Economy

The Point Thomson gas development on the North Slope has started production. In a web release, ExxonMobil states it will initially produce 5000 barrels per day of gas condensate and 100 million cubic feet per day of recycled gas that will be re-injected for future recovery. Download Audio

State officials announced this week that, for the first time ever, they received no bids for the annual oil and gas lease sale in Cook Inlet. The state Division of Oil and Gas blamed low oil prices. But industry representatives said lawmakers aren't helping. Download Audio

Hilcorp Alaska is facing a $20,000 penalty from the state for unsafe use of equipment on the North Slope. It's the latest in a string of violations for Hilcorp, which a state agency says has developed a pattern of regulatory noncompliance.

A worker with a hand-wrench sparked the fire that shut down the trans-Alaska pipeline for nine hours in April. The fire forced the evacuation of more than 50 people at a remote pump station near Coldfoot. Download Audio

When it's fully online, it'll send about 10,000 barrels a day of diesel-like oil down the trans-Alaska pipeline. But Exxon sees the field as a down payment on a much bigger prize: a North Slope gas line. Download Audio

An oil-dependent economy straddling the Arctic Circle, battered by low prices but sitting on a massive savings account: that could describe Alaska -- but it also describes Norway. Download Audio

The Alaska Railroad will be the first to transport liquefied natural gas by rail in the United States. The Alaska Railroad Corporation was granted permission by the Federal Railroad Administration to move LNG last year and testing is slated to start next week. LISTEN NOW

The announcement this summer that Alaska will pursue a state-owned natural gas pipeline is a major U-turn after more than a decade of negotiations with the big three North Slope oil companies.

As the state of Alaska takes the lead in the effort to build a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope, it finds itself taking responsibility for what would be one of the largest, most complex projects in the world. The man in charge is Keith Meyer, the new president of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp.

Alaska’s privately owned electric utilities can’t increase their rates overnight. They first have to go through a process with the state’s regulatory commission to demonstrate a need. That’s what Juneau’s utility — AEL&P — is at the beginning stages of doing. But customers get little say about projects already on the books. Listen Now

Caelus Energy, the company behind what could be Alaska's biggest oil discovery since the 1960s, will not be drilling a well to confirm the find this winter, as originally planned.

After an entire regular session and more than half a special session gone with no deal on a state budget, Governor Bill Walker met with legislative leaders today (Mon., June 5) to roll out a compromise package.

Wildfire season is off to a slow start in Alaska. But that could change very quickly. That’s because predicting how severe a wildfire season will be in the state is so tricky. Alaska’s Energy Desk is checking in with climatologist Brian Brettschneider each week as part of the segment, Ask a Climatologist. Brettschneider says over the entire season, which runs through the end of July, no wildfire forecast is useful for Alaska.

The study says wild red salmon are affected more by adult hatchery-raised pink salmon that compete with reds or eat them when they're small. And the research also says herring declines are more related to increased fresh water from melting glaciers, rather than oil inundation after the spill.

Despite a looming deadline, lawmakers made no public progress this week on reaching agreement on a state budget and a plan to balance the budget in future years.

Abraham Ellis is with the Sandia National Labs in New Mexico. “We are interested in those technologies to figure out ways to improve the energy resilience for cities,” he said. “For defense applications, and things like that, that really need to keep on going with electricity supply, even if the normal grid fails for whatever reason.”

The Bailey Barco will patrol the coast and features advanced equipment, including the ability to launch and recover standardized small boats from its stern. Sentinel-class cutters are lightly armed patrol vessels capable of traveling almost 3,000 nautical miles.

Today, House Finance aides referred to it as a payroll tax. That’s because it would only tax the money people are paid for their employment, either on their employer’s payroll or through self-employment. But other forms of income – like the money people make on investments – wouldn’t be taxed.

Diane Schenker had recently graduated from Reed College and was living in Fairbanks when she heard a rumor that Welding Union 798 had been forced to hire women to help build the trans-Alaska pipeline. A 21-year-old with no experience in construction, Schenker convinced the union office manager to let her work with an all-male crew of welders from the South. Listen now

"The first week I went to work was the only week in two and a half years that I worked less than eighty hours a week. Many times we would work twenty-four hours a day." Listen now