A Citizen’s Guide

When state lawmakers passed the petroleum production tax last year, they included special provisions to lower taxes on natural gas produced in the Cook Inlet, and now, as lawmakers reconvene to review taxes again, two local businesses want those provisions extended to other parts of the state to keep separate Interior natural gas projects alive.

During the first week of the ongoing special legislative session, Doyon Ltd. and Fairbanks Natural Gas LLC have been separately trying to convince lawmakers to extend the Cook Inlet tax breaks to other parts of the state, but while Doyon has found some early success this year, Fairbanks Natural Gas has been scrambling to get support.

Doyon began exploring the possibility of producing natural gas from the Nenana Basin west of Fairbanks about five years ago, but recently put the project on hold after losing a backer. The Houston-based Andex Resources LLC recently pulled out because the Petroleum Production Tax made the project uneconomic, especially compared to Cook Inlet, according to Jim Mery, vice president for Doyon’s lands and natural resources division. Read the rest of this entry »

Ralph Seekins spent last year reviewing the Petroleum Production Tax as a senator in Juneau, but is on the sidelines for the debate this year after being voted out of office in November. Read the rest of this entry »

Exxon executives last week refused to tell state Senators what they earn it Alaska.

Today, Sen. Hollis French asked why we don’t already know how much the company makes here, considering our tax is based on profits. Read the rest of this entry »

The House Special Committee on Oil and Gas moved a new version of Palin’s tax rewrite this afternoon after 10 days of vetting, according to a news release. The committee nixed Palin’s proposed increase in the base tax rate, but upped the progressivity surcharge to the point where the tax would bring in more money than ACES when oil is above about $80 a barrel. Read the rest of this entry »

Is PPT tainted? Tom Kizzia sifts through the documents. Read the rest of this entry »

Alberta, whose oil sands have been at the heart of a fossil fuel energy boom of late, just decided to raise its royalties by a good bit. The proposal to increase the government share of the wealth and the industry opposition mimic what’s happening here, even if the circumstances are different. Here’s a story from the Globe and Mail. Speculation that the decision would have a big negative impact on energy stocks generally didn’t play out, according to news reports.