Willow project expected to cost state treasury more than it brings in during early years

Yereth Rosen

ALASKA

Alaska Beacon

A giant oil development project just greenlit by the Biden administration and celebrated by Alaska state leaders is expected to cost the state treasury more than it would raise in the early years.

The Willow project, estimated to hold 600 million barrels of recoverable oil, would spur a cumulative loss of more than $1 billion in oil-production tax revenue over about 10 years, according to a state Department of Revenue analysis. That is because the billions of dollars that ConocoPhillips is expected to spend building Willow will be used to offset the tax bills elsewhere from production elsewhere on the North Slope, according to the analysis, issued Feb. 28.

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