North Slope

A new report by the state Department of Environmental Conservation shows leak detection is a significant problem on the North Slope. Corrosion is also a concern, but state regulators say Alaska's arctic oil infrastructure is nowhere near the end of its useful life. When a BP line ruptured in 2006, spilling more than 200,000 gallons of crude oil onto the North Slope, it became apparent that certain parts of Alaska's oil industry were facing a serious problem. When lines continued to break in years since, the state decided to find out why. “Clearly we need earlier leak detection at smaller levels to be able to stop damage and curtail the loss of fluids,” said Larry Dietrick, with DEC spill prevention and response.

A new oil field came online on the North Slope Wednesday, but a group that encourages development of Alaska's resources says it may be too little too late The Nikaitchuq unit will only put out about 28,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak and the Resource Development Council of Alaska says it's the last oil development that will be coming online for at least five years. ENI-owned Nikaitchuq went online this morning. Its estimated daily throughput will only be a drop in the bucket compared to the 650,000 barrels coming through the pipeline right now. The RDC says throughput is dropping each year by 48,000 barrels per day. The state doesn't dispute that statistic, but says Alaska is not resigned to having an empty pipeline in the next decade.

The Trans-Alaska pipeline remains closed after an oil spill over the weekend. Crews are working around-the-clock on repairs, but the state says every day the pipeline sits inoperable, the state loses millions.   The pipeline transports around 630,000 barrels of oil each day, but right now it sits at zero, and response crews say they don't know when it will be up and running again. The spill occurred at Pump Station 1 Saturday morning. It was contained in a cement building.

by The Associated Press Thursday, January 28, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A North Slope oil spill has been reported from the same pipeline that froze and ruptured in November, leaking 46,000 gallons of crude oil and oily water. Steve Rinehart, a spokesman for Lisburne oil field operator BP Exploration, says the new leak reported Wednesday is estimated at less than one barrel, which consists of 42 gallons. He says the leak had stopped by the time it was discovered at an elevated section of the 18-inch flowline during a regular inspection.

So what could you do with a tax break of $700-thousand a day for the next ten years? A lot, huh. Well the three major oil producers on the North Slope say they couldn't do much with that kind of money. Just manage a continued, steady decline there. On Wednesday, representatives of the three big producers testified before the Alaska Senate Finance Committeee. They told committee members that they need a tax break of almost $5-million a day to stop Prudhoe Bay's decline -- and start bringing the numbers back up. Some lawmakers are skeptical of that promise.

by The Associated Press Friday, May 7, 2010 FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- The Alaska Gasline Port Authority has lost one of its three original members. The North Slope Borough has dropped out of the authority, which was created in 1999 by public votes in Fairbanks and Valdez and on the North Slope, to bring natural gas to more Alaskans. The North Slope Borough Assembly voted this week to back out of the authority. The authority originally called for building a pipeline and gas liquefaction project between North Slope natural gas reservoirs and the Port of Valdez.

ExxonMobil has successfully drilled two wells at the Point Thomson oil and gas field on the North Slope. The company says it has tested the development wells, and they are ahead of schedule. The company needed to have the wells drilled by the end of the year, as part of a settlement it agreed upon with the state last year. The wells were drilled to a depth of over 16,000 feet under the Beaufort Sea, about 1.5 miles offshore. Point Thomson is estimated to hold about 25 percent of the North Slope's discovered gas resources.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will be in Anchorage Friday for a press conference. He held a town hall meeting Thursday afternoon in Barrow, which the Interior Department says is meant to gather information on issues important to the North Slope. The meeting was open to the public, but the Interior Department denied requests for a teleconference. Salazar’s press secretary says he will be available for questions during Friday’s press conference. Contact Ted Land at tland@ktuu.

Rep. Mike Hawker is a Republican who has served in the Alaska State House since 2002.  He was just reelected to his sixth term in office representing the Upper Hillside, South Anchorage and Turnagain Arm. Representative Hawker began his career in Alaska as a CPA with Price Waterhouse and developed his own CPA firm primarily serving Alaska Native clients before becoming Chief Financial Officer of a private investment bank.  He spent the first 15...

Oil tax reform continues to be a hot issue for lawmakers. On Monday, Bruce Tangeman, the Department of Revenue Deputy Commissioner, spoke to Anchorage business leaders at the 'Make it Monday' forum to discuss the governor's proposed oil tax reform. The focus of the administration's oil tax proposal this session is to present a more balanced approach to taxing in Alaska, trying to keep it as simple as possible. Since the 1980's, officials say oil production has declined on the slope, peaking at 2.1 million barrels per day.  These days, the administration says only around 600,000 barrels of oil makes its way down the Trans-Alaska Pipeline on a daily basis, a figure that the governor says isn't acceptable.

Gov. Sean Parnell took a major step toward making a proposed North Slope natural gas liquefaction plant a reality Friday, announcing a $355 million package to support its construction as well as an utility and a private-sector natural gas distribution system in the Fairbanks area. According to Parnell's office, the core of the plan involves proposed legislation which would permit up to $275 million in Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority bonding authorization and loans.

Rep. Mike Hawker is a Republican who has served in the Alaska State House since 2002.  He was just reelected to his sixth term in office representing the Upper Hillside, South Anchorage and Turnagain Arm. Representative Hawker began his career in Alaska as a CPA with Price Waterhouse and developed his own CPA firm primarily serving Alaska Native clients before becoming Chief Financial Officer of a private investment bank.  He spent the first 15...

A man died after he was found unconscious Sunday at the foot of a North Slope drilling site stairwell, according to company officials and North Slope Borough police. Pat Foley with Pioneer Natural Resources says the unidentified man, a Nabors Drilling employee contracted by Pioneer, was found at about noon Sunday. Foley says the incident -- which didn't appear to be a work-related accident -- occurred at Pioneer's Oooguruk drill site, on a six-acre island in the Beaufort Sea. Richard Holschen, the North Slope Borough's on-duty police officer at Prudhoe Bay, told Channel 2 Monday that a person had died on the Slope Sunday.

This Afternoon (Tuesday) a coalition of Alaska business leaders -- and a former Alaska Governor (Tony Knowles) -- got together to endorse "meaningful tax reform" at the North Slope. But the group stopped short of saying precisely what "meaningful tax reform" would entail. The Coalition did say they hoped it would include tax reductions at existing oil fields on the North Slope.  The "Make Alaska Competitive Coalition" contends that oil production at the North Slope is declining, in part, because of the state's tax policy.

A lawyer for the firm representing the Gasline Port Authority says Alaska is going nowhere fast under its current attempts to construct a North Slope Natural Gas Pipeline in the state. "Do nothing, status quo -- clearly the highest probability outcome," Craig Richards predicted. "That's been the outcome for the past 35 years. " Richards was speaking before the "LNG Summit" in Valdez, last week. Richards says the way the state is running the project, right now, is completely backwards -- and has been so since at least the Murkowski Administration.

In Valdez Friday, the 8th Annual LNG Summit wrapped up with lots of determination, but few tangible results.  For the past two days energy experts from all over Alaska, other parts of the country and other parts of the world, gathered in Valdez.  They were all on-hand to discuss one thing:  How to get a gas pipeline built from the North Slope to tidewater-- so that Alaska can cash-in on the need for natural gas in the lucrative Asian...

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is on a two-day energy tour in Alaska with Sen. John Hoeven (R-North Dakota). On Sunday, they landed in Anchorage after touring various oil and natural gas activities on the North Slope. Among the places they visited were the abandoned legacy oil wells in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The U.S. Government drilled more than 100 wells there and left what Murkowski calls an environmental mess behind. She said on Sunday that it was a disgrace and after touring the wells, she is eager to return to Washington and shine a spotlight on the issue.

The traditional Alaskan roadhouse may seem like an endangered species, but there's one that's alive and well on Mile 153 of the Glenn Highway, near Glennallen.  The Mendeltna Creek Lodge has been part of the landscape along the Glenn Highway since the 1940's.  But it was a lot smaller in those days.  Over the years, there have been a number of different owners, but probably none quite like Russ and Mabel Wimmer. They cook.  They clean. They wait the tables, pretty much by themselves.