BRADNERS' ALASKA LEGISLATIVE DIGEST

Repsol has laid out its plans for development of new oil discoveries in the Colville River delta. In an application filed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers June 15, the company has proposed construction of three drill sites, an operations center pad and pipelines sufficient to support 60,000 barrels per day of oil production. Once approved, the project would take about three and a half years to construct and would include 76 production and injection wells, a 150-bed operations…

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After all the wrangling over the state budget and extended legislative session and two special sessions, how much of the budget was really cut? Not much, it turns out. The figures are still being tallied but according to the Legislative Finance Division, the professional, and nonpartisan, financial analysis arm of the Legislature, the net state operating general fund reduction in Fiscal Year 2016 over the current FY 2015 is $161.23 million. The reduction in state agency budgets is estimated at…

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Gov. Bill Walker and House Speaker Mike Chenault are working to bury the hatchet, Chenault said Thursday morning (March 5). House leaders and the governor met for lunch on Wednesday and Walker invited Chenault for breakfast at the Governor’s Mansion Thurday morning for a one-on-one. The morning session was cordial, Chenault said. Things went south  the relationship, which was already rocky, when Walker flew off the handle in a press conference last week over a bill House leaders introducing placing…

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Gov. Bill Walker introduced his long-awaiting FY 2016 operating and capital budgets Thursday. These are the governor’s “amendments” to the existing budget bills before the House and Senate, which are templates based on the budgets developed by former Gov. Sean Parnell. Walker cut $132 million to reductions made in Parnell’s proposal. The total general fund spending reduction from FY 2015 is $240 million.

Gov. Bill Walker will introduce his long-awaiting FY 2016 operating and capital budgets on Thursday. These are the governor’s “amendments” to the existing budget bills before the House and Senate, which are understood as templates based on the budgets developed by former Gov. Sean Parnell.

Acting Revenue Commissioner Marsha Davis has been booted upstairs to the Governor’s Office to assist Chief of Staff Jim Whitaker. Davis will continue to live in Anchorage. Meanwhile, new Revenue Commissioner Randy Hoffbeck is back in state and has taken over the top job at Revenue.

Former state revenue commissioner Sterling Gallagher is now a Special Assistant for Finance in Gov. Bill Walker’s office. Gallagher said he will be taking a look at the investment performance of state assets, some of which have been underperforming, he said.

Lower oil prices are beginning to be felt in Fairbanks in lower heating oil prices–reported most recently at $3.40/gal. and headed down–and that is threatening to upend a plan to build a small liquefied natural gas liquefaction plant at Prudhoe Bay and to truck LNG to the Interior city. Cost estimates of the LNG project are rising, which is increasing the expected price of gas to consumers. Delivered costs could now reach $18 to $20 per million British Thermal Units,…

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The sudden drop in crude oil prices, nearing $80 per barrel on Oct. 15, has sent shudders through the state government. Ironically, the Department of Revenue has just started work on the Fiscal 2016 production and revenue forecast, which will be published in late November or early December. The drop in oil prices, which may last a while, pundits say, would undermine current FY 2015 revenues and push the $1.4 billion deficit that was projected at a $104/barrel average higher….

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Alaska North Slope oil producers appear to have halted a long-term decline in annual production, state production data showed. For the first 10 months of the state’s 2014 fiscal year, production has averaged 532,700 b/d, data through April showed. Preliminary data for May and June indicates the trend is likely to hold. Average production for the 2013 fiscal year was 531,600 b/d. The state fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30. The figures are subject to adjustment, said…

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