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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (283200)	12/9/2008 12:48:11 AM
From: Snowshoe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793846

>>Thats a lease dispute with one company, not a position against drilling per se.<< Exxon is the lead player in charge of development at Point Thomson, but the lease dispute actually multiple other lease holders including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and 23 minority holders. Exxon is fighting hard against these lease cancellations by filing a major lawsuit against the state and backing it up with material and contractors for the upcoming drilling season. Palin and her team appear to be using the leases as a bargaining chip to force the companies to commit gas reserves for the gasline project. The problem is that the industry can't do this if the project isn't economically viable. So far the strategy hasn't worked, and there are fears it will backfire in a very costly way at a time when our state economy is severely threatened by falling oil prices. The lease extension denials in Cook Inlet near Anchorage also involve multiple players, but these are small wildcat outfits with precarious finances. They want to haul a jack-up drilling rig from the Caribbean down around South America and up to Alaska for this project, and now is a good time because global shipping rates have tanked. I think the extension is justified, but there's no guarantee those little companies can pull it off. If some bigger players wanted a crack at the leases, it would make sense to terminate them and hold a new auction. But none of the larger players have voiced any public interest that I know of. Right now some legislators and businessmen are really upset at the Palin team for blocking this project. Disclosure: I own stock in one of the companies.