Begich Consistently Fights to Open Alaska To Increased Oil and Gas Exploration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 10/23/2014

ANCHORAGE — U.S. Senator Mark Begich has helped achieve historic progress of Alaska oil and natural gas on federal lands. Begich has fought President Obama and his administration to allow new development on federal lands in Alaska creating thousands of new Alaska jobs and bring hundred of millions of investment into Alaska.

• In 2015 the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is set to produce its first ever barrel of commercial oil with production expected to reach 16,000 barrels of new oil a day into the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.
• An independent fact check organization affirmed Begich’s role in pressuring the Obama administration to open the Arctic Ocean to oil and gas development. Shell is currently moving forward with plans to send two drill rigs to the Chukchi Sea in 2015.

Begich Successfully Fought to open CD-5 in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and Offshore of the Arctic to oil and gas development:

Construction Scheduled To Begin In January 2014 With First Production In Late 2015 – Production Estimated At 16,000 Barrels/Day. Reported the Alaska Journal of Commerce in November 2013, “At CD-5, contractors will begin mobilizing for construction late this fall. The project involves a bridge over the Colville River, a production pad in the west side of the river as well as related roads, pipelines and utilities. ‘Construction of CD-5 is planned to begin in January 2014 and continue in winter 2014-2015. First production is expected in late 2015 and the initial gross production rate is estimated in the range of 16,000 barrels per day,” of oil, Lowman wrote in an email.” [Alaska Journal of Commerce, 11/2/13]

President Of Anchorage Chamber, On Begich’s Role In Administration Approval Of Arctic Offshore Drilling: “That Didn’t Happen By Accident.” Reported McClatchy in March 2013, “Every time Obama called him to seek his vote on a key initiative, Begich nudged him to horse-trade for drilling. The senator hasn’t persuaded the president yet on ANWR, but Begich says he played an important role in the decision last summer to allow Shell to start exploratory drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off Alaska’s Arctic coast. . . . ‘When you look at President Obama approving (Arctic) drilling, that didn’t happen by accident,’ [Andrew] Halcro said.” [McClatchy, 3/30/13]