(Scroll down or click here for yesterday's 12-17-15 editorial)

ADN by Nathaniel Herz.  … the board of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. made its acting chair, Dave Cruz, the permanent chair, with Hugh Short named vice chair.  The board also unanimously approved the appointment of Fritz Krusen, who was previously a vice president at the corporation, as interim president….

Bill Walker, Alaska Governor, Cook Inlet gas, LNG, Japan, Photo by Dave HarbourCourthouse News.  Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (NGP Photo) said Thursday his state extended its cooperation agreement with Japan-based consortium Resources Energy to develop natural gas fields in Cook Inlet.
     The state signed the original memorandum of agreement in September 2014. The extension with the Japanese consortium runs through 2017 and encourages the development of Cook Inlet natural gas ….

ADN by Pat Forgey.  Communities along the route of the pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to a liquefied natural gas export terminal at Nikiski have spent the fall negotiating with the state and other communities about how to divide up the estimated $15.7 billion in property tax revenues the project will produce over 25 years. The state has proposed a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes structure, hoping to avoid the contentious history of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, and its associated lawsuits.

Julie Hasquet, BP Exploration Alaska, Photo by Dave Harbour, 2015 Alaska Hire ReportOur friend, Julie Hasquet (NGP Photo) at BP Exploration (Alaska) advises us that BP’s 2015 Alaska Hire report is out with some interesting stories and statistics.

"You’ll see that our Alaska Hire rate remains strong at 79 percent," she noted, "and our spending with Alaska companies is an impressive 72 percent  of total in-state spending – supporting 300 vendors."

She said that the company publishes Alaska Hire each year focusing on education, training and mentoring programs; designed to create more jobs for Alaskans in the oil and gas industry.

"In addition to the stories, spending and hiring data, there are also a number of great photos showing our BP Alaska business and people.

"A PDF of the publication is attached," she added, "and you can also find it on-line at  http://www.bp.com/en_us/bp-us/what-we-do/exploration-and-production/alaska.html."