Slope oil giants set to prosper as veto fallout continues

Journal of Commerce by Elwood Bremer.  

The consequences continue to reverberate after Gov. Bill Walker’s veto of more than $600 million owed to independent explorers and producers in the last two years.

A pair of stories in the last week detail one company trying to meet its loan obligations to the state even as the state refuses to make good on its obligations to the company, and the other reveals that the major North Slope producers are now buying up the vetoed credits for pennies on the dollar to reduce their future tax liabilities.

We can begin with BlueCrest, the Cook Inlet company that is now drilling into the Cosmopolitan prospect from its onshore rig on the southern Kenai Peninsula.

The State of Alaska currently owes BlueCrest about $17 million in credits, which are rebates for prior spending on exploration and development.

BlueCrest intended to use the money owed by the state to fund a reserve account that was required to have $15 million in it as of this coming ….  

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