Anchorage Daily News

Arctic Slope Regional Corp. is getting closer to breaking the $2 billion mark.

The Barrow-based Native corporation generated $1.77 billion in revenue last year with a profit of $208 million, according to the company's recently published annual report.

Arctic Slope's biggest source of revenue last year was its subsidiary Petro Star Inc., which generated about $655 million in revenue. Petro Star refines and distributes light fuels around Alaska from its refineries in North Pole and Valdez.

Arctic Slope's biggest profit-maker last year was the Alpine oil field, run by Conoco Phillips on Arctic Slope, village corporation and state-owned land about 35 miles west of the big Kuparuk River oil field.

Alpine is the North Slope's third-biggest oil producer. Revenue from Alpine and other Native-owned resources provided $56.8 million in pre-tax profits for Arctic Slope last year, not including the profit-sharing payments that Arctic Slope made to other Native corporations.

The company declined to share details about its profit-sharing payments for this story. Federal law requires regional Native corporations to share 70 percent of their profits from certain resource development among all Native companies.

Largely due to Alpine and rising oil prices, Arctic Slope's pre-tax profit from natural resources increased by 4.5 percent last year.

That was a much smaller gain than in 2006, when the company's natural resource earnings shot up 146 percent. That year, Arctic Slope received some additional one-time payments, according to the annual report.

Some of Arctic Slope's subsidiaries, including the oil field services company, ASRC Energy Services, experienced declining revenue in 2007, partly due to expired contracts.

In some respects, high oil prices are harming Arctic Slope, said Tara Sweeney, the company's vice president of external affairs. High prices boost Arctic Slope's Alpine royalties but sting its refinery business and other operations.

"The price of oil can also be a negative factor, or additional burden, on our operations with our contracts, refinery margins and the overall cost of doing business, especially in Alaska. Every project bid is affected by the rising cost of oil, so we have to take a disciplined approach to managing the benefits with the burdens," she said.

Find Elizabeth Bluemink online at adn.com/contact/ebluemink or call 257-4317.

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