Mining News: New year, decade brings opportunities 01/17/2010
Alaska mining industry will continue to supply world's demands for mineral resources, despite ups and downs in global markets
As we plunge headlong into a new year and a new decade, the broad economic indicators for the mining industry suggest continued strong prices for most commodities in 2010 followed by slightly lower av...

Alaska approves spill plan for BP tankers 01/10/2010
Prevention and response outline covers backup tankers chartered to haul North Slope crude; state officials can't promise it'll work
Alaska officials have approved an oil spill prevention and response plan for extra tankers BP might charter to help haul North Slope crude out of the port of Valdez. The approval from the Department o...

Crowley issues Pathfinder spill estimate 01/10/2010
Valdez-based tugboat hit infamous Bligh Reef two days before Christmas; plans made to tow craft to shipyard for repairs
Crowley Maritime Corp. was continuing work to patch up its damaged tugboat Pathfinder for towing from Valdez to a still undetermined shipyard for permanent repairs. Meantime, the company released an e...

Noah tells legislators time to choose 01/03/2010
Says Legislature funding too many options, confusing market; Irwin says information isn't in for standalone or AGIA line to market
Alaska legislators heard two different views in mid-December of what they should do about gas projects in the state: Harry Noah, the outgoing project manager for the state's in-state gas project, said...

Tugboat hits Bligh Reef 01/03/2010
Coast Guard probes collision with infamous rock; Alaska oil tankers delayed
A tugboat used to help manage oil tankers at Valdez ran aground two days before Christmas, spilling diesel fuel into Prince William Sound and mildly disrupting Alaska crude shipments. The mishap has g...

Watchdog wants to zap tanker stowaways 12/27/2009
Prince William Sound group suggests treatment plant at Valdez to rid ballast water of potentially harmful nonindigenous organisms
An oil industry watchdog group is pushing for construction of a special treatment plant to kill invasive species in ballast water carried aboard oil tankers calling on Valdez to load Alaska North Slop...

Power from the North Slope by HVDC? 12/20/2009
State-of-the-art high-voltage direct current, or HVDC, technology is changing the rule book for long-distance power transmission, thus perhaps making feasible the export of large-scale power supplies...

What chance now for North Slope LNG? 12/20/2009
World market is growing fast but North Slope gas would need to compete on cost with massive new supplies close to tidewater
Few subjects raise the temperature more in a room full of Alaskans on a cold winter night than the perennial debate about exporting North Slope gas in a pipeline through Canada versus exporting the ga...

BBNC opposes offshore leasing, Pebble 12/20/2009
Native regional corporation says oil and gas leasing, mine development are too risky for fish-rich Bristol Bay; others fire back
A major stakeholder in the Bristol Bay region has come out against offshore oil and gas leasing in the North Aleutian basin. The Bristol Bay Native Corp. announced Dec. 11 its board passed a resolutio...

Seeking answers 12/13/2009
15 lawmakers ask Parnell if state oil tax policy helps or hurts Alaska investment
A group of leading state legislators on Dec. 4 asked Gov. Sean Parnell for a raft of information they want to use to evaluate whether the 2007 oil tax reform is helping or hurting industry investment...

Alyeska shifts jobs away from Chugach 12/06/2009
In a series of major cost-cutting decisions, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. is finalizing new agreements with contractors that could shift hundreds of trans-Alaska pipeline jobs away from unions. The c...

ANS November production up from October 12/06/2009
Alaska North Slope crude oil production for November averaged 699,675 barrels per day, up 2 percent from an October average of 686,126 bpd. ANS crude oil production peaked in 1988 at some 2 million bp...

Flint Hills production lags 11/22/2009
Anchorage International air carriers scramble for jet fuel due to spike in demand
A spike in demand for jet fuel at the Anchorage International Airport has led to fuel shortages and caused air carriers to dramatically increase the amount of fuel brought into the state. Fuel demand...

The Explorers 2009: ExxonMobil 11/15/2009
ExxonMobil is a big company with a history in Alaska to match. The company owns the largest share of the Prudhoe Bay unit and helped bring the trans-Alaska oil pipeline into operation in 1977 but also...

The Explorers 2009: Northern Alaska and Arctic offshore 11/15/2009
In 1968 the discovery of the giant Prudhoe Bay field, the first field to be discovered on Alaska's North Slope and among the 20 largest oil fields ever discovered worldwide, triggered a northern Alask...

The Explorers 2009: Alaska Peninsula and North Aleutian basin 11/15/2009
The North Aleutian basin, also known as the Bristol Bay basin, extends more than 200 miles along the north side of the Alaska Peninsula and out into the southern Bering Sea shelf. The southeastern por...

The Explorers 2009: Alaska's energy resources - a crucial part of the answer to the nation's energy questions 11/15/2009
We Alaskans have a very special relationship to our environment. The land is our back yard. We use it for recreation and subsistence. The land has provided our livelihood, for the people and for the s...

ANS production back up from September 11/15/2009
Alaska North Slope production averaged 686,126 barrels per day in October, an increase of 1.4 percent from a September average of 676,664 bpd, according to data from the Alaska Department of Revenue's...

State says line on schedule, on budget 11/15/2009
Alaska commissioners of Natural Resources, Revenue, report to legislators on the state-backed TransCanada gas pipeline project
The AGIA-licensed Alaska Pipeline Project is on schedule and on budget, Alaska's commissioners of Revenue and Natural Resources said in a report to legislators released Oct. 31. The report, the secon...

Valdez refinery returns to full output 11/15/2009
Safety systems improved as cause of last December's fire remains undetermined; plans laid to make low-sulfur diesel at refinery
Petro Star Inc. has resumed full operations at its small Valdez crude oil refinery following a fire last December that local fire officials estimated did about $20 million in damage. Petro Star, a sub...

Mining Explorers 2009: A bright future awaits mineral exploration in Alaska 11/01/2009
The financial meltdown of late 2008 and early 2009 was nearly the undoing of some junior exploration companies as well as some major companies. Many of the major mining companies had to drop prospects...

Mining News: Recession walloped exploration spending 10/25/2009
As drought in available venture capital eases, miners seeking acquisitions would do well to accelerate the pace of purchases
As the active exploration season winds down in Alaska, both good news and bad is afoot and both sets of news turn out to be the same data. Double speak you say? Read on and judge for yourself. Halifa...

Oil Patch Bits: Crowley's Nalen named general manager in Valdez 10/25/2009
Crowley Maritime Corp. said Oct. 7 that it has named Charlie Nalen general manager of the company's Valdez operations. In his new position Nalen will be responsible for the entirety of Crowley's marin...

BP plans backup tankers for Valdez use 10/18/2009
North Slope oil producer submits spill plan for charters; would fill in when regular ATC vessels unavailable; watchdogs have concerns
BP has submitted a spill prevention and response plan for backup tankers it might charter on short notice to haul Alaska North Slope crude oil out of the port of Valdez. The submission of the plan, wh...

House bill requires two tugs for tankers 10/11/2009
Provision in Coast Guard bill would extend dual escorts even to ships with double hulls; similar legislation pending in Senate
Federal legislation authorizing Coast Guard appropriations for 2010 has a provision expanding the requirement for dual tug escorts of oil tankers traveling through Alaska's Prince William Sound. The C...