A quick look at a few of the bigger things affecting our business this week.
Steel: Another $10. Nucor moved hot-rolled coil to $1,280/ton the week of November 2, and its West Coast joint venture went up $10 to $1,350. Steel Market Update’s weekly average jumped $45 to $1,350. Spot steel is extremely tight, and Nucor froze its secondary sales that week, awarding no bids at all. That removes one of the few places buyers could find extra tons. Nucor is still quoting three to five weeks. Nothing here points to relief.
Oil: A big drop. Brent settled Friday at $98.32 and WTI at $90.83, each down about 13% on the week. That’s Brent’s steepest weekly fall since 2020. Hopes for a US-Iran deal pulled the war premium out after the midterms, though there’s no signed agreement and tanker attacks in Hormuz continue. Alaska crude fell with it. ANS hit a 2026 record of $130.99 on October 30, then dropped to $122.36 by November 3, the latest close published, before the larger declines later in the week. It’s likely lower now.
North Slope: The money is still going into building facilities. ConocoPhillips’ Willow project is an $8.5 to $9 billion build with construction running through 2028 and first oil in early 2029. APA is buying the Badami facility and the Nutaaq pipeline from Savant Alaska, and the state approved pad work at Badami and Pikka. Westlawn Americas Offshore is putting up to $10.9 million toward the Augusta-1 exploration well just south of Prudhoe. Hilcorp has filed plans for four new wells at S Pad. Bidding on the state’s fall lease sales closes November 12. Facilities work is where tanks and fabrication get bought, so this is the stretch to get projects scoped and priced early.
Infrastructure: The funding behind our work comes from a few places. For airports, the extra grant money from the 2021 infrastructure law ended with a final $2.89 billion allocation this year, and projects now lean on the regular Airport Improvement Program, which is authorized at $4 billion a year through 2028. For rural Alaska fuel systems, the Denali Commission received $100 million from the EPA last year for tank farm upgrades in ten communities, and its 2026 plan includes $8.5 million for energy projects including bulk fuel. The federal budget proposed closing the Commission, so final funding depends on the spending bills due December 11. Highway and transit programs run on that same date, and another extension looks more likely than a full bill.
Bottom line: Steel keeps climbing even as oil falls, and North Slope operators keep spending on facilities. Reach out if you want to talk through what any of this means for your project.