A recent guest columnist on Jan. 11 stated: “Until 2006 we had a near 0 percent production tax on 15 of 19 North Slope fields, and all new fields that weren’t massive. What happened? Well, while oil prices rose from $20/barrel to nearly $60/barrel in that time, production declined 5 percent to 8 percent a year, worse than today. Just giving away money doesn’t work.”

A look at the field-by-field data shows that virtually 100 percent of the production decline was attributable to the 4 fields that did not have the low production tax. Production actually grew on the other 15. 

— Roger Marks

Anchorage