Energy

Cook Inlet is a hotbed of green energy ambitions, with proposals for wind, geothermal, tidal and hydrogen production, but their success could be stymied by the fossil fuel foundation of the state’s economy and politics.

After working in the state’s oil industry and government agencies overseeing fossil fuels, this dreamer is searching for deposits of the clean-burning gas that don’t need to be created from natural gas or water.

ConocoPhillips will increase its holdings in the Kuparuk and Prudhoe Bay fields.

Issues including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, as well as mining and logging.

With cheap gas-fired power now unavailable, the biggest utility in Fairbanks has shelved plans to shut down one of its coal-fired plants.

The Department of Energy grant, with matching funding, will support construction of a 38-mile transmission line across Cook Inlet.

The order was the fifth AOGCC-assessed penalty for Hilcorp this year.

The Wood Mackenzie report also says Cook Inlet gas could be depleted in about a decade. It was commissioned by the Alaska Gasline Development Corp.

Most of the funding is from the Inflation Reduction Act and will go toward new renewable energy measures all around the state.

Such small renewable projects are good, a renewable energy advocate said, but larger ones are needed to offset a looming shortage of natural gas from Cook Inlet.

They typically won’t save money in Anchorage. But the natural gas crunch might change that. They’re fairly common in Juneau, where it’s warmer.

The Pikka field is set to deliver first oil within two years, said Kevin Gallagher, chief executive for Santos.

One company, Bluecrest, said it will need more support even after a state agency agreed to forgive some $7 million in loans. Another company, HEX, says it needs the state to agree to a royalty reduction before it will drill a well.

Sens. Cathy Giessel and Bill Wielechowski want the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether the company has engaged in “illegal anticompetitive practices.”

The Puppy Dog Lake project in Nikiski will nearly triple solar energy in Alaska, a project representative said.

Under President Biden, who campaigned on a pledge of “no more drilling,” America is pumping more oil than any country ever has.

Sullivan said he’s concerned the Interior Department is listening to conservation groups who have filed a petition calling for a plan for the decommissioning of the 47-year-old pipeline.

The Legislature passed several measures this year intended to expand renewable energy in Southcentral Alaska as the region faces a shortage of natural gas.

Still, a 1998 federal report indicates the refuge contains pools of oil that are larger than ConocoPhillips’ Willow prospect to its west.

Harold Hamm has become Trump’s point person in raising funds from the oil industry and relaying to the ex-president what the industry wants.

Northern Journal waded through hundreds of pages of written testimony and hours of recorded public hearings to explain how an Anchorage electric utility’s proposal to raise its rates could affect consumers — and the region’s scarce supply of natural gas.

Furie Operating Alaska is responsible for hundreds of water pollution violations over a long period that began in 2020, according to the agreement with state environmental regulators.

Excelerate Energy operates specialized ships known as a “floating storage regasification units.”