Trump backing for Alaska gas pipeline boosts UK-listed Pantheon

Donald Trump’s support for a natural gas pipeline in Alaska has helped to lift shares in a UK-listed oil and gas explorer by more than 20 per cent.
Pantheon Resources has interests in the Alaska North Slope basin spanning about 200,000 acres.
The company announced plans on Monday to start drilling a well to explore oil fields in the region after Trump vowed to kick-start Alaska LNG (liquefied natural gas), a long-planned pipeline project.
The 800-mile pipeline will transport natural gas from the North Slope to south central Alaska for export.
The president-elect vowed on Friday to “ensure the gas-line project gets built to provide affordable energy to Alaska and allies all over the world”.
In a statement, the company said: “Pantheon was greatly encouraged by the supportive words made by the president-elect and the governor of Alaska last week with respect to their intentions for progressing the proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline.”
Pantheon Resources said on Monday that it would start drilling the Megrez-1 well to explore the Ahpun oil fields near the Alaska pipeline and road infrastructure. The drilling will target an area which the company estimates to contain 609 million barrels of crude oil and 3.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Shares in the company closed up 5½p, or 24.5 per cent, at 28¼p.
Pantheon was listed on London’s junior Aim market in 2006 as an independent UK-based oil and gas exploration company. In 2019 it acquired the oil assets of Great Bear Petroleum, a private company with a portfolio of properties on the Alaska North Slope.
American liquefied natural gas developers awaiting permits for new export projects have been counting on a second Trump administration to ease the way for their multibillion-dollar expansion plans.
Trump has promised to end an expanded Department of Energy review that has slowed new export permits. President Biden had paused some export permits and asked the department to evaluate the effects of new LNG projects’ climate and economic impacts.
Oil and gas producers expect Trump’s second administration to streamline permit processes relating to fossil fuel extraction and distribution that should result in a climb in US oil and natural gas output. Firms that export liquefied natural gas, crude oil and refined fuels are expected to benefit. The move could also encourage further growth in US export capacity of those products.