Regulatory and fiscal stability herald bright future for investment in Alaska
There is a renaissance underway on the North Slope driven primarily by two huge projects – Santos’ and Eni’s Pikka development and ConocoPhillips’ Willow. Together, these two, new oil fields will increase production to levels not seen in in two decades.
Despite the challenges that come with operating in the Arctic – high costs, harsh weather, supply chain issues, legal hurdles and fluctuating oil prices –Alaska can expect $22 billion in planned oil and gas industry investment between 2025 and 2030, according to a petroleum economics study by Anchorage-based McKinley Research.
“By 2034, more than 60% of North Slope production will come from fields that, today, have yet to put a single drop into the Trans Alaska Pipeline System,” the study found.
We cannot control many of the challenges Arctic operations bring, but we can maintain fair and stable tax policies that attract the capital needed to keep our resource industries healthy so they can produce jobs and revenues for Alaskans.
Let’s keep Alaska competitive!
What’s at stake
$4B
State & Local Revenue
FY25
70,425
Alaskan Jobs Supported
Direct/Indirect
$0.5B
Grow the Permanent Fund
FY22 Dedicated Revenues to Corpus
$5.8B
Spending with Local Businesses
Annual
Source: McKinley Research for AOGA
Stable tax policy leads to resource renaissance on the North Slope
Alaska’s energy future needs more than new projects. It needs Alaskans ready to work on them.
ConocoPhillips Alaska recently donated $400,000 to the University of Alaska to establish the Process Technology Support Fund, strengthening workforce training at UAF Community and Technical College and UAA’s Kenai Peninsula College.
The investment will help modernize equipment and simulation technology, expand outreach to high school students and create more pathways into the skilled careers that keep Alaska’s oil fields, pipelines and other critical industries operating safely.
And those pathways can lead to great careers.
According to Alaska Business, 88% of Kenai Peninsula College process technology graduates find employment in their field within one year, with average first-year earnings exceeding $84,000 and average wages reaching approximately $130,000 within five years.
As billions of dollars are invested in projects like Pikka and Willow, Alaska needs a skilled workforce ready to turn that investment into long-term opportunity.
Keeping Alaska competitive means developing our resources — and investing in the Alaskans who make responsible development possible.
PHOTO CREDIT: ConocoPhillips Alaska
From first oil to first cargo, Alaska’s newest major oil development keeps gaining momentum.
Santos has loaded the first crude oil cargo from its Pikka Phase 1 development on Alaska’s North Slope.
The inaugural shipment - 450,000 barrels of Alaska crude - was loaded aboard the Polar Resolution at the Valdez Marine Terminal and is headed to refineries on the U.S. West Coast.
Pikka is currently producing approximately 23,000 barrels per day, with Santos working toward its Phase 1 target of ~80,000 barrels per day during the third quarter of 2026.
“When the Pikka Field was discovered, the Nanushuk formation was recognized as a new generation play in an established global super basin, and we are proud to be at the forefront of unlocking its resource potential,” said Santos Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Gallagher.
Pikka is proof that Alaska still has world-class resources, and that keeping Alaska competitive can turn those resources into jobs, revenue and American energy.
PHOTO CREDIT: ConocoPhillips Alaska
Willow is officially more than halfway built.
ConocoPhillips Alaska has passed the halfway mark on construction of Willow, now projected to cost $9 billion due to rising inflation and supply chain costs.
Despite very harsh winter weather conditions in NPR-A, crews completed the season’s objectives, including critical roads, pads and bridges that will keep construction moving forward. Work is also progressing on the pipeline connection that will eventually move Willow oil through existing North Slope infrastructure to TAPS.
The scale is significant: approximately 2,000 people worked on Willow last winter, with another 2,000 expected when construction ramps up again next winter.
And ConocoPhillips is already looking beyond Willow. Four exploration wells were drilled nearby this winter as the company searches for additional resources that could one day utilize Willow’s processing infrastructure.
Willow remains on schedule for startup in early 2029, with expected peak production of ~180,000 barrels per day.
Billions invested. Thousands of jobs. New infrastructure. New exploration. And potentially 180,000 more barrels a day of American energy.
That’s a big investment in Alaska’s future.
PHOTO CREDIT: ConocoPhillips Alaska
Letter from the co-chairs
Fair and Competitive oil taxes are working
There is a resurgence in oil production and jobs in Alaska that is directly related to our current oil tax policy. SB 21, a fair and competitive tax policy, replaced the antiquated ACES tax structure that drove down petroleum investment for more than a decade. Thanks to SB 21, Alaskans have the greatest opportunity of our generation on the North Slope today.
Some present and former legislators argue that SB 21 was a mistake, but the facts speak for themselves.
The Willow and Pikka projects, years in the making, are in active development, with Pikka now expecting first production any day now. These and other robust investments in Alaska’s future would not have occurred under the previous punitive tax regime. Between the Willow and Pikka projects alone, the oil and gas industry is spending over $10 billion in Alaska, with each project generating thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of operating jobs.
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