Blog: Dermot Cole
Alaska oil prices dip to $30.47
Published Thursday, December 18, 2008
Alaska oil prices dropped by $3.74 Thursday, more bad news for the state treasury. Oil prices are now down by about one-third this month, a casualty of the economic slowdown.
The pledge by OPEC to cut production in 2009, reducing world oil flow by nearly three times as much as is produced each day in Alaska, did nothing to stem the latest drop.
A barrel of Alaska oil was worth $30.47 Thursday, more than $40 below the figures in the most recent state forecast, which seems an overly optimistic outlook at the moment.
The current price is substantially below the level at which the old ELF oil tax brought in more money than the current tax system in Alaska.
North Slope oil typically sells for a few dollars less than the benchmark West Texas Intermediate, which was down $3.84 on the day to $36.22.
Oil was last selling at this level more than four years ago, when, faced with shrinking revenues, the Murkowski administration was taking a hit for proposing unpopular taxes and spending cuts.
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Maybe if we did more drilling we would have extra oil to sell and when opec cuts production and the price soars we wouldnt have to worry cause we are drilling for our own oil and wouldnt need so much from them
Now tell me why the price of gas is so far behind the lower 48.......
They economist are saying to expect oil to be between $25 and $35 a barrel next year on average. The commodity traders are calling OPEC's bluff this time. Like an OPEC country will turn away oil tankers who have cash in hand to buy oil from them. The OPEC countries will find themselves in the same situation Alaska is in, the cost of their government is much higher than what oil will sell for in the next year. $30 is better than nothing.
Maybe we should ask the oil companies for concessions like they did when oil was $9.00 a barrel and they came to us and wanted a different tax structure. Like they would help us out....LOL
NotPc, it's the refineries, specifically the Tesoro refinery in Nikiski.
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