Alaska oil production to continue decline, company officials testify

[unhappycamper]

http://www.adn.com/article/20140818/alaska-oil-production-continue-decline-company-officials-testify

Alaska oil production to continue decline, company officials testify
Dermot Cole
August 18, 2014

FAIRBANKS — While the long-running debate in Alaska over oil taxes enters a new stage Tuesday with the first statewide vote to repeal or endorse a tax system enacted by the Alaska Legislature, the election results will hardly be the final word.

The oil production decline, which began a quarter-century ago, will remain a key focus, just as it had been under the three previous oil tax systems in Alaska.

Some involved in the campaign against repeal of the SB 21 oil tax cut have made much of assertions that the decline in production has slowed or almost stopped, but executives of ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil Corp. who deal with tariffs for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline offered contradictory forecasts within the past few weeks in testimony to the state.

"I have no reason to believe that the annual decline in TAPS (Trans-Alaska Pipeline System) volumes will reverse in 2014 or the foreseeable future," ConocoPhillips commercial supervisor Josepth Falcone said Aug. 6 in testimony presented to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska. He is responsible for the business and economic analysis of the pipeline branch of the firm.