The City is the center of the oil and gas industry, providing services and supplies for Cook Inlet’s oil drilling and exploration. Tesoro Alaska’s oil refining operations and Unocal’s urea plant are located in North Kenai.

Tourism is estimated as a $95 million per year industry on the Peninsula. Other important economic sectors include sport, subsistence and commercial fishing, fish processing, timber and lumber, agriculture, transportation services, construction and retail trade. 226 area residents hold commercial fishing permits.

The largest area employers are the Borough School District, Unocal, Peak Oilfield Services, the Borough, and Central Peninsula Hospital. Work is scheduled to begin during Summer 1998 on the Challenger Learning Center.

Two high-tech fire-fighting training facilities, totaling $15 million, will open in May 1998. Jointly called the Pacific Rim Institute of Safety Management, it consists of a City- and FAA-operated firefighter school at the airport, and a nearby industrial firefighter school, operated by a private firm.