ANWR oil would have small price impact

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, May 23 (UPI) -- Oil reserves in the Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would have a minor impact on the price of crude oil, a government report said.

The U.S. Department of Energy said reserves from the area, if harvested, would drop the price of crude oil -- currently at $131 per barrel -- by about 75 cents per barrel.

But tapping the ANWR reserves would have benefits, such as allowing the trans-Alaska pipeline to remain open, the Anchorage Daily News reported Friday.

Alaskan Republicans accepted the report with different spins.

The report was "yet another indicator that opening ANWR is important to this country," Sen. Lisa Murkowski said. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said ANWR production was "not projected to have a large impact."

House member Don Young introduced a bill Thursday to allow drilling at the refuge a week after the Senate said no to an energy bill that included opening ANWR to development, the News reported.