BRADNERS' ALASKA LEGISLATIVE DIGEST

A bill is pending in the state House that would put the state’s hammer on the six “railbelt” utilities that have been squabbling for years over uniform reliability standards and how to efficiently move power up and down the regional power transmission grid. Also, independent private power producers complain they are stymied in selling their power to customers through the grid by having to pay tolls all through the system. In some cases these have added up to some sales…

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It is a surprising accomplishment, but even as oil prices remain in the $50-plus per barrel range the North Slope producers have been able to maintain and even slightly increase production. The North Slope oil fields produced an average of 527,900 barrels per day over Fiscal Year 2017, the budget year ending last June 30, an increase over the average of 516,400 barrels per day producing over the prior year, FY 2016.

Alaska’s recession appears to be leveling out, the latest state employment data indicates. Newly released data on Alaskans’ wage income for the first quarter of 2017 point to a general stability of the economy and a possible easing of the recession. The data, from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, actually shows small increases in total wages in most sectors of Alaska’s economy. Wages increased by $25 million overall, or 0.6 percent, compared to the same period in 2016….

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State employment information points to a levelling of job losses. State Department of Labor economists warn that the data is still preliminary, however. Information for August, 2017, indicates that jobs in the state are down 4,800, or 1.4 percent, compared with August 2016. This is an improvement from the January-through-June information showing employment that was down 5,000 to 6,000 compared with the same period of 2016. Job losses in high-wage industries like oil and gas, and construction, were also lower…

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State budget deficits continue to drain reserves, and state officials now warn that some balance must be maintained for cash management purposes and emergencies. The projected deficit for Fiscal Year 2018, the current budget year that ends next June 30, is estimated at $2.6 billion. When that is paid the remaining funds in the Constitutional Budget Reserve, the state’s main cash account, are estimated at $2.1 billion. This is insufficient to pay a deficit for FY 2019 of a size…

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Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas has denied an ExxonMobil Corp. application to expand its Point Thomson liquid condensate and gas cycling project, indicating the proposal lacked details. If built, the project could bring several billions of dollars of work to the North Slope beginning in 2019. Contractors and oil workers have been feeling the effects of sharp cutbacks on the slope due to low oil prices. The action echoes earlier disputes between the state and ExxonMobil over North Slope…

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North Slope oil production is running above last year based on new data from the Alaska Department of Revenue. Based on preliminary information, production from the slope has averaged 527,000 barrels per day for the state’s Fiscal Year 2017, the budget year that ended June 30. ”It’s definitely a year-over-year increase,” said Dan Stickel, chief petroleum economist at the revenue department. The figures are up from a 514,900 b/d average for FY 2016, the 12-month period, which ended June 30,…

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Alaska’s Legislature approved changes in the state’s oil production tax late Saturday that would end a program of the state making cash reimbursements to explorers and developers of new discoveries, legislative leaders said. “Ending the cash payments, which are unsustainable for the state, allows us to move toward a comprehensive fiscal plan for Alaska,” to address revenue shortfalls and budget problems, House Speaker Bryce Edgmon said in a statement. The bill, House Bill 111, makes other changes that indirectly increase…

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The extended state legislative session continued June 15 with no resolution in sight, or to a complex dispute over state oil and gas taxes that is the main holdup to adjournment. There had been hopes for an agreement last Monday, and then Wednesda, but a House-Senate conference committee on House Bill 111, the tax bill, held that day ended with no agreement.

House and Senate leaders were to have met Thursday afternoon to try and resolve disagreements on an adjournment package. House Majority Leader Chris Tuck, D-Anch., told us that if a deal is reached legislators will head back to Juneau Monday, July 10, to vote on the deal. If there’s no deal, just a few leaders will go down for another “technical” session. The hangup seems to be the oil and gas tax bill, HB 111. Both bodies agree the state…

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