No matter how much they pay for Alaska's oil it's way, way cheaper for them to extract it from Alaska than from almost anywhere else.  We are their profit center and even with lower profits, they'll still make billions. They aren't going to walk away from that for long. They only do it to put a scare into our cowardly, bought-and-paid for Legislature and fraidy cat, armed-to-the-teeth, scared-of-their-own-shadows conservative population. Then in concert with the legislature they own, the Oilies come up with some "brilliant" plan that they say is fair, and every conservative sucker in Alaska falls for it, just as they've fallen for the republicans that having been screwing out state over for decades.  These same people fell for Trump's bull pucky and true to form, voted him into control of our country. Now he's systematically destroying it.