About Open CRS
American taxpayers spend over $100 million a year to fund the Congressional Research Service, a "think tank" that provides reports to members of Congress on a variety of topics relevant to current political events. Yet, these reports are not made available to the public in a way that they can be easily obtained. A project of the Center for Democracy & Technology through the cooperation of several organizations and collectors of CRS Reports, Open CRS provides citizens access to CRS Reports already in the public domain and encourages Congress to provide public access to all CRS Reports. RL34547 Possible Federal Revenue from Oil Development of ANWR and Nearby Areas June 23, 2008 Download Locations: Open CRS (User submitted) Summary: Recent high petroleum prices, and the related economic burden on consumers and energy-intensive industries, has raised the issue of stimulating domestic supplies of crude oil. One possible source is the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), which is estimated to contain significant quantities of oil and gas. Interest in developing the ANWR oil resources has also focused on the revenues that the federal government could collect should exploration and development be successful. Some observers have suggested using such revenues for purposes such as providing relief to petroleum consumers, further subsidizing energy conservation measures, or reducing federal budget deficits. However, current federal law prohibits the production of oil and gas in ANWR. Federal revenues would consist primarily of corporate income taxes on profits earned by oil producers from the production and sale of ANWR oil. As landowner, the federal government would also collect royalties from such production on federal lands, which are included in the estimates. If producers were able to recover 10.3 billion barrels of oil over the life of the properties -- the United States Geological Survey has estimated there is a 50-50 chance that the ANWR coastal plain contains at least this amount of oil -- and if oil prices are $125/barrel, then the federal government might be able to collect $191 billion in revenues over the production period, estimated to be at least 30 years once production commences. This estimate consists of nearly $132 billion in federal corporate income taxes, and about nearly $59 billion in federal royalties. These estimates are subject to major limitations. Estimates of technologically recoverable oil used in this report include the resources from the federal lands, and assume the availability of resources in Native lands in the Refuge and offshore state lands. The Alaska Statehood Act would allot 90% of gross royalties to the state and 10% to the federal government. The federal government would collect revenues from bonus bids from federal leases, and rents on undeveloped leases. These are not estimated separately by CRS. Independent estimates by the Congressional Budget Office for President Bush's FY2009 budget proposal show estimated bonus bid revenues of $6 billion between FY2011 and FY2018. Finally, income tax revenues from the secondary feedback effects would also increase as a result of the stimulus to general economic activity. However, these revenues are not included here due to the difficulty in estimation over the projection time horizon. RS22928 Oil Development on Federal Lands and the Outer Continental Shelf August 06, 2008 Download Locations: Open CRS (User submitted) Summary: Over the past year, crude oil prices have nearly doubled, reaching record levels. Proposals before Congress include a number of legislative initiatives to increase domestic oil production. These proposals have fallen into two broad categories: (1) to open areas of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) which are currently under leasing moratoria; and (2) to encourage companies holding oil and gas leases to diligently develop leases to bring them into production. Two bills were introduced that would have denied new leases to those lessees who were not developing their leases or producing oil or gas (H.R. 6251 and H.R. 6515). The two bills, including similar provisions, were introduced under suspension of the rules in the House and both failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds support. Comparable legislation has been introduced in the Senate (S. 3239). There are also several proposals to lift the congressional OCS moratoria (e.g., H.R. 6418, H.R. 6529, and S. 3126, S. 3202), including an amendment to the FY2009 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriation bill. Proponents of these initiatives argue that promising areas should be open for exploration to maximize domestic oil production as quickly as possible. However, there are long lead times and often numerous considerations and constraints in getting federal oil and gas leases from the lease sale into production. Many leases never get explored before their primary lease term expires. RS22142 West Coast and Alaska Oil Exports May 06, 2005 Download Locations: Summary: As a reaction to oil price and supply concerns, questions about the export of crude oil produced on Alaska's North Slope are often directed at Members of Congress. The export of this oil had been prohibited by the 1973 law allowing the construction of the pipeline system now transporting oil to the ice-free, southern Alaska port of Valdez. But following a period of depressed oil prices, legislation was enacted in 1995 permitting export. Relatively small amounts -- never more than 7% -- of Alaskan crude were sold to Korea, Japan, China, and some other countries. These exports stopped by 2000. Currently, no crude is exported from the West Coast. Ownership of Alaskan oil fields has changed. BP Amoco and Arco merged in May 2000, and as part of this transaction, Arco's one-third stake was sold to Phillips. BP Amoco is using the formerly exported crude in California refineries acquired in the Arco deal. And Phillips (now part of ConocoPhillips) exports no Alaskan oil and has said it has no plans to do so. The crude oil export issue keeps recurring, especially in West Coast states, where gasoline prices have been higher than in the rest of the nation. Concerns about exports contributing to regional fuel price differentials have been voiced, and opponents of oil leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) fear oil production from this environmentally sensitive area could be exported. This report will not be updated.
