At a Senate Resource Committee meeting on Tuesday, lawmakers pressed state officials eabout why the administration is trying to obtain gas marketing information from North Slope oil and gas producers. Gov. Bill Walker has yet to sign off on the oil companies’ 2016 development plan for Prudhoe Bay.
Corri Feige, the director of Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas, acknowledged it was a new policy. But says it’s within their rights to request the information.
“We are asking for information concerning marketing plans and activities that will result in the commencement of a major gas sale,” Feige said. “And to have those just be adequately explained with anything that is specific and measurable. Are there any timelines that they could share with us at this point in time?”
Feige says the division has a responsibility to make sure there’s “diligence” in the development of the gas. But for some Republican lawmakers, the discussion raised more questions than it answered.
Rep. Craig Johnson, a Republican from Anchorage, thinks the request is a conflict of interest, as the state looks at developing natural gas.
“Until we make a decision how we’re going to take our gas. Are we going to let them market it for us? All we’re doing is asking for a marketing plan from our competitors,” Johnson said. “If I were Wal-Mart and I walked into Kmart and said, ‘Hey, I need to know your marketing plan for the next six years,’ they would throw you out the door.”
BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil lease the land on the North Slope from the state. The producers have until November to turn in the marketing information. No industry representatives testified at the hearing.
