Alaska’s oil revival sparks a new energy rush Into the Arctic
Alaska's oil industry is experiencing a revival, driven by new discoveries and favorable policies. The resurgence has attracted major companies back to the state, with significant investments in oil and gas leases. Environmentalists express concern over the potential ecological impact of increased drilling in the Arctic region.
- ▪Oil production in Alaska's North Slope had drastically declined to 567,000 barrels per day by 2009.
- ▪In 2023, renewed interest in Alaska's oil potential has led to significant investments from major companies like ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil.
- ▪The Trump administration's regulatory changes have facilitated a more favorable environment for oil exploration and development in Alaska.
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When John Kurz left Alaska’s North Slope in 2009, he was staring at a grim future for what had once been the country’s premiere oil field. Recommended Video Crude production had plummeted to 567,000 barrels per day, barely more than a quarter of the roughly 2 million barrels pumped daily at the field’s peak two decades earlier. The decline stoked concerns that the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, built to carry the state’s oil bounty to the continental US, might stop operating. Engineers even worried that slow-moving crude would congeal inside the pipeline, creating waxy buildup that could turn TAPS into the world’s biggest tube of ChapStick. “The industry was dying,” said Kurz, who at the time was BP Plc’s senior operations manager for Greater Prudhoe Bay.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Fortune.
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