last week, against expectations of a 1.3-million-barrel rise.
Prices are also pressured by concerns that a trade spat between the U.S. and China could hurt global growth and raise inflationary pressures.
"The oil market is now caught between increasing fears that an escalating trade war will damage global oil demand growth...and possible sudden disruption of Iranian oil exports," says SEB's chief commodities analyst Bjarne Schieldrop in a note.
