Alaska predicts slowing decline in oil output

Source: Reuters

Alaska predicts slowing decline in oil output

ANCHORAGE, Alaska | Fri Apr 6, 2012 10:37pm EDT

(Reuters) - Oil production from Alaska's North Slope will decline by about 3 percent annually over the next decade, a slower rate than in recent years, according to a semi-annual forecast released on Friday by the Alaska Department of Revenue.

The department's spring forecast predicted that production through the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, will average 580,000 barrels per day, a 3 percent decline from production in the previous fiscal year.

Production will fall to 563,000 barrels per day in fiscal 2013, another 3 percent decline, according to the forecast. That fall will continue through the coming decade, it said.

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The forecast anticipates production from new fields offsetting a deeper reduction n "currently producing sectors", where output will fall by 7 percent in the current fiscal year, 12 percent in Fiscal 2013 and decline by an average rate of 8 percent over the coming decade.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/07/us-alaska-oil-idUSBRE83602220120407