Alaska’s Palin, Miss Congeniality, Makes Exxon, Conoco Comply
March 3, 2008
Bloomberg.com:
“Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, a former beauty pageant winner, is succeeding where Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, a former paratrooper and military coup leader, so far has failed.
Palin threatened to evict Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s biggest oil company, and partners BP Plc, Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips from a state-owned gas field, winning their promise to increase Alaska’s natural-gas output 17 percent. She raised taxes on oil profits by $1.5 billion a year and rejected industry ownership of a $25 billion pipeline.
Politicians and energy companies are haggling for revenue with oil around $100 a barrel. Exxon and partners say higher taxes may lead to fewer investments in Alaska, home to the second-largest U.S. reserves behind Texas. None has quit the state. Exxon and ConocoPhillips last year left Venezuela rather than accept lower profits when Chavez seized oil fields.”
