Rep. David Guttenberg, D-Fairbanks, said the changes aim to help new North Slope players access the region’s processing facilities, which are linked to the trans-Alaska oil pipeline by a system of feeder lines. He said state law falls well short of giving those firms a fair crack at getting raw crude to the pipeline at a reasonable cost.
Guttenberg’s bill would treat certain separation stations and facilities as a private utility system.
“This is a complicated issue that insiders have known about for years,” Guttenberg wrote in a statement. “Alaska needs to address it if we want to grow investment and increase competition on the Slope. Alaskans have a vested interest in making sure our resources have a fair chance to get to market.”
Marilyn Crockett, who directs the industry-led Alaska Oil and Gas Association, said the bill left her office “puzzled” — she hasn’t heard firms say they’re having a tough time securing business with pipeline facility owners. She said, unfortunately for the state, a slowdown in new North Slope investment means no development projects are in the works that might benefit from Guttenberg’s plan.
“We believe this legislation will have the opposite effect of what the sponsors intend,” she said by e-mail. “It does nothing to accelerate getting badly needed new oil in the pipeline; it will just add delay, more regulation and more expense to the cost of doing business in Alaska.”
House Democratic Reps. Berta Gardner, of Anchorage, and Beth Kerttula, of Juneau, backed Guttenberg’s bill. They said aging oil fields around the world attract smaller, independent producers as time brings natural declines in production. They said smaller companies in Alaska currently must negotiate with bigger companies that own slices of North Slope infrastructure.
The measure, House Bill 138, was referred to the House Labor and Commerce Committee for review.
Robir8- you are entitled to your opinion but not your own facts. BP is the operator for the PBU, but the contractual agreement among the operators gives Exxon control. You should offer an explanation as to why you believe Exxon should have veto power over business decisions made by others who are trying to develop the oil owned by Alaska.
The Pt. Thompson Unit has permitting nonsense to contend with, true, but you are re-writing history. Exxon has been sitting on those leases- or land banking- for over 30 years. That is why Gov. Palin and Tom Irwin began the process of yanking the leases from Exxon for non performance.
You have named a handful of smaller oil companies- the tokens who are allowed to exist to provide some political cover- but your list is about 200 companies short.
As far as the CBC club goes, not all of them went to jail. The first guy who attacked David's legislation was a CBC member who has taken thousands of dollar from VECO.
Exxon is a minority partner in Prudhoe Bay, it does not hold 90% and does not operate the field BP does. Exxon is a minority partner at Point Thompson the only field it opperates which produces nothing in large part due to the fact the Feds and Corp of Engineers in particular cannot issue a permit for a sales line after literally years of study.
A 1000bbl/d well is very good well in Prudhoe these days and there are very few of them.
No company I am aware of as ever been denied access to processing facilities. Pioneer and Savant are as I speak processing fluids through Conoco and BP operated facilities at Kuparuk and Badami. The North Slope is a very expensive place to work, even so several independants are exploring and drilling there including Armstrong, Ultra-Star, Brooks Range Petroleum, Pioneer, ENI, Ramshorn and more. No good will come of this and it is not needed. BTW Veco has been gone for years, you can quit whipping that dead horse.
So let's see.....you spend millions of dollars to pioneer your way into an inhospitable environment. Millions more to build a system of pipelines. A few billion more to build facilities to treat and separate oil and transfer it to a sales pipeline that cost billions. Add to that you are responsible to state and federal regulators to maintain said infrastructure. And for any spills that might occur. Now you have to open up your system to some Mom and Pop operation to put whatever they please into it and the government will dictate the tariff?
1. Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart Every hour of every day.
2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!
3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year.
4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot Kroger Target Sears Costco K-Mart combined.
5.. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people, is the world's largest private employer, and most speak English.
6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the world.
7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger and Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only fifteen years.
8. During this same period, 31 big supermarket chains sought bankruptcy.
9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.
10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are Super Centers; this is 1,000 more than it had five years ago.
11. This year 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at Wal-Mart stores. (Earth's population is approximately 6.5 Billion.)
12. 90% of all Americans live within fifteen miles of a
Wal-Mart.
You may think that I am complaining, but I am really laying the ground work for suggesting that MAYBE we should hire the guys who run Wal-Mart to fix the economy.
This should be read and understood by all Americans Democrats, Republicans, EVERYONE!!
To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature,
It is now official you are ALL corrupt morons:
a.. The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775. You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.
b.. Social Security was established in 1935. You have had
74 years to get it right and it is broke.
c.. Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.
d.. War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor" and they only want more.
e.. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.
f.. Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.
g.. The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get
it right and it is an abysmal failure.
You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars.
AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM ??
Yes, this is a good bill. Lets see how deep they can bury it in committee or vote it down for all sorts of reasons their oil pig masters are demanding to kill the bill. Want to bet which side of the aisle will oppose it.
The British Empire rose to prominence based on private education, when they unionized the teachers the empire fell. MRD
Standardeized tests for credit, at certain levels to proceed to graduation. The only problem will be the granted job to the less than average teachers, who are setting on their rears and riding it out to retirement
This is a great strategy. When you can't spend millions for infrastructure for yourself, you should be allowed to tap into existing infrastructure for the benefit of everyone, and we're going to benefit from the royalties and taxes you produce for us while you get your product safely to market.
When bozos within the production companies say things like "I'm confused" or "I'm puzzled" it means they are stalling - and it's because they have money to lose - serious amounts of profit (I don't care - do you?) It's a famous BPXA tactic, from Prudhoe in the early 90's, just before they fired half of their staff and began eating their young.
The oil & gas in the state of Alaska are to be developed for the benefit of the citizens of our state. This is not their oil. They are our partners - treat them like partners and remind them that they work for us.
Kudos to David Guttenberg! This is one of the best pieces of legislation introduced in a long time.
Want to know why there are not hundreds of oil companies on the North Slope in the nations' largest oil field? The big players have conspired to keep competition out.
Want to make a lot of money? Punch in a tiny oil well that produces only 1,000 barrels per day. That well would be tiny by North Slope standards- but it would produce about $32 million dollars worth of oil for a small company per year. One well. 32 million in gross revenue. A lot of small companies would be delighted to have that kind of gross revenue. (esp. with AK's generous investment tax credits!) But competition on the North Slope is limited by the big multinationals.
Why do big oil companies get bigger? They screw the competition and engage in restraint of trade- one reason. And they impose fraudulent tariffs on the pipelines.
Exxon holds 90% control of the Unit Operating Agreement at Prudhoe Bay. Its terrible to be a company and have a competitor with veto power over your business decisions.
Of course the VECO whores in the legislature are quick to condemn this legislation. They'd rather give away our oil to the big multinationals.
Many of the small companies are careful to NOT explain the misdeeds of Exxon publicly because they fear retaliation. There is a saying that some companies exist because Exxon allows them to exist.
Lets get this bill to a floor vote and see which legislators are still members of the CBC club.
HB 138- call the LIO 452-4448 and insist that your reps. support this bill.
The bill will have exactly the intent that the sponors intend.
The sponsors simply aren't stating their real intent, which simply is to bite the hand that feeds them.