Regulatory and fiscal stability are key
to vibrant resource industry
It’s a new day on the North Slope despite the challenges that come with operating in the Arctic – high costs, harsh weather, supply chain issues, legal hurdles and struggles to find adequate financing.
For the first time in a long time North Slope production is projected to remain stable in the near term and increase in the late 2020s. This is excellent news for Alaska. Resource industries, particularly oil and gas, form the backbone of our economy. They are labor intensive, pay some of the best wages in the state and require continued capital investment to maintain or expand production levels. Production is key to jobs and revenue for Alaska.
We cannot control many of the challenges Arctic operations bring, but we can maintain stable tax policies that attract the capital needed to keep our resource industries healthy so they can produce jobs and revenues for Alaskans.
What’s at stake
$3.1B
State & Local Revenue
FY19
77,600
Alaskan Jobs Supported
Direct/Indirect
$549M
Grow the Permanent Fund
FY22 Dedicated Revenues to Corpus
$4.4B
Spending with Local Businesses
Annual
Source: “The Role of the Oil and Gas Industry in Alaska’s Economy,” January 2020, McKinley Research
Letter from the co-chairs
Fair and Competitive oil taxes are working
There is a resurgence in oil production and jobs in Alaska that is directly related to our current oil tax policy. SB 21, a fair and competitive tax policy, replaced the antiquated ACES tax structure that drove down petroleum investment for more than a decade. Thanks to SB 21, Alaskans have the greatest opportunity of our generation on the North Slope today.
Some present and former legislators argue that SB 21 was a mistake, but the facts speak for themselves.
The Willow and Pikka projects, years in the making, are in active development, with Pikka now expecting first production by the end of the year. These and other robust investments in Alaska’s future would not have occurred under the previous punitive tax regime. Between the Willow and Pikka projects alone, the oil and gas industry is spending over $10 billion in Alaska in the next few years, with each project generating 2,500 construction jobs and hundreds of operating jobs.
READ MOREWhat you can do
- Follow us on social media for up-to-date information
- Sign up for our newsletter
- Participate in our grassroots effort by sharing KEEP’s updates with your family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances
It’s north to the future for Alaska’s economy.
On the heels of two huge construction seasons on the North Slope, the year ahead is shaping up to be another busy season, reports a story in the spring issue of Alaska Resource Review.
“For North Slope contractors, the good times are set to roll on. Santos, and its partner Repsol, hope to essentially complete Pikka’s phase one by the end of the year and start production, but will likely start construction soon on Pikka’s phase two. That would add two more production pads to the one that will support phase one production.
“Meanwhile more development may be coming. Santos will be doing more exploration at Quokka and Horseshoe, promising discoveries south of Pikka. ConocoPhillips Alaska may have its hands full in Willow and in-field projects in the Kuparuk River and Alpine fields, but the company is interested in exploring farther west in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, where Willow is also located. Discoveries have been made west of Willow and new development-friendly policies of the Trump Administration will encourage more drilling.”
To the east, Armstong and its partners, Apache and Santos, have generated a lot of excitement at their Sockeye exploration well. Hilcorp plans to have eight rigs operating, including one at Point Thomson. ConocoPhillips Alaska is drilling in Nuna with plans to develop Coyote and several small independents have their own exploration and development plans.
Hold on to your hats as the North Slope renaissance continues to work for Alaska. More here:
www.jgdpubs.com/epubs/Fireweed/AlaskaResourceReview/2025/spring/24/
It’s been an exciting year for North Slope explorers.
Since the discovery of Pikka, “the North Slope has been on a tear, drilling and making large lookalike discoveries at Horseshoe, Putu, Mitquq, Stirrup, Willow and elsewhere," writes Petroleum News in this year’s Explorer Magazine. And one of the most active has been ConocoPhillips Alaska, the magazine says.
“In the 24 years since ConocoPhillips was created through a merger, its Alaska subsidiary, ConocoPhillips Alaska, has pursued new oil in Alaska through wildcats, through infrastructure-led exploration, and through development within its units.
“In the past five years, ConocoPhillips Alaska has increasingly favored growth at its existing units and infrastructure-led exploration over the thrill of far-flung exploration.
“But should the Trump administration succeed in opening more of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to oil and gas exploration and development, ConocoPhillips Alaska is in a good position to expand its exploration west of its Willow project in NPR-A.
“Kirk Johnson, ConocoPhillips senior vice president, global operations, said in the company’s fourth quarter earnings conference call on Feb. 6, 2025, that: ‘Fundamentally, we believe that continued exploration west of Willow, it’s the right thing to do for energy. It’s the right thing to do for the state of Alaska and its stakeholders. And clearly, we’re in a really good position. We’re putting ourselves in a position to continue exploring west of Willow, as that’s enabled for us.’”
You can read more here: www.petroleumnews.com/products/Exp_2025.pdf
May’s statewide job count was up by 3,800, or 1.1 percent, from last May.
The oil and gas industry and construction each added 700 jobs over the year. Construction benefited from North Slope oil and gas and federally funded infrastructure projects. Those projects also spurred growth in professional and business services (500) and transportation, warehousing and utilities (600).
More here: bit.ly/4nkYXth
The mission of KEEP Alaska Competitive is to promote and preserve competitive, fair and stable taxes on Alaska’s resource industries to enhance investment, jobs and production to secure Alaska’s long term economic future.
Keep Alaska Competitive Coalition Board of Directors:
- Jim Jansen, Lynden, Inc.
- Joe Schierhorn, Northrim Bank
- Bill Corbus
- Aaron Schutt, Doyon, Lmtd.
- Dave Karp, Saltchuk
- Gary Dixon, Alaska Teamsters Union
- Vic Angoco, Matson
- Harry McDonald
- Jon Cook
- Elizabeth Stevens, Executive Director