Top Alaska business stories of 2011: from oil to film, from wind energy to tourism.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: GENERAL BUSINESS

2011 was a turbulent year for Alaska and for the nation as a whole. Big projects got cancelled, new ones got under way, and no one knew what the stock market was going to do from one day to the next. Not surprisingly, some of the state's biggest stories revolved around oil and gas--but the mining, energy, telecommunications and tourism industries also made headlines.

Following is a roundup of some of the biggest business stories to make the news in 2011.

THE ECONOMY

In 2011, the news was not good for the Lower 48; unemployment was high, people were losing their homes and there wasn't a lot of help in sight. Alaska's economy, however, was in better shape than many of its counterparts, according to Click Bishop, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. In the October issue of Alaska Economic Trends, the most recent numbers for the state from August 2011 showed that Alaska's unemployment rate remained at 7.7 percent for the second month in a row, compared to the U.S. rate of 9.1 percent. The unemployment rate was the same as in August 2010, and was the 19th lowest in the nation. Since August 2010, the state added 6,000 jobs for a total of more than 352,000 jobs.

In July 2011, the city of Anchorage reported an additional 1,200 more jobs compared to the same time the year before, with unemployment averaging 6.5 percent for the first quarter of the year.

OIL AND GAS

Denali Alaska Pipeline Shut Down

Citing a lack of customer support, in May 2011, Denali-The Alaska Gas Pipeline pulled the plug on its North Slope gas pipeline project. The company, owned by subsidiaries of BP and ConocoPhillips, had already invested more than $165 million in the project before deciding not to continue based on poor open season efforts. According to Denali's President Bud Fackrell, the company was unable to secure the financial commitments necessary to advance the project. Market changes, including the development of shale gas resources in the North American gas market, also influenced Denali's decision to shelve the project.

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Point Thomson Battle Still Under Way

Natural gas condensate may someday flow from Point Thomson west, but its route is currently diverted through the Alaska Supreme Court. In 2005, the State Department of Natural Resources began trying to break up the Point Thomson unit on Alaska's eastern North Slope, a decision that would affect Point Thomson unit operator ExxonMobil, as well as major stakeholders Chevron, BP and ConocoPhillips. ExxonMobil alone has pledged to create a $1.3 billion development that will produce 10,000 barrels a day of natural gas condensate, and has applied for a right-of-way to lay a new $80 million, 22-mile pipeline from Point Thomson to the Badami pipeline.

In January 2010, a judge reversed the DNR's termination of the Point Thomson unit, which the State then appealed. The case is now in front of the Alaska Supreme Court, with both the State and ExxonMobil having filed opening briefs and reply briefs, respectively. In June, Chevron filed a motion to have the court strike part of DNR's opening brief citing that State lawyers had improperly raised a third legal question for the court to consider, and on June 24, a Supreme Court justice ruled in favor of Chevron.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, in August, Dan Sullivan, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, told a legislative committee that the State and ExxonMobil had reached a "resolution in principle" on terms to settle the legal conflict, though the terms of the settlement are confidential. The oil companies and the state have been negotiating for more than a year.

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