A quick look at a few of the bigger things affecting our business this week.
Steel: Another $10. Nucor moved hot-rolled coil to $1,240/ton the week of October 12, with its West Coast joint venture up $15 to $1,305. That’s more than 40% above this time last year. Nucor’s own lead time is still quoted at three to five weeks, but the broader market is running longer, and nothing here says the climb is slowing.
Oil: A big week up. Brent settled Friday at $109.86, up about 5%, its highest since May. WTI jumped more than 10% to $101.41. Alaska crude was $123.83 as of Saturday, up from $116.94 a week earlier, and has been running well above both benchmarks. A missile aimed at the Saudi export port of Yanbu, Iranian attacks on shipping through Hormuz, and a Ukrainian strike on a Russian refinery all added to supply worries, while U.S. crude and diesel stocks fell hard. Emergency reserve releases weren’t enough to hold prices down.
North Slope: Activity is up. Baker Hughes counts 12 rigs working in Alaska, up from 9 a year ago, with 10 of them on the Slope. Pikka is pushing daily North Slope volumes regularly past 500,000 barrels. Santos plans to drill the Stirrup 2 appraisal well this winter, and the BLM issued new winter seismic and exploration rules for the NPR-A. State lease sales for the Beaufort Sea, North Slope, and North Slope Foothills open for bidding tomorrow, October 20.
Infrastructure: No change. Federal highway and transit programs are funded through December 11, which is also the date Congress has to deal with spending, transportation, and the farm bill all at once. Core formula-funded highway work is steady, while some grant-funded programs are working with less.
Bottom line: Steel keeps climbing, oil jumped on Middle East supply fears, and the North Slope is busier than a year ago. Reach out if you want to talk through what any of this means for your project.