Oil & Gas
RSSOil and gas in Alaska is the state's petroleum and natural gas industry, from North Slope production to Cook Inlet gas fields and the pipelines that move it. It covers North Slope and Cook Inlet production, pipelines like TAPS, and the tax and leasing debates around Alaska LNG.
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Week of Aug 3
Interior proposes easing Arctic offshore drilling safety rules
The Trump administration proposed easing post-Deepwater Horizon safety rules for Arctic offshore drilling off Alaska, reviving the spill-risk debate.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Utility warns of rolling blackouts in Southcentral as soon as this winter
At a Municipality of Anchorage press conference last week, MEA's CEO warned that Southcentral could see rolling blackouts as soon as November if Cook Inlet gas falls short — the first time in 45 years he says he can't guarantee power.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago2 min read
Week of Jul 27
ENSTAR says Cook Inlet output has fallen to a fifth of its 1990s peak, with its firm contract ending in 2033
Cook Inlet is apparently in trouble, well, unless you think rolling backouts are a good deal. And I'm sure somebody in the world does, somewhere
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago3 min read
Micciche sets break-even floor on Kenai Peninsula tax break for Alaska LNG
Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche set a floor on Alaska LNG tax breaks at 75% off, saying the borough will not accept less than break-even on a $23.6 billion to $28.4 billion facility.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago3 min read
The state is being asked to bank on a gas line price it may never fully see
Alaska is weighing tax breaks and $800 million for a gas pipeline whose developer says the true cost may never be public. Its disclosed estimate already jumped $10 billion.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A North Slope river keeps chewing toward the pipeline, and Alyeska keeps armoring it
For the second time this year, Alyeska wants to stack rock along the Sagavanirktok River to keep it from eroding toward the buried Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Oil-company seismic data is going public — the price of a state tax credit
Oil-company seismic surveys from Cook Inlet and the North Slope are going public — the eventual price of the state tax credits that funded them — as companies hunt for new gas in a declining basin.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago2 min read
Week of Jul 20
Draft settlement would protect ANWR leasing terms
A draft settlement would bar Washington from shrinking ANWR leasing below what Congress required, a win the state and Kaktovik's drilling backers wanted.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
More from Oil & Gas
EPA suspends Arctic clean-diesel rules amid Middle East supply crunch
A Middle East fuel crunch reached the North Slope, and EPA suspended clean-diesel rules there through Aug. 2 — putting more soot over Iñupiat communities and Arctic snow.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min readFrom 
Alaska Senate passes LNG bill as Republicans warn it kills financing
Alaska's Senate passed its LNG bill 11-8, and Senate Republicans immediately said the added taxes and labor rules make the pipeline unfinanceable.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min readFrom 
Oil is beating the forecast, and it still won't cover a dividend
Oil is running $11 a barrel above what the state budgeted. Sounds like a windfall — it wouldn't cover a single $1,000 dividend.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Hilcorp seeks 50 megawatts of new power at Milne Point
Hilcorp wants about 50 megawatts of new turbine power at Milne Point — three big turbines and 185,000 gallons of fuel. Comments close 30 days from July 18.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
DEC issues proposed final APDES permit for Hilcorp's Prudhoe Bay discharge
DEC issued a proposed permit allowing Hilcorp to discharge 12.4 million gallons of treated seawater daily into Stefansson Sound near Nuiqsut, reviving an authorization that expired in late 2022.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Week of Jul 13
Alaska House ties 19-19 on gas line bill, killing it for now
Alaska House deadlocked 19-19 on the Alaska LNG bill July 16, stalling gas supply plans as Cook Inlet production declines toward 2027 shortages.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Alaska Senate passes HB 381 oil and gas tax bill 11-8, with dissenters signaling more work ahead
Alaska Senate passed HB 381, the main bill enabling AK LNG, 11-8 Thursday, but dissenters flagged unresolved questions about a new income tax on oil and gas pass-through entities.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Alaska LNG tax bill advances to floor on split conference committee votes
Alaska's Legislature advanced a revised LNG tax bill that replaces municipal property taxes with a state volumetric tax, redirecting an estimated $500 million in annual local revenue by 2033.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Coming up
Alaska LNG ROW Lease Conversion Public Hearing (In Person)
AHFC Headquarters Building, 4300 Boniface Parkway, Anchorage, Alaska 99504
Hearing
AOGCC Public Hearing on Plug and Abandonment Waiver (Docket OTH-26-031)
Hearing
EPA Virtual Public Hearing on Alaska Underground Injection Control Class VI Injection Well Primacy
Hearing
Hilcorp Alaska Cook Inlet ODPCP Public Hearing Request Deadline
Public notice
Public Comment Period: Oil Search Nanushuk Processing Facility Air Quality Permit AQ1683MSS01 Rev. 3
Public notice
About Oil & Gas
Oil and gas in Alaska takes in the exploration, production and transport of petroleum and natural gas, from the North Slope fields around Prudhoe Bay to the platforms and gas fields of Cook Inlet. It also takes in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and the Alaska LNG project to move North Slope gas.
State leasing, exploration and drilling approvals, and federal rules for the National Petroleum Reserve and the Arctic refuge's 1002 Area shape where companies can work. Operators such as Hilcorp and ConocoPhillips need permits for ice roads, gravel mines, air emissions and wetland fill. Whether Cook Inlet gas can keep supplying Southcentral homes and utilities is a recurring question, along with gas storage and the financing of Alaska LNG.
The industry connects to state bodies such as the state gasline corporation and AIDEA, and to utilities that buy gas, such as ENSTAR and Matanuska Electric. North Slope communities such as Kaktovik seek a voice in development decisions near them.
More from Oil & Gas
Conference draft keeps oil-and-gas pass-through tax, delays it to 2029
A House-Senate conference committee draft of HB 381 keeps a proposed income tax on oil-and-gas pass-through entities but delays collections to 2029.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago4 min read
The $100 million question inside Alaska's gas-line bill
Should Hilcorp pay the oil tax ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips already do? It's worth $100M-plus a year — but critics warn taxing Cook Inlet's gas supplier could backfire.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
A gravel permit for the pipeline, and a question about what Alyeska pays
A routine permit lets Alyeska pull gravel from the Sag floodplain for pipeline upkeep — but not what the private pipeline giant pays the public for it. A senator's been asking.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Alaska LNG's cheap-gas promise hinges on exports — and on costs staying in line
New state numbers on Alaska LNG: exports are what make gas cheap for Alaskans (about $5/mcf vs. $12.65 without them), but a cost overrun could push the export price above what buyers pay.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Alaska wants out of a diesel rule that shuts trucks down in the cold
A pollution-cutting fluid that freezes at 12°F can force Alaska diesels to shut down in deep cold — and the state wants an exemption before the federal rule tightens in 2027.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 4mo ago2 min readFrom 
Week of Jul 6
On the North Slope, the oil field grows a few thousand cubic yards at a time
ConocoPhillips wants to lay gravel for two small Kuparuk expansions — the kind of routine, acre-at-a-time growth critics say is exactly how the North Slope's footprint quietly spreads.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Justice Department concedes Biden-era Arctic Refuge leasing program violated the law
The Justice Department conceded Alaska was right that the 2024 Arctic Refuge leasing program violated federal law by capping development below what Congress allowed.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Week of Jun 29
HB 381 exempts Alaska LNG project property from municipal taxes, replaces with volumetric splits
HB 381 replaces municipal property taxes on the Alaska LNG project with a new volumetric tax. • Phase 1 revenue splits favor pipeline communities while Phase 2 directs 48 percent to the Kenai Peninsula Borough. • The state expects the project to generate 26 billion dollars over 30 years. • Tax changes expire if construction misses a December 31 2034 deadline.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Alaska gas pipeline tax bill sets $40M milestone test for boroughs, schools, and rural heating fund
Alaska's gas pipeline tax bill unlocks billions for boroughs and schools only if the developer pays $40 million and meets construction deadlines through 2037.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Alaska LNG tax bill advances as working draft, disputes unresolved
Alaska lawmakers advanced a working draft of HB 381, the tax framework for Alaska LNG, but disputes over the alternative volumetric tax remain unresolved.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago3 min read
Where Alaska's gas-line tax deal stands, and what's still stuck
Lawmakers have a working Alaska LNG tax deal — a $16 ratepayer price cap, a required Fairbanks spur line, and two unresolved fights over legality and Kenai's school costs.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Buried under the Kenai refuge: seismic data on a stranded Cook Inlet gas find is about to go public
As Southcentral eyes a gas shortage, old seismic data on Shadura — an undeveloped Cook Inlet gas find near Nikiski, stuck under the Kenai refuge — is set to go public.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
A landslide has closed the Dalton Highway, the main road to the North Slope
A rain-triggered landslide closed the Dalton Highway north of Coldfoot on Monday — blocking the main road to the North Slope and the freight bound for the oil fields.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Alaska's development bank meets behind closed doors on the Arctic Refuge, a mining road, and a port
Alaska's state investment bank meets privately July 8 on its biggest bets — Arctic Refuge oil, the Ambler mining road, Port MacKenzie — with public money on the line.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
ConocoPhillips is finding new oil in the Kuparuk field, in rock decades of drilling missed
The Kuparuk field has fallen 80% since its 1992 peak, but ConocoPhillips is reviving it by tapping Coyote and other reservoirs that older drilling technology overlooked.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
A gravel permit, and how North Slope oil is built on gravel
ConocoPhillips wants to expand a gravel pad at its Kuparuk field. It's a routine permit — but a small look at how North Slope oil is literally built on imported gravel.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago1 min read
Why Washington's permitting overhaul lands harder in Alaska than almost anywhere
About 60% of Alaska is federal land, so Trump's NEPA permitting overhaul hits harder here. The complaint that reviews are too slow is bipartisan; how far to cut is the fight.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Alaska clears the way to bury carbon — over water-safety fears
Alaska's new rules let companies inject carbon dioxide underground for storage — with the whole fight hinging on whether it stays put or seeps into the water people drink.
by Alaska Newsadded 4mo ago2 min read
A huge North Pole fuel terminal's spill plan is up for renewal — and residents have reason to look
The spill plan for a 33-million-gallon North Pole jet fuel terminal is up for comment through July 29 — in a town that knows what fuel in its groundwater looks like.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Week of Jun 22
Gas-line developer warns Alaska's Senate terms could drive it off
Glenfarne told lawmakers the Senate's gas-line amendments — a 9.4% investor tax, an automatic state takeover clause, tough labor rules — could make it walk. Lawmakers say they're protecting the state.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
A federal rule could stick Alaskans with abandoned-well cleanup costs
The BLM wants to slash the cleanup bonds oil companies post before drilling on federal land — raising the odds taxpayers, not operators, foot the bill for abandoned Alaska wells.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Alaska's gas-pipeline bill now carries a tax on Hilcorp and others
A permanent tax on pass-through oil companies like Hilcorp is riding inside Alaska's gas-pipeline bill — and it kicks in by 2028 whether the pipeline gets built or not.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
State economist: even with tax breaks, the gas line barely works
Even with the Senate's tax breaks, Alaska's gas project still costs more to make than Asia pays for it — and one lawmaker put it bluntly: "It seems like they don't work."
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Alaska's gas-line tax bill stalls in committee
Lawmakers writing Alaska's gas-line tax deal voted down both versions of the bill — now they need special authority to build a compromise from the pieces.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
