Repsol, Armstrong Oil and Gas announce big oil find on North Slope

JUNEAU – On Thursday, Alaska had a historic onshore oil discovery on the North Slope, said to be the largest of its kind in the U.S. in the last 30 years.

“This is outstanding for Alaska,” said Sen. Cathy Giessel (R-Anchorage), chair of the Senate Resources Committee. “Our state is facing a $3 billion shortfall. This discovery is encouraging to those of us working to grow our state’s economy and job opportunities for Alaskan families. This discovery also underscores the importance of being a stable, reliable place to invest and create jobs.”

The Repsol and Armstrong Energy Horseshoe wells discovery could amount to 1.2 billion barrels of light oil and 120,000 barrels of oil production per day.

Today, oil companies Repsol and Armstrong Oil and Gas announced a significant onshore oil discovery on the North Slope of Alaska. The Horseshoe prospect is part of the Nanushuk play in the Pikka Unit. The leases for the prospect are held by Armstrong Oil and Gas, which has applied to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for an environmental review of its development plans for the Nanushuk play.

“This announcement is welcome news. Along with other recent announcements of potential new developments this underscores the need to finish our reforms of Alaska’s unaffordable oil industry tax credit system this year,” said Representative Geran Tarr (D-Anchorage), Co-chair of the House Resources Committee. “By correcting our unsustainable system now, we can provide the stability necessary to bring these projects online.”

The House Resources Committee is currently examining House Bill 111 to fix Alaska’s overly generous system of subsidizing the oil industry with tax credits. The goal of the bill is to reduce the downside risk to the state of Alaska at low prices.

“New oil has the potential to help the Alaska economy and reverse the downward trend ofoil flowing through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline,” said Rep. Andy Josephson (D-Anchorage), Co-chair of the House Resources Committee. “However, these new oil discoveries also have the potential to devastate the budget if we continue a system that requires the state of Alaska to pay billions of dollars in costs with no assurances of future revenue, especially at low oil prices.”

The Co-chairs of the House Resources Committee plan to ask for an update on the Horseshoe play during a future committee meeting.