The state of Alaska has filed claims totaling $1.28 billion against more than a dozen oil companies, charging that the state has been short-changed for its oil since 1977, state officials said Tuesday.
Alaska is entitled to 12.5 percent of the oil from production at two giant oil fields on the North Slope of Alaska, but the state charged that the oil companies have underpaid the royalty."Our view is that the oil companies did not pay enough for royalty oil," Gov. Steve Cowper said, summing up the state's position in a complex lawsuit.
The state sued over royalty oil accounting in 1977 and the case is scheduled to go to trial in October 1990. Now, for the first time, the state has spelled out exactly how much it believes the oil industry has been underpaying the state treasury.