JUNEAU – Today, Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, released the findings of a research report reviewing profit data recently released by ConocoPhillips. The legislature’s non-partisan research division found that in the first quarter of 2023, Alaska was the most profitable geographical area in the world for ConocoPhillips on a per barrel of oil equivalent (BOE). ConocoPhillips’ first-quarter adjusted net earnings were $22.66 in Alaska, compared to its lower 48 earnings ($19.86 BOE), international earnings ($13.12 BOE), and global average earnings ($18.11 BOE). The report also showed that, with a one-year exception in 2020, Alaska has been the most profitable area in the world for ConocoPhillips for at least the past ten years.
“While the oil industry is reaping record profits under this tax structure, Alaskans have seen cuts to education, snow plowing, infrastructure maintenance, and our PFDs to make up for our lost oil revenue,” said Senator Wielechowski.
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Wells Drilled Alaska in 2023
The 2023 Spring Revenue forecast, issued by the Department of Revenue, projects the oil industry to continue to use oil tax credits against their tax liability exceeding over a billion dollars per year through 2027.
“When our oil tax structure was changed in 2013, the oil industry promised more jobs, more production, more state revenue, more investment, and that oil tax cuts would ‘Save the PFD.’ Since that time, oil jobs have dropped from 14,600 to 6,700. Investment on the North Slope has dropped from over $3 billion to $1.6 billion per year. At Prudhoe Bay, investment has dropped from $877 million to $220 million. Under our current tax structure, we were promised 1 million barrels per day. Instead, production recently dropped below 500,000 barrels per day. State revenue has been gutted by billions and the PFD has been slashed to make up the difference. It is time to re-evaluate this failed oil tax policy,” concluded Sen. Wielechowski.
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