Regulatory and fiscal stability herald bright future for investment in Alaska
There is a renaissance underway on the North Slope driven primarily by two huge projects – Santos’ and Eni’s Pikka development and ConocoPhillips’ Willow. Together, these two, new oil fields will increase production to levels not seen in in two decades.
Despite the challenges that come with operating in the Arctic – high costs, harsh weather, supply chain issues, legal hurdles and fluctuating oil prices –Alaska can expect $22 billion in planned oil and gas industry investment between 2025 and 2030, according to a petroleum economics study by Anchorage-based McKinley Research.
We cannot control many of the challenges Arctic operations bring, but we can maintain fair and stable tax policies that attract the capital needed to keep our resource industries healthy so they can produce jobs and revenues for Alaskans.
Let’s keep Alaska competitive!
What’s at stake
$4B
State & Local Revenue
FY25
70,425
Alaskan Jobs Supported
Direct/Indirect
$0.5B
Grow the Permanent Fund
FY22 Dedicated Revenues to Corpus
$5.8B
Spending with Local Businesses
Annual
Source: McKinley Research for AOGA
Stable tax policy leads to resource renaissance on the North Slope
We’re three-quarters of the way there and still climbing.
Santos began injecting seawater into the reservoir at Pikka 1 on August 1 and production now stands at about 70,000 barrels/day – 3/4th of the way to the 80,000 barrels/day expected by the end of third quarter this year as additional wells come online.
Santos Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Gallagher said seawater injection marked a significant step on the path to plateau production.
"Pikka is a world-class asset and seawater injection, together with continued efficient drilling and operations, keeps us firmly on track to deliver its full potential," Gallagher said.
Pikka is already making a difference. Throughput through TAPS now averages over 500,000 barrels/day, lifting it back to levels not seen since 2019.
Alaska’s North Slope – Producing results for Alaska.
APA Alaska is on the hunt for the next big one.
A subsidiary of APA Corp., the holding company for Apache Corp., is ready to drill two wells during the upcoming 2026-2027 season on the eastern North Slope: one exploration well in the western portion of the Lagniappe acreage aimed at a new geological formation and one appraisal well that will help define the scale of the Sockeye discovery complex, support development planning and assess the feasibility of utilizing existing Badami infrastructure, according to Petroleum News.
It’s on acreage previously owned by explorer Bill Armstrong and partners Lagniappe Alaska LLC, an Armstrong company, and Oil Search (Alaska) LLC, a subsidiary of Santos Limited.
On June 10, APA struck a deal to purchase Savant Alaska LLC for $70 million plus payments contingent on future development work, securing essential production and transport infrastructure that bolsters APA's expanding footprint on Alaska's eastern North Slope, Petroleum News says. Included in the transaction are the Badami production facility, designed to handle up to 40,000 barrels of oil per day, and the Nutaaq Pipeline, capable of moving 80,000 bpd that links the region to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.
“The acquisition brings roughly 104,000 gross acres into APA's portfolio and includes stakes in the Badami and Grey Owl units.
"The acquisition of Savant secures control of strategic infrastructure adjacent to our eastern North Slope acreage, enhancing our ability to execute our planned drilling program efficiently," said John J. Christmann IV, APA CEO. "As we continue to appraise and de-risk our resource base, ownership of this infrastructure provides greater flexibility and optionality in future development planning and represents a key step toward unlocking the potential of our position in Alaska."
Credited with the discovery of the multibillion-barrel Pikka field west of Prudhoe Bay in 2013, Armstrong looked to repeat that success east of Prudhoe Bay, bringing in powerhouse APA to lead the effort, and essentially extending the play some 80 to 90 miles east.
Hungry Horse is an 8-mile stepout/appraisal well for the Sockeye discovery. It has been touted as a huge prospect.
More here: www.petroleumnews.com/story/2026/09/27/e-and-p/apa-on-course/50377.html
Alaska North Slope oil production has posted a daily reading of 551,247 barrels, an encouraging jump as new production from the Pikka oil field adds momentum to the state’s petroleum industry. That’s an amount not seen in 14 years.
The figure puts daily output well above the 500,000-barrel mark and substantially ahead of August’s average
“The North Slope renaissance is real, and we’re seeing it in the barrels flowing through TAPS. Stability matters — when Alaska provides a predictable investment climate, companies invest, projects move forward, and new production comes online. Our members are continuing the investment in Alaska’s future,” said Steve Wackowski, president and CEO of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association.
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 online. 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 $11 billion in Alaska, with each project generating thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of operating jobs.
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