GAO Says Firms Have Not Saved Enough For Alaska Cleanups

Date: July 4, 2002

Source: News Room

Oil firms have not earmarked enough money to foot a future cleanup bill of as much as $6 billion for oil drilling operations on Alaska's North Slope once the now-prolific reservoir runs dry, according to a new congressional report by the General Accounting Office. The report adds to the debate over a plan to allow drilling in the nearby Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Over the last 30 years, British Petroleum (London: BP.L), Phillips Petroleum Co. (NYSE: P) and others have collectively spent $53 billion to build gravel roads, pipelines and airstrips for oil production from the Utah-sized region known as the North Slope. Since the opening of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in 1977, more than 13 billion barrels of oil have flowed from the region, accounting for about 20 percent of U.S. annual domestic production. However, once the wells end production, oil companies will face a big cleanup bill, totaling between $2.7 billion and $6 billion, the GAO said. The report did not estimate how soon the NorthSlope will play out.

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