The 40 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) federal leases, spanning approximately 1,000 km2 and located 175 to 330 km from shore, include 13 blocks located in the Walker Ridge area, 9 blocks in the Mississippi Canyon area and 18 blocks in the East Breaks area.
After coming into office, the administration of President Donald Trump has eliminated licenses for oil companies to operate in Venezuela, despite initial hints that it would continue them, with presidential envoy Richard Grenell’s visits to Caracas. This means that sanctions on state-owned PDVSA are fully back on. Chevron, the main U.S. corporation on the ground, is back to having only a secret license for minimum maintenance and security, as it still a shareholder in four joint ventures.
Of the 81 million tons of LNG that Australia exported last year, as much as 40% went to Japan. But Australia’s east coast has been suffering tight gas supply, which has become a hot political topic, with parties running in the latest elections, earlier this year, all prioritizing supply security for Australians in the east.
“U.S. oil production growth has been a dominant feature in the oil market since 2022,” said Burkhard. “A price-driven decline in U.S. production would be a pivot point for the oil market—and set conditions for a potential price recovery. But much will depend on the severity of an economic slowdown and the impact on demand growth beyond 2025.”
The contradiction is emblematic of where U.S. shale finds itself in 2025: stuck between political slogans and fiscal reality. On one hand, Trump wants “drill, baby, drill” to be more than just campaign nostalgia. Trump also wants consumers to see lower prices at the pump. Meanwhile, Wall Street wants dividends, not drilling binges.
An American SWF would be similar to those found in Saudi Arabia and Norway, where they hold significant stakes in mining and energy assets worldwide. Trump allies argue that public investment could catalyze U.S. supply chain security, particularly in sectors key to clean energy and defense.
The ultimate goal of the sanctions is to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero, as stated by President Trump in a February directive to the State Department. The president directed the Secretary of State to “implement a robust and continual campaign, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury and other relevant executive departments or agencies, to drive Iran’s export of oil to zero, including exports of Iranian crude to the People’s Republic of China.”
As for the security of supply, this also gets a check. Almost all our natural gas and coal are domestically produced. And we export both. Since US demand for power is rising, with natural gas the fuel of choice for a generation, the main risk to long-term affordability is the eventual depletion of our principal gas fields. Also, the US sits atop a roughly three-hundred-year supply of coal if the industry chooses to heed the latest admonitions from the Trump administration with respect to “clean, beautiful coal.” In short, the US, unlike many nations, can remain energy self-reliant for the foreseeable future.
U.S. natural gas prices fell by 6% on Friday morning amid the overall panic market selling, but the benchmark Henry Hub price was declining less than the WTI Crude prices, which sank by more than 8% to hit a low of $61 per barrel.
The benchmark price for U.S. natural gas delivered at Henry Hub was plunging by 6.26% to $3.877 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) as of 10:35 a.m. EDT. At the same time, the WTI Crude futures were tumbling by as much as 8.59% to $61.14.
The Trump administration just turned up the heat on Iran’s oil operations, slapping fresh sanctions on Iran’s oil minister Mohsen Paknejad and a handful of shadowy tankers sneaking crude to China. Treasury’s reasoning? Paknejad is allegedly funneling billions in oil revenue directly to Iran’s armed forces, and the ships—some flagged in Hong Kong, Liberia, and Seychelles—are playing an elaborate game of maritime hide-and-seek to keep the crude flowing.