Lawmakers in Juneau have been advised by legislative consultants that they should examine their approach to incentivizing oil and gas development from Cook Inlet.
Small Cook Inlet oil and gas explorers say they rely on state tax incentives to help them kick start their operations. BlueCrest Energy CEO Benjamin Johnson said it can be discouraging when the results aren’t immediately obvious…
Johnson: “There is truly value in providing these incentives for the oil and gas industry to come in and make these developments, get things going. That makes money for the state in the long term. It’s an investment, it’s not a cost.”
The state might pay out close to $625 million in credits this year according to Alaska revenue officials, primarily to small explorers or those developing new that have no tax liability.
The revenue commissioner has said the credits are split pretty evenly between the North Slope and in Cook Inlet.
This week consultants from Enalytica presented a report to the Senate Finance Committee where they said some small producer credits are expected to sunset on Jan. 1.
That doesn’t affect Cook Inlet, where producers largely pay no oil production taxes and low, fixed rates on gas.
