Daily on Energy: Quote of the week, ANWR auction fizzles, and a nuclear milestone

By Nancy Vu

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Friday, readers! The Trump administration held its first lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska today in its efforts to boost oil and gas drilling in the region. 🏔️🛢️ Read on to see the results, as the auction may not have garnered as much interest as the administration was hoping.

Meanwhile, the Department of Energy announced that the first small modular nuclear reactor in its pilot program reached a critical (pun intended) milestone to deploy nuclear energy nationwide. ☢️ We have more about the announcement below.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner energy and environment writers Callie Patteson (@CalliePatteson) and Maydeen Merino (@MaydeenMerino). Email cpatteson@washingtonexaminer dot com or mmerino@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: The Trump administration held its first oil and gas lease sale in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge today, and the people living in the only village in the region are asking outsiders to listen and understand why fossil fuel development could benefit their native community.

“Our voices should be the first one served, should be the first one to listen to. Because you guys are reporting on something that’s going to affect not only my life or my son’s life, but every generation that we have after us,” Charles Lampe, who is Inupiaq and was born and raised in Kaktovik, told Callie.

“The stories and the decisions that are made are going to be felt for generations,” he said. “Being able to get our voices out there, and let the world know that we do exist, and that we do hope we have a say in this, and that our voice should be the one that carries the most weight.”

OIL INDUSTRY REMAINS HESITANT ABOUT ANWR: The auction for oil and gas drilling rights in the Coastal Plain secured less than 10 bids from just two companies today, indicating that the industry is hesitant to pursue projects in the virtually untouched wildlife refuge.

The details: The Bureau of Land Management revealed earlier this afternoon that the lease sale garnered nine bids on five tracts of land across more than 70,000 acres. Just two companies accounted for the nine bids: natural gas producer Hex Energy LLC and the state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority.

Overall, the auction generated more than $6 million, with the total high bids for the successful bidders hitting over $3 million. Half of this will go towards the state of Alaska by law.

The lease sale had made 58 tracts across nearly 689,000 acres available.

Our view: While BLM officials called interest in the leases “solid,” the lack of bids from any major oil and gas developers such as ConocoPhillips or Exxon Mobil signals that the broader industry is wary of drilling in the wildlife refuge.

By comparison, a similar lease sale held in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska in March generated a quarter of a billion dollars.

Drilling in Northern Alaska is notoriously difficult, as developers are only able to operate certain times of year, typically during the winter months, when the ground is solid, protecting fragile ecosystems and allowing for easier transportation. They also have to consider other challenges such as polar bears and increased costs associated with flying workers in and out due to the lack of permanent settlements.

As a result, pursuing drilling in already developed areas such as the NPR-A can be considered a safer bet for developers looking to invest in projects with lifespans of 20 to 30 years.

You can read more about the lease sale here. Plus, if you want to learn more about why drilling in ANWR is so controversial, check out Callie’s breakdown here.

COMPANIES TO ADD 40 MILLION BARRELS OF OIL TO INVENTORIES AFTER WAR ENDS: As concerns have grown over how quickly global stockpiles of crude have been depleted due to the energy crisis brought on by the war in Iran, the Trump administration says it has a plan to add back even more than was already in U.S. inventories.

The details: Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Fox Business today that companies who have borrowed oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in recent months to keep prices low will have to add back an additional 40 million barrels once the conflict is over.

Currently SPR levels are around 357.1 million barrels, the lowest U.S. inventories have sat at in more than two years.

While industry analysts and oil producers have sounded the alarm over the dipping stocks, Wright said he was not concerned.

“Each barrel we flow out, we’re getting 1.25 barrels back next year. We’re going to add 40 million barrels to the SPR after this conflict is over, at no cost to ⁠the taxpayer, with deals already made,” he told the outlet.

Where prices stand: While inventories are being depleted, oil prices continued to see downward pressure today as traders appear to hold out hope for a deal between the U.S. and Iran that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume normal oil flows.

At around 3 p.m. EDT today, international benchmark Brent crude was down 1.96% and selling at $93.17 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate had also fallen 2.69% and was priced at $90.54 a barrel.

NO SIGNS OF JET FUEL SHORTAGE, EU TRANSPORTATION CHIEF SAYS: European Union’s transportation chief said there are no signs of a fuel shortage in the coming months despite the war in Iran squeezing the supply chain.

Transport commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas told Reuters that “There is currently no jet fuel shortage in Europe. We have no signs that we will have a shortage in the coming period.”

Instead, the main concern is jet fuel prices, Tzitzikostas noted prices have caused airlines to cancel routes that do not make economic sense. Jet fuel accounts for about 25% to 30% of carriers’ costs.

American Airlines earlier this week announced temporary cuts to several routes in the United States due to the rise in fuel prices. Those routes included Los Angeles to Washington Dulles, Charlotte to Ontario, and several others.

Tzitzikostas added that customers might not feel the full impact of high fares until the end of this year or next, with the situation varying for each airline.

‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’ UPDATE: For the seventh week in a row, the number of active oil and gas drilling rigs in the U.S. rose, a sign that domestic producers are benefiting from higher prices.

Data released by Baker Hughes this afternoon shows there were 563 active oil and gas rigs in the U.S. this week, an increase of one from last week. The total tally is also four rigs higher than this time last year.

Broken down further, Baker Hughes found that the number of oil rigs increased by two, while the number of active rigs for gas dropped by one.

The total number of rigs located in inland waters increased by one, and the number of rigs installed on land also increased by eight. The number of offshore rigs decreased by eight. This dip does coincide with the same week that the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season began.

FIRST REACTOR IN PILOT PROGRAM HITS CRITICALITY: The Department of Energy has announced that the first small modular nuclear reactor that is part of its Pilot Reactor Program achieved criticality this week, one month before its deadline.

The details: Antares Nuclear’s Mark-0 reactor hit criticality yesterday, meaning its reactor is perfectly stable and its nuclear chain reaction is self-sustaining and able to produce energy. Antares is developing the test reactor at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory.

Hitting the milestone puts the advanced nuclear developer on a pathway to produce electricity by 2027 and then deploy reactors at U.S. military installations in 2028.

It is the first of several advanced reactors expected to hit criticality by July 4th, a deadline set by Trump last year.

“It is fitting that on the eve of our nation’s 250th anniversary, we are witnessing a historic moment for American energy,” Energy Secretary Wright said in a statement. “For the first time in more than four decades, a new privately developed non-light-water reactor has reached criticality in the United States.”