viation insurance is a critical facet of doing business at Security Aviation. The Anchorage air charter company maintains a fleet of eight aircraft: one Learjet 45, four Cessna Conquests, and three Piper Navajo Chieftans. Each year, Security Aviation’s pilots fly 2,500 to 3,000 hours in Alaska, Canada, and the Lower 48. And the company pays approximately $445,000 annually to insure its planes, passengers, and other assets. “It’s an expensive cost of doing business,” says President and CEO Joe Kapper.

Aviation insurance is vital in Alaska, where airplanes are as commonplace as pickup trucks in Texas. Alaska has six times as many pilots per capita and sixteen times as many aircraft per capita as the rest of the nation.

n 2018, ConocoPhillips’ winter work plan included drilling an exploration well, Putu 2, which was only four miles from the North Slope village of Nuiqsut.

Naturally, the 450 village residents were concerned about potential impacts from the project, says Lisa Pekich, director of village outreach for ConocoPhillips. So long before any drilling took place, the oil company took the time to meet with residents and the North Slope Borough to address those concerns.

“There were lots of concerns in the community about being that close, from emergency response to, just in general, seeing the facility,” Pekich says. “Air emissions are a concern—any community that’s got industrial activity around it has concerns about air emissions.”

echnology developed over the last few years—and which continues to be developed today—is helping oil and gas exploration companies discover and access a wealth of new resources.

This technology ranges from ConocoPhillips Alaska’s steerable drilling liner and BP’s proprietary digital rocks technology program to Netherland-based Biodentify’s patented technology developed to analyze surface soil or seabed samples, recognizing otherwise undetectable hydrocarbon microseepage from prospective areas.

s of late March technical teams from BP and ExxonMobil were scheduled to meet with Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (ADGC) representatives in Houston for a cost reduction workshop as a tool to increase the viability of AK LNG moving forward. The discussions were anticipated to start April 2 and involve at least twenty-five individuals.

This followed a March 8 announcement that AGDC signed an agreement with BP and ExxonMobil to collaborate on various methods to advance the project and improve its competitiveness.

aking predictions about when an oilfield will come online and how much oil that field will produce is an inexact science at best. The number of factors involved in successfully finding and extracting oil from start to finish is countless. Oil and gas exploration is dependent on climate, price volatility, budgetary restraints (both state and corporate), land access, permitting, safety requirements, technology, and… shall we go on? While it’s close to impossible to say exactly how much oil will come from the North Slope in the coming years, it’s roundly accepted the state will see a major uptick in activity in the region thanks in part to The More Alaska Production Act, also known as SB 21, which has drawn billions of dollars in new investment to Alaska over the past several years, causing Alaska’s major oil and gas players (and some newcomers) to invest their faith and money in the Alaska Arctic with new and ongoing projects.

NS West Coast oil prices are again (slowly) on the rise since a dip in 2018. Last year started with oil in the mid- to high-$60 per barrel range, hitting $80 a barrel in June and then reaching a 2018 high of $85.36 on October 3 before dipping back into the $60 and $50 range for the rest of the year. As of April 1, ANS oil hit $70 again and continues to gradually climb upward.

Overall, oil prices have slowly and steadily trended up. Other positive news from the Slope includes BP’s investment in a massive, 450-acre seismic program that wrapped up last month; Pantheon Resources confirmed a successful flow test at its Alkaid well in April; and Oil Search flowed oil from two wells in its Pikka unit in April.

talian energy company Eni is quietly making a splash in global energy circles, including Alaska’s North Slope oil patch. The company entered the area and began production in 2011, developing the Nikaitchuq field, which it fully owns and operates.

The field is located offshore in shallow water and is estimated to have recoverable reserves of 220 million barrels of oil and an operating life of thirty years. Eni plans to make the most of it, including using it as a base to reach nearby federal leases.

his year’s salmon runs will provide insight into the theory that a warm water anomaly in the Gulf of Alaska in 2015 was to blame for poor runs nearly everywhere in the Last Frontier (with the exception of the record-setting run of sockeye in Bristol Bay) last year.

“The very large Bristol Bay sockeye harvest, 41.9 million, was definitely the highlight of 2018. Another highlight were substantial chum salmon harvests in Southeast Alaska, 11.5 million, and Prince William Sound, 3.5 million,” says Rich Brenner, a biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG).

If the forecast for 2019 is realized, Alaska fishermen can look forward to a record harvest of about 29 million chum salmon during 2019, with most of this harvest predicted to come from hatchery chum salmon in Southeast Alaska.

hen hazardous materials, or hazmat, make the news, it is usually because of a large spill or other dangerous condition that requires emergency response and clean up. But the fact is hazardous materials travel through the state every day with little or no fanfare—and that’s because of companies that make sure that these goods are transported safely and securely.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) classifies hazardous materials into nine different hazard classes. These include explosives; gasses; flammable and combustible liquids; flammable solids (such as substances liable to spontaneous combustion and which, on contact with water, emit flammable gases); oxidizing substances and organic peroxides; toxic substances and infectious substances; radioactive materials; corrosive substances; and miscellaneous dangerous goods/hazardous materials and articles.

ay traditionally signals the beginning of summer construction, including projects statewide to improve or construct roads, bridges, and the affiliated infrastructure. Road projects can take years to design and permit and are generally well-known to the public long before construction begins. This year construction in Alaska may deviate from that slightly because of the anticipation that as the frozen earth thaws, further damage from the November 30, 2018, earthquake may be become apparent. Also, some emergency repairs made at that time were temporary and will require additional work.

For now, the following is a selection of plans that are moving forward for road and bridge construction this summer and fall for projects that have taken the more well-worn project development path.

Celebrate art and the start of a new season at the Arts Council’s annual Celebration of the Sea Art Walk. Guests will enjoy the blessing of the fleet, new art pieces by local artists, music, and refreshments. Start at any participating location and enjoy a wonderful spring evening of art. ketchikanarts.org

First National Bank Alaska’s newly renamed Wealth Management department (previously Investment Management & Trust Services) offers customers a full spectrum of investment, asset, and trust management services for business and personal finances. The new name is meant to better reflect the bank’s global approach to helping Alaskans manage investable assets. fnbalaska.com

The US Senate passed an appropriations package that includes $655 million dedicated to the design and construction of a new heavy polar security cutter; $20 million to acquire long lead-time materials for a second polar security cutter; and $400 million for offshore patrol cutters and $340 million for fast response cutters, six of which will be based in Alaska. Additionally, the bill provides $53 million for shore-side infrastructure facilities in Alaska to support the new cutters, with $22 million going to Kodiak and $31 million to Seward. senate.gov

The US Army Corps of Engineers released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Pebble Project, a copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry project, which would include an open-pit mine and associated infrastructure. The public comment period on the Draft EIS began March 1 and will end May 30, 2019. Comments can be submitted online, through testimony at public meetings, or by mail. The Draft EIS and all contact information are available at pebbleprojecteis.com.

ete and Tanya Dickinson founded All American Oilfield in 2010. In 2015, the company partnered with Chugach Alaska Corporation. Today the couple retains partial ownership, and Pete Dickinson is president of the company that provides oil and gas workover drilling operations, expertise in project management for oil and gas projects, and labor for operator-owned drilling and workover rigs.

Alaska Business: What do you do in your free time?
Pete Dickinson: I like to spend a lot of time with my family, and we do a lot of hunting and fishing.

AB: Is there a skill you’re currently developing or have always wanted to learn?
Dickinson: I’m always trying to learn better ways, or more effective ways, to motivate people—whether it’s in my wrestling coaching or it’s at work.

he BP Energy Outlook is produced to aid BP’s analysis and decision-making and is published as a contribution to the wider energy debate. But the Energy Outlook is only one source among many when considering the future of global energy markets. BP considers the scenarios in the Energy Outlook, together with a range of other analysis and information, when forming its long-term strategy.