12-7-16 Alaska/Alberta Investment Climates Face Similar Challenges

Alaska and her Canadian provincial sister, Alberta…

Related image … both face similar economic/political challenges. 1) Both have an overdependence on volatile petroleum income, though Alaska’s dependence is greater. 2) Each has a liberal leader who understands the importance of natural reource revenue; but, some of their major constituencies actually oppose natural resource development and support higher energy taxes. 3) The Governor of Alaska and Alberta’s Premier both preside over large bureaucracies whose funding has been slashed by a two-plus year energy price decline. 4) Meanwhile, energy competitors all over the world are seeking to dominate market demand at the expense of North American producers. 5) Finally, the northern pipeline and production companies in both areas are faced with a withering barrage of unfriendly fire from various anti-fossil fuel and socialist organizations.

Therefore, the two leaders both face the daunting challenge of maintaining an investment climate that supports a continuing, prosperous quality of life — even at the expense of contituent support!

We wish them success! -dh

Kara Moriarty, AOGA President. Northern Gas Pipelines file photo by Dave Harbour

Science time. Alaska officials have begun to release unique oil exploration data obtained at least in part through state tax credits, and they hope the information will attract new companies to prospect under-explored basins from the North Slope to Cook Inlet. “This expands the database for all players rather than the information being concentrated in the hands of a few companies that have been here a long time,” said Paul Decker, a petroleum geologist with the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas. … BlueCrest is asking the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA, to change the terms of its loan. It wants to make interest-only payments for most of 2017. And it wants to lower the amount of money it keeps in an account that would reimburse the state if the company defaults on it loan. Kara Moriarty, president and CEO of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, placed the blame for the loan modification squarely on the shoulders of the state. “We’re here, not because of anything BlueCrest did. It was part of the business plan the state was aware of with AIDEA that the tax credit payments would be part of the financial package for AIDEA and for BlueCrest. And with the Governor’s veto it has caused a lot of companies to refinance their projects,” Moriarty said. “There are other companies that have had to ….”

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Drawing lines in the ice. In the first document of its kind adopted after the annexation of the Crimea and subsequent drop of confidence in east-west relations, the Russian government has staked its claim to the Arctic in a new document. It has 108 priority points and mentions the word Arctic a total of four times. On the forefront is the role of international law in the region. The Russian Federation roots [its policy] in the adequacy of existing international laws and agreements [and] in successful regulation by means of negotiations, the document reads. This includes the issue of determination of the external borders of the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean. The strategy, available on the website of the Foreign Ministry, highlights the role of the five Arctic countries and calls for….

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Calgary Herald By Kenneth P. Green and Taylor Jackson

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s approval last week of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline to B.C.’s coast and Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement to the United States came as welcomed news for Alberta’s oilpatch, which has been reeling from job losses and depressed commodity prices.

Should the pipelines eventually be constructed, they will help Canadians get closer to full value for their resources.

While the approval of two new pipelines is certainly a positive step, the approvals come at a time when potential oil and gas investors are finding much of Canada, and in particular Alberta, less attractive for investment.

How do we know this? Every year for almost a decade, the Fraser Institute’s Global Petroleum Survey has tapped the perceptions of investors and measured how various policies (royalties and taxes, duplicative regulations, infrastructure, etc.) might attract or deter investment in jurisdictions worldwide.

This year, Alberta, the heart and soul of oil and gas production in Canada, saw its global ranking in the survey deteriorate for….

About the Author: wpnorthern

Dave Harbour, publisher of Northern Gas Pipelines, is a former Chairman of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, a Commissioner Emeritus of NARUC, NARUC's Official Representative to IOGCC and Vice Chairman of NARUC's Gas Committee. He served as Gas Committee Chairman of the Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners. He also served as commissioner of the Anchorage Bicentennial Commission and the Anchorage Heritage Land Bank Commission. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree: English, at Colorado State University, a Master of Science Degree: Communications-Journalism at Murray State University and graduated from Utility Regulatory School for Commissioners at Michigan State University. He served as a Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs at Alaska Pacific University, taught bank marketing classes at the University of Alaska and was an English teacher at Los Alamos High School. Harbour served in ranks of Private - Captain during a 4-year assignment with the Army in Korea, Idaho, Georgia and Fort Meade and received the Meritorious Service Medal among other commendations. Harbour is also a past Chairman of the Alaska Council on Economic Education, the Alaska Oil & Gas Association Government Affairs Committee, the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, the Export Council of Alaska and the Department of Commerce's District Export Council. He is a past President of the Alaska Press Club, American Bald Eagle Foundation, Consumer Energy Alliance-Alaska and Common Sense for Alaska. Harbour was instrumental in founding the American Bald Eagle Research Institute (UAS), the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, the Downtown Anchorage Business Partnership, and Arctic Power. He also served as CEO of several small Alaska organizations, including the Anchorage Parking Authority and Action Security, Inc. Harbour is also Chairman Emeritus of the Alaska Oil & Gas Congress. Harbour's wife, Nancy, is a professional, performing arts administrator and his three boys, Todd, Benjamin and William work in the fields of environmental management, energy marketing and medicine.