Big Oil on a spending spree in Alaska – for now

Fuel Fix ^ | June 1, 2014 | FuelFix.com

[thackney]

Energy company investments in Alaska could reverse declining oil production in the state.

Firms are planning the largest energy project in the state’s history along with a series of moves to rejuvenate Alaska’s biggest oil fields.

That is unless, the companies are saying, voters in the state in August dismantle a new oil tax regime that Houston-based ConocoPhillips and others say makes Alaska far more attractive than it was under higher levies imposed in 2007.

In a story at HoustonChronicle.com, FuelFix reporter Collin Eaton takes a look at the energy projects that area planned and issues surrounding the tax vote.

[thackney]

excerpted Houston Chronicle article:

Big Oil keen to go big in Alaska again

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Big-Oil-keen-to-go-big-in-Alaska-again-5518470.php

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=Big%20Oil%20keen%20to%20go%20big%20in%20Alaska%20again

For now, oil companies are pressing ahead with plans to build a massive liquefied natural gas project that could cost $45 billion to $65 billion - a far higher price tag than the 1977 construction cost of the state's 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

Exxon Mobil, BP, ConocoPhillips, TransCanada and the state of Alaska expect to finish designing the project late next year.

It would include gas treatment facilities at a giant oil field on the North Slope, an export terminal in a southern region of the state near Anchorage and another 800-mile pipeline linking the two. The state, which would be a part owner in the venture, gave the project a green light in April.

"More favorable taxes really do change the pace and the scale of what we're able to do here, and the state becoming an equity partner enables us to feel this is much more stable," Janet Weiss, president of BP Alaska, said in a recent interview with the Houston Chronicle.

"We've got to make sure we're capital efficient and we have tax stability," she said.

[T-Bird45]

It seems to me the correct election result in 2016 and a subsequent opening of ANWR would probably surpass this project. Am I wrong in this thinking?

[thackney]

I think the Natural Gas projects across the slope, along with a new pipeline, LNG plant and export terminal would exceed the project size of developing all of the coastal plain of ANWR, by at least double.

[T-Bird45]

Thanks for the response - good to know. A couple of friends work for ConocoPhillips and have had time in AK supporting the IT/communications infrastructure. Looks like they may have more in their future.