New Oil Drilling Rigs, High Profits, and New Developers Undermine Parnell Demand for Oil Tax Giveaway

From the Alaska State Legislature:

Two brand new $100 million dollar oil drilling rigs are on their way to the North Slope to be used as part of British Petroleum’s land-based operations, despite supposed financial strain facing these oil companies. For those who don’t necessarily recall, Governor Parnell proposed to roll back taxes on oil corporations by $8 billion. The appearance of these two new oil rigs, one of which is pictured below, seem to tell a different story about the financial situations of those corporations in question.

Photo courtesy of Hollis French

Despite global profit decreases for ConocoPhillips as a whole, the company reported it’s 2011 Alaska second quarter profits at $490 million, which is 26% greater than 2010 Alaska second quarter profits. In the words of stock analyst Chris Mayer, “ConocoPhillips is making over $5 million in profits every day in Alaska, in a quarter when their global profits fell. Alaska is a cash cow for them.”

For the entire release, click here.