Washington (Platts)--13Mar2009

Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican-Alaska, suggested Friday that her
legislation to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
to directional drilling is unlikely to be taken up as a freestanding bill.

However, she said there may be an opportunity to offer the legislation as
an amendment to an energy bill on the Senate floor. The Senate Energy
Committee, on which Murkowski is the ranking Republican, is currently drafting
energy legislation.

"I have proposed an idea to allow (development) with minimal disruption,"
Murkowski said in an interview after addressing an event marking the 20th
anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound. "It should
be part of the discussion."

Murkowski's bill assumes that with current technology, directional
drilling from state lands adjacent to the western boundary of ANWR can extend
eight miles into the coastal plain. According to the US Geological Survey, a
significant portion of reserves are in the western portion of the coastal
plain. Those reserves are undiscovered and there is no reliable estimate about
how much oil can be produced by directional drilling.

Murkowski acknowledged she has an uphill battle, noting that when people
"see the four letters (ANWR), they make up their minds (against development).
But I never say never."

--Gerald Karey, gerry_karey@platts.com