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State seeks oil production forecaster
The Alaska Department of Revenue again is seeking a consultant to generate production forecasts for the North Slope and Cook Inlet oil fields.
The department issued a request for proposals on July 1, and expects to award the contract on Aug. 3.
The contract is worth up to $600,000 for the first year plus five optional one-year renewals.
The state solicitation appears similar to the one the department issued on July 20, 2009. But that contract was for only one year and $100,000.
Frank Molli of Colorado Springs, Colo., ended up winning the 2009 contract. He took over work previously done for the Department of Revenue by Dudley Platt, an Anchorage area reservoir engineer.
Different forecasting approach Molli took a different forecasting approach, analyzing historic production data on hundreds of individual wells to produce the fall 2009 and spring 2010 forecasts. Previously, each field was assessed on an aggregate level to forecast production.
Molli’s forecasts, when looking out through the year 2050, have been somewhat more conservative than his predecessor’s in terms of total barrels expected to come from Alaska’s fields.
Because oil taxes and royalties are Alaska’s main source of revenue, the production forecasts are an important part of the state budgeting process.
Jonathan Iversen, director the state Tax Division and procurement officer for the Department of Revenue, told Petroleum News on July 8 via e-mail that the department is offering a new contract “because the current contract ends this month” and has no renewal options.
Asked whether Molli’s work was acceptable to the state and whether he is welcome to bid for the new contract, Iversen said: “All responsive and responsible proposals will be accepted.”
—Wesley Loy
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