Coastal districts want ACMP control 02/22/2009
Administration, industry oppose plan to establish coastal policy board with authority to approve district management plans
The Alaska Coastal Management Program is back in the Alaska Legislature - and at least one legislator, Rep. John Harris, R-Valdez, who went through the major rewrite of the program in 2003, is not hap...

State trying to lift the industry veil 02/15/2009
Alaska is looking for a way to get the oil industry to share confidential information in order to craft a risk assessment
The state is trying to coax major players in the oil industry to hand over confidential material needed to complete a risk assessment of oil and gas infrastructure in Alaska. The problem is figuring o...

40 Years at Prudhoe Bay: Discovery fuels economic transformation 11/16/2008
Experts point to Prudhoe Bay oil field as enduring backbone of Alaska's public, private funding sources and future economy
Alaska's economy would be much different without the discovery and development of Prudhoe Bay. Economists, industry officials and prominent Alaskans say the economic effects of the state's major oil d...

Shell, Conoco to innovate in Chukchi 11/16/2008
Shell's three-year seismic program may be largest exploration program company has shot; ConocoPhillips investigating jack-ups
Extensive seismic and planning for offshore drilling and development were two topics addressed by Shell and ConocoPhillips Oct. 29 at the United States and Canada Northern Oil and Gas Research Forum....

Impact of bruin listing still in limbo 09/28/2008
Legal, regulatory tangle obscures potential effect of "threatened" designation for polar bears on Alaska's resource industries
Four months after U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne listed the polar bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act, the issue has become a legal and regulatory tangle, leaving the impact...

AOGA opposes ballot measure 08/24/2008
In a rare move the Alaska Oil and Gas Association's board of directors passed a resolution opposing Ballot Measure 4, aimed at changing regulations on water discharged from Alaska's large-scale metall...

State could earn $10B plus from oil this year 07/06/2008
New AOGA report looks at the role oil plays in employment, wages and charitable giving; updates, expands figures from 2000
The State of Alaska most likely earned more than $10 billion this fiscal year from oil and gas operations, according to a new look at the role of the industry in the state economy. The revenue figure...

Oil Patch Insider 07/06/2008
Sheffield to lead AOGA for 2008-09; Craig Bieber novel 'Saylor's Triangle' makes Anchorage debut
The Alaska Oil and Gas Association named Ken Sheffield, president of Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska Inc., as its new president, effective July 1. The association's other officers are first vice pre...

AOGA annual luncheon set June 30 06/22/2008
The Alaska Oil and Gas Association will hold its annual luncheon on Monday, June 30, featuring the presentation of a new look at the role oil and gas plays in the economy of Alaska. The luncheon will...

Kempthorne lists polar bear as threatened 05/18/2008
Interior secretary accepts scientific studies on loss of sea ice as threat to polar bears; says Endangered Species Act inflexible
Citing "the best available science" and the inflexibility of the Endangered Species Act, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne said May 14 that he has accepted the recommendation of the U.S. Fish...

Oil Patch Insider 04/20/2008
Indigenous Russian leaders take lessons from Alaska Natives; Ahmaogak sees stint with Shell as beneficial
Shell President John Hofmeister wasn't the only visitor to Alaska's North Slope Borough in the last month. Pacific Environment, an environmental organization based in San Francisco, brought a delegati...

ASRC plans Chukchi seismic activity 03/16/2008
Vessel Mount Mitchell to arrive in Chukchi Sea on July 1, with survey operations beginning around July 15 and limited to 100 days
A subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional Corp. proposes a plan for seismic activities in the Chukchi Sea, raising concerns that the work might disturb bowhead whales. ASRC Energy Service's Marine Service...

Oil companies spend big bucks on ads in Alaska; led by AOGA, Conoco 02/24/2008
Oil companies have spent more than $1.4 million in recent months on advertising in Alaska in a bid to win voter support for its views on oil taxes and a natural gas pipeline. The Alaska Oil and Gas A...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Shell never really left Alaska 11/18/2007
2007 Beaufort drilling plans on hold due to a court order, Odom says will continue to listen, learn, work with local people
When Shell re-entered Alaska in October 2001 with the $2.4 million acquisition of 56,000 acres on the North Slope, Alaskans watched to see what the U.S. EandP arm of Royal Dutch Shell would do next. Fo...

Oil taxes revisited 09/09/2007
Hybrid net-gross tax would raise more than PPT actual, less than PPT proposed
Gov. Sarah Palin wants the Alaska Legislature to change the state's oil tax system from a tax on oil company profits - a net tax - to a hybrid tax, part net and part gross. The goal is to increase rev...

Judy Brady gets the magic wand at her final AOGA-chamber luncheon 07/01/2007
The oil and gas luncheon hosted annually by the Alaska Oil and Gas Association and the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce was several magic wands short this year. Traditionally, AOGA Executive Director Jud...

Beluga ESA listing prompts debate 04/29/2007
Resource groups challenge National Marine Fisheries Service's data, proposal; question value of endangered species classification
The sparks are flying following the National Marine Fisheries Service's announcement that the agency proposes listing the Cook Inlet beluga whales as an endangered species. (See initial story in the A...

Update bill for AOGCC moves in Legislature 04/22/2007
House version passed by Oil and Gas, goes to Resources; Senate version receives Resources Committee, Senate floor approval, passes 19-0
Bills to update the statutory authority of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Act, dating from the territorial Legislature more than 50 years ago, are moving in both houses of the Alaska Legislature....

Oil Patch Insider 04/22/2007
AOGA's Brady to retire; AEWC and Maggie Ahmaogak part ways; Persily heads to D.C.
Judy Brady, executive director of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, plans to retire at the end of June after 14 years with the Anchorage-based group. AOGA's deputy director Marilyn Crockett will tak...

Legislature revisits PPT deductions 02/25/2007
Senate begins hearing bill which would exclude costs of repair or replacement of improperly maintained facilities
Both the Alaska House and Senate are considering bills to amend the credit allowance for the Petroleum Profits Tax passed last year so that companies cannot deduct costs of repair or replacement for i...

THE EXPLORERS 2006 - Shell plans four Beaufort wells in '07 11/12/2006
Two wells at Siv Ullig, two at another location north of Camden Bay; seismic planned in Chukchi, Beaufort
Rick Fox, Shell's new asset manager for Alaska, said in late February 2006 that Shell was "ambitious about Alaska." He wasn't jesting. The mega-major returned to Alaska in March 2005 and shortly ther...

THE EXPLORERS 2006 - The past, the present, a new day 2006-2046 11/12/2006
The history of the oil and gas industry and the State of Alaska is the story of huge risks taken, incredible challenges met, and the promise kept to provide a secure economic base for Alaska and its p...

Bridging the Eskimo, oil culture gap 11/05/2006
The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission seeks mutual understanding between the oil industry and subsistence hunters
The loss of land previously available for subsistence hunting, together with the impact of industrial noise on offshore hunting, form just two of the issues that are causing unease about the oil and g...

ConocoPhillips withdraws from AOGA 09/10/2006
Celebrating its 40th anniversary, trade association representing oil and gas companies operating in Alaska loses founding member
ConocoPhillips is withdrawing from membership in the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, the trade association that represents oil and gas companies operating in the Alaska. "ConocoPhillips has its own d...

With PPT oil tax passed, what's next? 08/20/2006
Administration needs to satisfy Alaska Legislature to move gas contract; industry concerned about tax rate, contract, regulations
The Alaska Legislature passed - and Gov. Frank Murkowski was scheduled to sign Aug. 19 - a major revision of the state's oil and gas production tax. The bill passed Aug. 10 was higher than the 20 perc...