Alaska Legislature looks at gas tax

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The Alaska Legislative Budget and Audit Committee has issued a request for proposals for economic analysis and modeling for Alaska natural gas taxation, estimating up to $500,000 for a contract to run through June of 2010.

The RFP notes that the state administration “is contemplating a variety of scenarios” that might change taxes on natural gas, changes that “may or may not” include decoupling gas tax rates from oil taxes.

Work is scheduled to begin Sept. 1 and to continue through June 30, 2010, depending on term of the Legislature, timing of administration proposals and other factors not within the control of LB&A.

Preparatory work includes reviewing and analyzing the state’s current oil and gas tax regime; comparing that to other tax structures; beginning to establish parameters for “maximizing basin value” to Alaska “while maintaining sufficient incentives for exploration and development.”

Once the administration presents proposed changes in the gas tax the contractor would analyze the proposed structure and its effect on revenue and “incentives or disincentives to exploration at various prices and costs” and possibly further analyze or revise the model and conduct alternative runs of the model.

The RFP specifies that firms must not have a conflict of interest arising from work done for the administration or for BP, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, TransCanada, Anadarko, the Alaska Gasline Port Authority or the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Authority, and must “indicate any possible conflicts not specifically listed above.”

—Petroleum News