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 Jun 22
A leaked plan to fire Alaska's gas-line developer surfaces in Juneau
A "stolen" state document laying out how Alaska could fire Glenfarne from its $44B gas line leaked — and the developer says it's now wondering whether Alaska can keep a secret.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
A pass-through tax, not the pipeline, is the real fight in Juneau
A conference committee spent two days on Alaska's $44B gas line, and the sharpest fight was over a pass-through tax on Hilcorp that doesn't need the pipeline to exist.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago3 min read
Kenai's quiet stake in the gas-line bill
Only Kenai Borough's school-funding bill changes under the gas-line tax legislation — but the state's own modeling says the increase might sunset before it ever lands.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
The number that quietly sets the state budget: a barrel of oil
Alaska's budget is a bet on oil — and the state's own forecast is banking on crude leaping to $91 a barrel by summer, so "coming out ahead" rides on a guess, not a high price.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
A Florida company wants to expand a big offshore oil unit on the edge of ANWR
A Florida company wants to expand an offshore oil unit on the edge of ANWR — and the state tagged it "approved" before comments even opened. Weigh in by July 21.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom 
Tom Begich goes after Dunleavy over vocational-training vetoes
Begich is hammering Dunleavy for vetoing job-training money while the state promises a pipeline built by Alaskans — a rare direct shot at the governor from the campaign trail.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
What APA's ice-road permit signals for the eastern North Slope
A state notice for "ice construction and off-road travel" sounds dull — until you notice it's APA Corp staging a winter drilling run on the eastern North Slope.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
The EPA's No. 2 told Alaska's resource industry the door is open — for now
The EPA's deputy came to Anchorage to tell the resource industry the feds are clearing the way — and the message from the room was: hurry, before the politics flip.
by Melinda Communities.News4mo ago2 min read
More from Oil & Gas
North Slope, Fairbanks, Valdez sue over pipeline tax values
Three Alaska municipalities sued June 22 over how pipeline companies value their assets for local taxes, challenging assessments that affect borough and city revenue.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Federal regulators renew HEX authorization for Cook Inlet marine-mammal harassment
Federal regulators renewed HEX Operating's permit to incidentally harass marine mammals during natural gas work in Cook Inlet through September 2027.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Hilcorp wants five years to drive across North Slope subsistence land
A company wants 5 years to drive industrial rigs across North Slope tundra people hunt on. The real fight is who sets the rules, and when.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Point Thomson is the remote gas field Alaska's pipeline dream depends on
You know Prudhoe Bay. You probably don't know Point Thomson — the remote, pricey field Alaska's whole pipeline dream quietly leans on. And it's stirring.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
The $16 Gas Promise Comes With Fine Print
The gas line's headline $16 price is firm — until you notice it's quoted in the wrong unit, climbs with inflation before any gas arrives, and gets policed by a commission missing half its top staff.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Week of Jun 15
Alaska's LNG tax break now hinges on a gas line to Fairbanks
Alaska's LNG tax break now has a price: $80M, a labor deal, and a Fairbanks spur line before Glenfarne sees any relief.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
What the Senate Changed in the Gas-Line Deal
The Senate's gas-line rewrite caps your gas price, leashes the state's pipeline agency, and lets the boroughs pocket most of the tax money for decades before the state takes its cut.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
NMFS issues renewal IHA to HEX Operating for Cook Inlet natural gas activities
Federal regulators renewed a permit letting HEX Operating produce natural gas in Cook Inlet while monitoring disturbance to beluga whales and other marine mammals that share the inlet.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 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
A union-labor fight is breaking out over who builds Alaska's gas line
Alaska's forever-promised gas line finally has a fight worth watching — a union-labor mandate, a governor hopeful crying foul, and no one's seen the actual text.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
AIDEA authorized $190 million for ANWR — backed by Kaktovik, the residents
AIDEA put $190M behind ANWR seismic and lease bidding. Kaktovik — the only community inside the refuge — strongly supported it.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Alaska Senate digs in on gas tax bill, sends it to conference
Alaska Senate refused to back down on HB 381, sending the natural gas pipeline tax bill to a conference committee to resolve how to tax the Alaska LNG Project and fund municipalities and schools.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Alaska House recesses 10 days as gas line conference committee begins
We all know they're trying, but they very well may be intending for different outcomes when it comes to Alaska's LNG.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago4 min read
Alaska Senate passes S-corp LNG tax with 2028 effective date
Alaska Senate passed a tax on oil and gas pass-through entities, effective 2028, after rejecting an immediate start date. The state estimates the tax will recover more than $400 million annually once the LNG project reaches full production.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Senate passes gas-line bill; Dunleavy immediately calls lawmakers back to rewrite it
Special session concludes without passage of a gasline bill, and now the question is if this is an end to negotiations or if they'll continue tomorrow. The Governor thinks they're close.
by Cale Green4mo ago3 min read
Dunleavy called a second special session over the unresolved LNG tax bill
Long Friday in Juneau: LNG tax bill stuck, second special session called, two vetoes overridden, three failed. Round three starts Saturday.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min readFrom 
Chugach and Glenfarne Alaska LNG signed a non-binding LOI — a step, not a contract
Chugach and Glenfarne signed a non-binding letter of intent. The pipeline still hasn't broken ground. One of many Chugach hedges.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Alaska Senate minority demands clean floor vote on LNG tax bill
Alaska Senate Republicans demanded a floor vote on HB 381, the LNG volumetric tax bill, without amendments. • The majority has not said whether it will attach an S-corporation tax provision the minority opposes. • Minority senators cited lower energy costs as the project's main public benefit for Alaskans.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Chugach is pursuing four hydroelectric projects to hedge against Cook Inlet gas decline
Chugach's gas-to-renewables shift has its first concrete entries: four hydro projects on four Southcentral creeks, 52 MW total.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Alaska's biggest utility may start importing the gas its own region once exported
Then on the sixth day, god said: "Let there be LNG" And it was goooooood
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Alyeska Seeks Land to Armor the Pipeline Against Floods
Alyeska wants more North Slope land to wall the pipeline off from flooding — the same week the rivers are rising, and a year after the Sag took out the Dalton Highway for real.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Senate Finance presses Alaska LNG spur line: who builds, who pays, who regulates
Senate Finance gets into the numbers of the LNG line in a hot and spicy day of meetings
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Senate Finance demands Phase 1 pipeline math before Alaska LNG tax vote
Senator Stedman blocked a vote on a $750 million annual tax break for Alaska LNG's Phase 1 pipeline until the Department of Revenue shows whether the project actually needs the 2-mill property tax cut to work financially.
by Walter AlaskaNews5mo ago2 min read
Week of Jun 8
Alaska regulators say gas-line oversight hinges on federal decision
Federal regulators claim exclusive authority over Alaska's proposed North Slope gas pipeline, blocking state oversight of ratepayer costs. • The project's split into in-state and export phases may give Alaska regulators a limited role if federal jurisdiction is revisited. • Lead developer Glenfarne is targeting a final investment decision this year and first gas by 2029.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 5mo ago2 min read
Cook Inlet gas production falls to 61 Bcf in 2025
Cook Inlet gas production fell to 61 billion cubic feet in 2025, matching annual regional demand with no winter cushion. • Daily output of 200 million cubic feet falls short of peak winter demand of 320 million cubic feet per day. • Hilcorp has drilled 192 wells since 2012 and spent $1.5 billion just to hold production steady as individual wells decline 30 to 40 percent annually. • Utilities are developing LNG import terminals to fill the gap, targeting first imports in 2027 to 2029.
by Walter AlaskaNews5mo ago2 min readFrom 
Hilcorp seeks state lease for 1,330-acre gas storage field in Kenai
Hilcorp filed Friday for a state lease to store natural gas in 1,330 acres of subsurface rock beneath Kenai, with public comments due July 7.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 5mo ago1 min read
Alaska Building Trades, LNG subsidiary sign worker hiring pact
8 Star Alaska, a Glenfarre LNG subsidiary, signed a hiring agreement with Alaska Building Trades Councils on June 11 to prioritize Alaska workers for the 800-mile pipeline and LNG terminal. • The Alaska Legislature is considering House Bill 381 to cut project taxes and cap gas prices at $16 per unit for state utilities.
by Maggie AlaskaNews5mo ago1 min read
Alaska House passes new tax structure for Alaska LNG pipeline aimed at attracting investors
The Alaska House just passed the latest tax framework meant to finally install the LNG pipeline. Next, the Senate. Maybe. Pipeline still pending.
by Walter AlaskaNews5mo ago3 min read
Two firms seek competing gas-storage leases at Kenai Loop field
Hilcorp and ENSTAR filed competing applications to convert the depleted Kenai Loop gas field into storage, forcing the state to choose between them as Cook Inlet's gas production falls 60 percent short of winter demand for Southcentral Alaska.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 5mo ago2 min read
Senate Finance weighs Alaska LNG tax worth $124M a year — and whether it's enough for host communities
Governments are making compromises on the amount of property tax they'll receive - not all are happy about it
by Walter AlaskaNews5mo ago3 min read
House Finance advances Alaska LNG tax bill, curtailing North Slope's power to negotiate
House Finance advanced Alaska LNG tax bill Wednesday: 13 cents, no side deals, double the impact fund to $80m
by Walter AlaskaNews5mo ago3 min read
Fairbanks spur line language added to Alaska LNG tax bill
Fairbanks North Star Borough secured a requirement for a gas spur line in the state LNG tax bill. Developers must build the spur to access tax breaks. Costs will spread across Railbelt users to keep rates affordable for 3500 local customers.
by Walter AlaskaNews5mo ago2 min read
Enstar faces 2033 supply gap as Hilcorp contract expires, no Cook Inlet producer can match drilling scale
Enstar Natural Gas loses its main Cook Inlet gas supplier in 2033 when Hilcorp's contract expires, and no other producer can match Hilcorp's drilling scale, leaving Southcentral facing a supply gap unless a North Slope pipeline delivers gas by then.
by Bill AlaskaNews5mo ago2 min read
