Study Sees 25,000 Oil Jobs If Alaska Export Ban Ends

As many as 25,000 new West Coast jobs, most of them in California, could be created over the next six years by lifting the federal ban on the export of Alaskan crude oil, according to a long-awaited study released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The report also estimates that federal and state governments could reap hundreds of millions of dollars in new royalties and taxes from increased crude oil prices and higher production--in California and Alaska.

“It makes a compelling case that . . . the export ban on Alaskan North Slope crude is counterproductive,” Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary said.

California oil producers say the two-decade ban forces surplus Alaskan crude into the West Coast market, artificially keeping prices below world levels and costing oil field jobs in the region.

Environmentalists, consumer advocates and refiners oppose lifting the ban.

Environmentalists worry that more West Coast oil production could increase efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and California’s offshore preserves to petroleum exploration.

Consumer advocates say higher crude oil prices will mean gasoline price hikes. Refiners say their facilities can’t handle any more California crude oil, which is heavier than Alaska’s, so they would have to pay more for Alaskan or other light crude.

The Energy Department study found “no significantly negative environmental implications” in lifting the ban and no reason to expect higher gas prices. The report predicts West Coast refiners could absorb higher crude costs, citing refinery profit margins the department calculates at 31% higher than the U.S. average.

The study predicts that lifting the ban would increase total federal revenues from taxes, royalties and the sale of federal oil by $99 million to $180 million from 1994 to 2000. In the same period, Alaska would gain $700 million to $1.6 billion; California would receive increased royalties and taxes of $180 million to $230 million.