Alaska Energy Facts

January 15, 2013

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has published some interesting facts about Alaska’s energy situation.

• Alaska’s crude oil production of 0.6 million barrels per day ranked second in the United Staes, after Texas, in 2011. Oil production on Alaska’s North Slope, which has been declining since 1988 when average annual production peaked at 2.0 million barrels per day, is transported to market through the TransAlaska Pipeline System (TAPS). Because TAPS needs to maintain throughput above a minimum threshold level to remain operational, its projected lifetime depends on continued investment in North Slope oil production that itself depends on future oil prices.
• Alaska’s oil production, along with California’s production is declining. Texas and North Dakota have rapidly increasing production.
• The 48-inch diameter, 800-mile long TAPS crude oil pipeline transports North Slope crude oil south to the Valdez Marine Terminal, where the oil is then shipped by tankers to West Coast refineries. TAPS is currently the only means for transporting North Slope crude oil to refineries and the petroleum consumption markets they serve. In the Annual Energy Outlook 2012 low oil price case, North Slope production would cease and TAPS would be decommissioned, which could occur as early as 2026.
• The North Slope contains 14 of the 100 largest oil fields in the United States, and five of the 100 largest natural gas fields.
• The small and aged Kenai liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility is the only existing LNG export terminal in the United States.
• Alaska ranked fourth in the United States in 2011 in the total amount of electricity generated from petroleum liquids.
• Alaska was one of eight States in 2011 generating electricity from geothermal energy sources. Alaska’s renewable energy sources also include a 200-kilowatt geothermal plant at Chena Hot Springs and numerous small wind energy sites with a total of about 30 megawatts of capacity. Alaskans also operate one of the Nation’s largest fuel cell systems, in Anchorage, and the world’s largest battery storage system.
• Alaska ranks second in per capita energy use (after Wyoming ? go figure). By a wide margin, Alaska has the highest per-capita jet fuel consumption in the United States.

Commentary

The EIA site is well worth a visit. It contains nifty graphs, tons of easily accessible data and insightful analysis.

Sources

• a)http://www.eia.gov/beta/state/?sid=ak



• b)http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=5390 and http://www.eia.gov/beta/state/analysis.cfm?sid=AK