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Murkowski calls for more Alaska oil
Faced the with the specter of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline having to close down “in a matter of years” as the flow of oil through the line gradually slows and temperatures in the line drop, it is essential to bring new oil reserves on line, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, told Alaska lawmakers in a speech to the state legislature on Feb. 24.
“We can reverse this trend,” Murkowski said. “There are perhaps 50 billion barrels waiting to be produced between the offshore Arctic, in the National Petroleum Reserve and in the coastal plain of ANWR. Those estimates have the potential to grow as our frontiers are fully explored.”
And Murkowski cautioned that the export of natural gas from the North Slope would not substitute for oil in the battle to keep the state’s coffers full.
Gridlock Murkowski blamed the decline in Alaska oil production on a gridlock resulting from federal overreach in managing federal lands and applying environmental laws.
“It is in this nation’s interest — as well as in Alaska’s — that we break the gridlock that threatens to put TAPS in the scrap heap. That’s what I intend to do in Washington,” Murkowski said.
Current world events also underline the need for the United States to produce more of its own energy, she said.
Murkowski said that she will use her position as the ranking member of both the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Interior Appropriations Committee to fight for the removal of barriers to Alaska oil development.
“We must ensure that Shell finally receives its air permits so we can begin to develop the massive resources beneath the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas,” Murkowski said. “We must ensure that a simple bridge can be built in the National Petroleum Reserve so that CD-5 and other areas can be developed.”
Tax concerns And, saying that she shares Gov. Sean Parnell’s concerns about the competitiveness of Alaska’s oil tax rates, Murkowski urged lawmakers to act on the governor’s proposed tax changes.
“Tax rates matter because oil is a global enterprise,” Murkowski said. “Companies don’t have to choose between drilling in Alaska and not drilling at all.”
Murkowski said that progress toward the construction of a North Slope gas line will require fiscal certainty on gas production taxes. She also commented that a North Slope gas-to-liquids plant or a large-diameter gas line to Fairbanks should be considered as means of monetizing North Slope gas.
—Alan Bailey
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