The world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock, Inc., has send emissaries to Alaska in the past, but in the past few weeks, Alaska has had two different visits from groups representing the behemoth investment firm, which has assets under management that dwarf the gross domestic product of several countries.
Founded in 1988, BlackRock has grown into the world’s largest asset manager, with $10 trillion in assets under management as of January 2022. $10 trillion in assets, for comparison, is one third the size of the national debt of the United States. BlackRock operates globally with 70 offices in 30 countries.
So when Blackrock corporate types visit Alaska, people notice. When they show up the document room of the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, people start talking.
When the CEO of Blackrock goes on the CNBC “Mad Money” show with Jim Cramer, and says he is working on a gasline project in Alaska, heads turn.
The interview with Cramer had steered toward the issue of climate change, corporate responsibility, and what that means for investors and companies. Here’s that section of the transcript of the show, where Larry Fink, who founded Blackrock, talks about the need for America to become the exporter of energy in the world, and specifically talks about a “project” his company is working on in Alaska:
“There’s no question climate risk is going to be, we’re gonna have a lot of investment risk in climate change, and we’re already seeing them the valuations of emerging countries already where you’re having these incredible heat spells. You’re seeing that right now. In fact, I could say at BlackRock that we have more employees in in our London office since since Covid. And you know why? We have air conditioning in our offices and they don’t have air conditioners at home. I mean it just,” Fink said.
Cramer interrupted for a moment, “Right but these are things, these are all part—”
Fink continued, “Our behavior changes are happening, and we have to be prepared for that. And the only way we have to be prepared to tackle this we have to aggressively invest in new technologies for decarbonization. But at the same time, we have to aggressively work with our energy companies to have adequate supply for security. But more importantly, our allies are all asking us right now can you provide us with more gas? Can you provide us more of that? And and so here we are 100 years of natural gas, we don’t have the pipelines to get it. We don’t have it.”
Fink continued, “I mean, I’m working in projects in Alaska right now. We’re working on projects everywhere right now to try to make America the exporter.”
The entire transcript of the interview is at this link.
Fink is no stranger to the state. He travels to Alaska every year for fishing trips at Lake Iliamna and Blackrock manages a small portion of the Alaska Permanent Fund.
In addition to the Blackrock interest in developing Alaska gas, as now leaked by Fink on national television, Gov. Mike Dunleavy traveled to Japan in early June to discuss the market for Alaska gas in that longtime trading partner.
Dunleavy and Sen. Dan Sullivan met with Japanese companies, utilities, and government ministries about Alaska’s natural gas export potential. Dunleavy and Sullivan’s trip came at a time that Japan is pivoting towards an energy transition, one that Alaska can supply in the coming decades, including blue and green hydrogen, at a time of great geopolitical instability in other parts of the world.
“Alaska and Japan have a trade partnership going back over fifty years to the first LNG export from Nikiski to Japan,” said Dunleavy. “The natural gas of the Cook Inlet literally turned the lights on in cities across Japan and powered the economic engine that lifted that nation’s postwar society into a critically powerful western ally. There appears to be, due to the shift across the world away from older fuel sources, and the simultaneous need for supplies that are not risked due to political instability, a role that Alaska natural gas could play. Alaska can supply Japan with another fifty of natural gas and clean hydrogen for decades to come.”
The Alaska delegation held meeting with representatives of the JERA, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, along with Tokyo Gas and TOYO Engineering. Meetings were also held with the Mitsubishi Corporation, the Chiyoda Corporation, well as INPEX and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd.
Unlike former Gov. Bill Walker, who had signed numerous MOU agreements with Communist China, Dunleavy has not issued many statements or gotten out over his skis on making promises that were not ready, other to say that talks with Japan were productive.
The big barrier will be the Biden Administration, which seems to think that America and the world can transition to green energy without a bridge energy source. It may take a company like Blackrock to convince the Biden Administration to take a more circumspect route and develop domestic gas for export to countries now dependent on Russia.
Private companies should build any gasline and the state should stay out of it. If the state invests in this thing, it will blow up in our faces.
Let’s not forget that under President Trump the US was energy independent, we had a full tank of US reserves and we exported our energy resources. Buyer beware of wolves in sheep clothing…Blackrock didn’t become rich without using other folks resources.
Alaska doesn’t need to be in a vulnerable position with those guys!
We’re already in a vulnerable position, but I can certainly understand the skepticism.
Black rock is evil!! Do your homework people. The climate crisis is manufactured and is going to be the new lock down!! Wake up before it’s to late. If you don’t know how photosynthesis works you had better learn! Carbon is a nutrient that plants need. Reduce carbon it kills the planet. Depopulation agenda is in full speed ahead. And your the target!
Pretty sure Blackrock was involved in all that social credit score stuff, that gives you a score depending on how woke you are. Is this how Blackrock will attempt to get more support from “Conservatives”, by playing the good cop who talks the bad cop (Biden) into letting Blackrock make a bunch of $ by opening up Alaska resources to Blackrock? Is Blackrock another energy company that Hunter and Joe have made deals with? Are they planning on getting a cut? Hmmmm
Black Rock and its investment group cannot be trusted to “do the right thing for the American people” They are purely money oriented and money loving people which breeds corruption. Be careful what you wish for!!!
Blackrock is the company overbidding on residential properties, and keeping people from buying homes. They plan to force everyone into renting from them. Supposedly, they want to build the communist, industrial-flat style housing, everywhere, like you see in London. These robber barons are yet another elite group attempting to turn the world into a ghetto.
Thanks for sharing, Suzanne. Very interesting.
The Pipeline in the Sky. Bill Walker’s wet dream. I’d actually love to see it built just so we can watch Walker disappear into its corporate operation and out of our political operations.
Trivia Question:Who holds the record for the largest amount of customer’s money lost by a single firm over a six-month period (1.7 trillion dollars)?
Blackrock has bought up everything. Commercial real estate, apartment complexes, homes (which they rent out with short term leases where the rents get bumped every 6 mo.), you name it. I feel they are playing good cop but at least they’re getting the word out about bridge energy. But, more money will only make them stronger.
Scary Times! Joe will be gone soon so Kamala takes over, BlackRock is not your friend
Blackrock has been buying lots of homes that are up for sale. Their next step will be to increase rent prices across the board. Watch out renters!
Permitting risk is very high as long as you have a president that wants to kill the oil and gas industry and has done 100 specific things to make project permitting more difficult if not impossible.
The Keystone XL project was fully permitted and under construction when Biden killed it, while at the same time (May 2021) Biden lifted sanctions on the Nordstream pipeline to benefit Russia. Madness.
There may also be no good economic reason to build a gas line to monetize Alaska’s North Slope gas. It may be easier to move the gas off the slope as LNG with ice breaking ships. This is important- the higher the cost of moving gas to market the lower the netback to Alaska. Alaskans need to demand that these relative costs be known in before any project moves forward. The Alaska constitution requires maximum benefit to Alaskans for the sale of our oil or natural gas. I guarantee a lawsuit if Dunleavy is not transparent on these issues. Alaskans own the oil and gas, and we will not fleeced.
This is the first time in any of this that a PRIVATE company has actually led any effort by itself. That and that alone is a massive development. That is how it should be.
The state government should not be leading the effort, the state government should not be guiding the effort, the state government should not be a partner in the effort. The state government should permit the effort and collect the royalty share while providing a regulatory and supervisory role as the manager of our (the people) property.
I don’t care if they take the gas by pipeline to Nikiski or Valdez, or if they build a port in the Arctic Ocean to ship it from there. This is a welcome development for anyone who understands the state of affairs in the world today and especially anyone who understands how the economy and state budget works in Alaska.
Steve- this is not the first private sector effort to build a gas line. Yukon Pacific led the effort years ago. YPC obtained an approved right of way to Valdez as well as an approved Final Environmental Impact Statement. The problem YPC had was the majors refused to commit our gas to the project. Why? Because its more profitable to limit gas (or oil) supplies in the global market to increase profits. This behavior, of course, violates the leasehold agreement the majors have with Alaska. The leases contain a duty to develop agreement. Its a violation of the lease terms to sit on the gas, or oil. Exxon did this dozens of times with the massive gas reserves at Pt. Thomson. Tom Irwin, and others, led the effort to revoke Exxon’s leases for cause. Parnell and Sullivan folded and gave away a court case we were winning… (Puppets).
Long story short- Alaska needs to be involved- with the private sector or our gas will continue to be warehoused because of the dynamics of a global market and the competing objectives Alaska and the industry hold.
M,
I’m not sure the Yukon Pacific, owned and led by two former Alaskan Governors (and at one point one that was a sitting Governor), fits the bill as a private company that led the effort. It definitely wasn’t taken serious as a private pipeline company until it was backed by CSX before Hickel’s second term and Hickel was forced to sell his shares. Interestingly, Yukon Pacific also originally started with the concept that Nikiski would be the terminus before the political winds shifted to Valdez.
The Alaska state government should be involved in permitting and regulation, not financing or other investment. Government should govern, not partake in business ventures.
Seems to me a better plan would be to build the infrastructure to keep Alaskans supplied with natural gas. Then, if/when surplus exists, sell it on the open market to the highest bidder.
“Seems to me a better plan would be to build the infrastructure to keep Alaskans supplied with natural gas……….”
Hear, hear! One of the best proposals I’ve heard was the construction of a propane refinery at the gas line crossing of the Yukon or Tanana rivers so that the Yukon drainage villages would have access to more affordable heating and cooking fuel.
Troy, at what cost do we build this infrastructure?
Well, we have north of 80 billion sitting in the bank. That would be a good start. Plus all the jobs it would create, plus the extra cash each Alaskan could spend on other things if heating costs dropped to pennies on the dollar. Plus, the reductions in emissions for all those greenies out there. Just some thoughts.
Blackrock is probably not at all interested in a risky natural gas pipeline project. The real prize is the billions of dollars in the PFD. The camel’s nose is already under the tent with Rogoff’s daughter being appointed to the PFD Board by Dunleavy. Classic ” look over there, not here” .
Duck and cover, kids, this is not a drill.
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Mr. Fink says, “Our behavior changes are happening, and we have to be prepared for that. And the only way we have to be prepared to tackle this we have to aggressively invest in new technologies for decarbonization.”
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Back in the day, Americans elected government officials to change our behavior when it needed changing, we called it the rule of law.
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Now Blackrock’s gonna do it aggressively, make “behavior changes” through the rule of money.
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No? Every Alaskan legislator past and present, and the Governor just shouted loud and clear: Mr. Fink take your ten trillion, shove it where the sun don’t shine, Alaska’s no damned Blackrock company town?
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Looks an awful lot like Mr. Fink just announced a formal engagement, even published his own marriage banns (with ten trillion you can do that)… Blackrock-Alaska government nuptials. Okay, so Alaska government’s Permanent Fund dowry is but a piddling .8% of Blackrock’s ten trillion, but it’s the thought that counts, right?
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Shotgun wedding? Maybe China Bill Walker signed some gasline paperwork with President Xi’s people, which loosely translated from the Middle Kingdom Tongue really means here’s your thirty pieces of silver, fool, we own you, your gas, plus anything else we want?
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The terms “Chinese debt traps”, “Belt and Road international development initiative” ringing a bell yet?
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What’s China got to do with Blackrock? Nearly 40% of the BlackRock-managed iShares Emerging Markets Fund consists of Chinese state-owned enterprises. American regulators in the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board which was established by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, are not allowed to oversee audits of these Chinese state-owned enterprises.
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So, we don’t know who’s leveraging Blackrock, what they plan for Alaska, what they’ll do if they don’t get what they want. Corrupt Biden Justice Department, leaderless military more concerned with wokefare than warfare, we’re effectively on our own and China Bill Walker’s people working through Blackrock know that.
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Hard to unsee the wedding analogy… how’ll we know the marriage is consummated? When the GOP takes over.
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No, sillies, not your grandparent’s GOP, but a GOP, a Government Of Puppets installed for appearance’s sake, owned, and operated by ten-trillion dollar Blackrock.
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Installed? Wasn’t that the whole idea behind the urgency of ranked-choice, Dominion-controlled voting… get most of the right people in office, keep all the wrong ones out so Alaska government’s Blackrock spouse can do what he’s here to do, under the illusion of democracy, unimpeded by quaint pretensions of democracy?
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Surely we didn’t just figure out who has the best motive, the most to gain by upending Alaska’s electoral system, who spent the “dark money” to buy ranked-choice voting.
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Owned? Some politician ascending to office right out of the womb gonna do a Horatio at the Bridge against ten trillion dollar Blackrock’s “aggressive investment in new technologies for decarbonization” and the “behavior changes” Blackrock requires to make this once-in-a-lifetime economic opportunity happen
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…while Blackrock buys a luscious, tasty, carbon-rich Alaska gasline, and all its real estate and communications accessories, for Mr. Fink’s Communist Chinese clients
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…using Alaska government’s Permanent Fund as collateral?
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Operated? With ten trillion dollar Blackrock in de facto charge, what the hell else is Alaska’s lobbyist-legislator team going to do on its own except another redux of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic?
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Southern border’s got illegal aliens pouring over it, promise of the big PX in the survivors’ eyes, not much we can do about it. Alaskan border’s got Blackrock/China Bill Walker’s people oozing over it, promise of big gaslines and Permanent Funds in their eyes, not much we can do about that either.
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Suggestions? Anyone?
If China Walker is involved I am Against it, he showed us what thief he was with our PFD. Now gas line he stands to gain and we will get screwed. Keep that SOB out of Government
Democrats want to be the puppet. They think they will be the better bendover. After all they are squishing the constitution already.
You know what? Life did not begin in Alaska in 1959 or 1969. We were here before that. We know that history. You don’t.
Some of us are a bit scythian our own selves.
We have continuation of government even if it is undesired by non-english speakers. The Magna Carta is passed into our US Constitution for every English speaking man no matter where on earth he is found. It was the French speakers who were too proud to accept. They still are. That’s why Canada didn’t accept a charter of rights until fully 1975. Their charter is not as comprehensive as the US Constitution which included the Jamestown Charter 200 years before. It would have been providential for our US Constitution to have been ratified by northern colonies with ours. It was written by the founders for all on the continent. The french speakers in Canada were too proud to accept it. True story. Anyone can be bi-lingual. Parlez-vous? Can’t they. Now their beautiful families are so at risk. Time to say “non” to Macron and the WEF guys. Comment?
The constitution was also an estate document. It was particularly applicable as an inheritance document for the founders natural consanguine heirs and is not extinguishable nor waivable in any part by non-heirs in their “smu” (later lawyer stuff made up). Do the founders have natural heirs in Alaska? Yes. They do.
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