Shrinking Alaska output a growing problem

** FILE **This undated photo released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a sow polar bear resting with her cubs on the pack ice in the Beaufort Sea in northern Alaska. A government report released Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2006, has concluded that fewer polar bears cubs are surviving off Alaska's northern coast. (AP Photo/U.S. Fish and Wild Life Service, Steve Amstrup)

Beary concerning: Alaska looking to cope with declining production

STEVE AMSTRUP

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News Wires

 07 December 2012 17:56 GMT

Oil production from Alaska's declining North Slope fields is expected to fall 4.5% this fiscal year, posing a growing challenge for the state's finances, the US state's department of revenue said this week.

North Slope output should drop to an average 552,800 barrels per day in the 12 months ending June 30, down from 579,100 bpd in fiscal 2012, the department reported according to Reuters.

Output is expected to fall another 2.6% to 538,400 bpd in fiscal 2014.

North Slope production, led by oil majors including BP and ExxonMobil, has already fallen by more than 70% since peaking at 2.1 million bpd in 1998. Alaskan officials say the continuing declines are becoming worrisome for the state's finances.

Alaska collects no personal income or sales taxes and…

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