Editor's note: "This Week in Alaska Business History" revisits events that shaped our past.
"Those who cannot
remember the past are
condemned to repeat it."
-- George Santayana, 1863-1952
20 years ago this week
Anchorage Times
Feb. 10, 1982
NANA, mining company plan venture
Cominco American Inc. and NANA Regional Corp. have tentatively agreed to join the evaluation and potential development of the Red Dog mineral deposit in northwestern Alaska.
The agreement, reached last Friday and announced by Cominco, provides for the completion of a feasibility study and, if feasible, the development of a mine at the site of the large zinc-lead-silver deposit. The decision is subject to ratification by the boards of directors of both firms, and a final decision on whether to develop the mine is expected to be made in 1983.
Cominco, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cominco Ltd., said capital and operating costs of the venture will be "significant" because of the remote location.
Anchorage Times
Feb. 10, 1982
Watt disappointed with Alaska oil, gas lease sale
By Betty Mills
Times Washington Bureau
Washington -- Interior Secretary James G. Watt admitted today the results of the first private industry oil and gas lease sale on the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska were disappointing.
Watt, testifying before the Senate Energy Committee on the department's budget request for fiscal year 1983, told Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, "We were disappointed in the NPR-A bidding. We have not yet determined why it happened. We suspect the reason may be the companies are holding out for all the other projects" in Alaska.
Murkowski referred to the agency's accelerated offshore leasing schedule for Alaska, saying, "These areas are much more costly to develop. I wonder if the department has considered the possibility it may not generate the revenues ... realizing industry can only do so much.
Watt replied that the department "has a pretty good track record" of increasing its expected receipts from offshore lease sales, and expects to make the $18 million target of revenue received in fiscal 1983.
10 years ago this week
Alaska Journal of Commerce
Feb. 10, 1992
Alyeska: Pipeline volume may drop as much as 200,000 barrels a day in '92
By Ray Tyson
Based on Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.'s projected daily flow rate for 1992, North Slope oil production and the massive state revenues it generates would be far less than what state officials are forecasting for the year.
Alyeska President Jim Hermiller told the Journal of Commerce the company has budgeted an average of 1.625 million barrels of oil a day this year, roughly 200,000 barrels a day less than what passed through the trans-Alaska pipeline in 1991.
If Alyeska's oil budget holds, pipeline throughput in 1992 would fall about 10.8 percent, nearly three times the annual decline rate since North Slope production began slipping three years ago.
Average yearly production for all North Slope fields to date has decreased 3.5 percent. Prudhoe Bay alone has slipped 4.7 percent a year.
A decrease of 200,000 barrels a day over a period of a year, a total of 73 million barrels, means the state would collect about $180 million less in royalties and taxes, depending on oil prices.
Alaska Journal of Commerce
Feb. 10, 1992
Dutch Harbor opens new dock
By Margaret Bauman
UNALASKA -- A jumbo ocean-going container ship pulled out of the Unalaska/Dutch Harbor Marine Center recently, en route to Yokohama, Japan, marking a new era in shipping from this bustling Aleutian port.
The newly completed $15 million marine center, which doubles the container-handling capacity for deep-draft ships, was saluted Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 with ribbon-cutting ceremonies at the 790-foot dock, as 36 container loads of Alaska seafood were hoisted aboard Sea-Land Services' MV Defender for the six day trip to Yokohama.
Nearby stood the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Storis, an auxiliary ice breaker commissioned in September 1942, brought to Dutch Harbor for the occasion.
The new dock, financed by a private/public partnership, is a vital step toward making the port a hub for Pacific Rim trade, said Mayor Frank Kelty.
-- Compiled by Ed Bennett.
