Northern Gas Pipelines

Northern Gas Pipelines is your public service, objective, unbiased 1-stop-shop for Arctic gas pipeline history, projects and people, informal and rich with new information, updated daily.  Here is the most timely and complete gas pipeline news collection anywhere. "Miss a day and miss a lot."   This might be the FIRST Alaska blog; does anyone know of an older one (pre-2001)?

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SPECIAL, OP-ED, 6-30-09 ADN by Dave Harbour.  ...in draft legislation circulating for comment as part of his five "Arctic Climate Change Initiatives." Sen. Mark Begich proposed adding a new layer of regulatory complexity to the already demanding federal regulatory system. The draft bill would establish, "an Arctic Regional Citizens' Advisory Council (RCAC) to encourage citizen engagement and oversight of the effective and safe development of Arctic energy resources."  Sound reasonable?  It's not.  Alaska has other advisory councils, created at different times for different purposes with different missions (See OPA 1990), as the Daily News noted in its Sunday editorial. But this particular advisory council, as proposed, could delay Alaska prosperity, worsen the existing regulatory structure and increase costs to consumers and taxpayers.  ...  Instead of creating another layer of complication, let's consider adopting legislation that expedites the permitting and legal processes, as Congress did in the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Act of 2004. There, judicial review is limited and a federal coordinator is named to improve efficiency of the regulatory process.  ("Fair and Balanced": See ADN's Pro-RCAC editorial, 6-29-09, below.)

6-30-09.     Special Report.   Yesterday, the Alaska Black Chamber of Commerce met at the Westmark Anchorage Hotel to hear TransCanada spokesman Tony Palmer (NGP Photo) brief guests on the new partnership with ExxonMobil.  Palmer also announced the addition of a Point Thomson pipeline to the project and verification that the ‘open season’ process for filling pipeline capacity would begin next January and finish in July 2010.  Palmer said today that following ExxonMobil’s addition, spending through next July would be increased to $150 million.  He then described long term employment and contracting opportunities for Alaska businesses.  ABCC President, Marilyn Stewart - Richardson (NGP Photo) closed with an observation that, “We will be watching progress of the project closely.”     *    ADN by Erika Bolstad.  There are market forces, state and national politics and a host of environmental and regulatory hurdles -- some 22 federal agencies in the United States alone must sign off on an environmental impact statement before the project can move forward.  One small federal agency, the Office of the Federal Coordinator, is overseeing the effort. The office, headed by Drue Pearce (NGP Photo), an Alaskan who is based in Washington, D.C., has nine employees.      *       Solve Climate by Abby Schultz.  Where the natural gas from the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline will end up is a murky question tied up in a 30-year-old treaty, expansion of Canadian tar sands operations, and trends in natural gas supplies both in the United States and in Canada.  Environmentalists fear at least half of the relatively clean-burning Alaskan North Slope gas will end up fueling tar sands operations in Alberta, where the pipeline will end, instead of coming to the lower 48 states to replace carbon-intensive coal in power plants. The tar sands operations already consume about 20 percent of Canada’s natural gas, and they are expected to need as much as twice that by 2035.  Michael Brune of the Rainforest Action Network calls the pipeline "a stealth dirty oil mega-project … conceived by Big Oil.”  (add more......................... *  Texas for Sarah Palin Blog re: Drue Pearce Story..

6-29-09.  ADN Editorial.  U.S. Sen. Mark Begich (NGP Photo-l) wants to give Alaska's Arctic residents a formal way to offer their advice and perspective on decisions affecting the region. ... His idea (PDF Of Last Week's Draft Here) is modeled on the successful citizens' advisory council set up in the early 1990s for Prince William Sound after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. That council is a well-funded watchdog, keeping an eye on the oil pipeline and tanker operations to help avoid a repeat disaster.  Ideally, the Arctic citizens' council would speak to a broad range of issues, not just oil development.   (Yes, we have comments on this proposal and will provide them tomorrow.  -dh)  Alaska Gas Pipeline Blog.  In a nut shell: You can't invest $40 Billion in a long term project with variable or random taxes.     *    Today, TransCanada executive Tony Palmer (NGP Photo) will discuss his project at a meeting sponsored by the Alaska Black Chamber of Commerce.      *    Thomas A. Lamb Blog.  Bob McLeod, the investment and industry minister for the Northwest Territories, is meeting with top lawmakers in Washington, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on a fact-finding mission on the Alaskan route.

6-26-09.  Alaska Standard, by Jeff Jones (NGP Photo, 4-14-09), Publisher, Alaska Journal of Commerce.  There’s an old proverb that says even a fool seems wise when he keeps his mouth shut.  Apparently this wisdom is lost on a couple of our state legislators, as they have spoken publicly to espouse their angst regarding ExxonMobil Corp. and TransCanada Corp. forming a partnership to move the gas pipeline project forward.  Should we laugh or cry? For instance, when state Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, states in a press release, “I’m disappointed with the partnership. Exxon’s involvement will qualify them for some of the $500 million that Alaska will give to TransCanada to work on the line…”  Not wanting to be left out, during a House Resource Committee hearing in Anchorage on June 23, Rep. Bruce Edgmon, R-Dillingham was upset and so eloquently portrayed his displeasure when he retorted that Exxon the “largest corporation on the planet,” may now receive reimbursement funds via TransCanada due to their recent agreement.        *       Canadian Press by Lee-Anne Goodman.  "Everybody thinks we're here to talk about the oilsands, and everybody says our Mackenzie pipeline gas is just going to go to the oilsands anyway and we're saying no, that's not true," Bob McLeod, investment and industry minister for the Northwest Territories, said Wednesday.      *    High Beam Research.  ConocoPhillips Chairman and Chief Executive Jim Mulva is worried about natural gas. "I believe the world has a natural gas problem," Mulva volunteered in a recent interview with Energy Intelligence. "The world has a great deal of natural resources, but the lack of development of the resources to meet market demand is creating a tighter supply-demand situation. That's taking place not only in the US, but in Asia." Even with increased drilling, production in North America is at best holding flat. "Despite a great increase in money to drill, they are having a hard time arresting the decline of gas production in mature fields. That's onshore, offshore and in Canada."

6-25-09.  Reuters.  The government of Canada has not discussed providing loan guarantees for the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline project, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said on Wednesday, and he would not say if they might be considered.     *    Fairbanks News Miner by Rena Delbridge.  Pipeline builders and producers reiterated their position Tuesday before legislators that favorable state fiscal terms will make or break plans to build a large-diameter natural gas pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope to an Alberta hub. ... But Alaska Revenue Commissioner Pat Galvin (NGP Photo-center, 9-17-07, with NEB Chairman Gaetan Caron-l and Author) said the state believes its fiscal terms are just fine for producers, although officials would be willing to listen to producer claims for change. ...  BP Alaska Vice President Claire Fitzpatrick said gas supplies, market volatility, pipeline costs and the state fiscal framework all involve risk. During an open season, companies will weigh those risks against potential gains and could commit gas if the scales balance favorably. ... Sen. Gene Therriault, R-North Pole, said the state is on the right track and should wait until terms and tariffs are more certain before negotiating. ...  Exxon Joint Interest Manager Marty Massey said the state could negotiate some sort of sliding scale without the numbers in hand.  ... Regardless of when the state starts talking with producers, Rep. Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, said Gov. Sarah Palin has created a Gordian knot that places her exactly where former Gov. Frank Murkowski was — negotiating tax deals with oil companies.  ...  Lawmakers also heard from Bud Fackrell (NGP Photo-r), CEO of Denali — The Alaska Gas Pipeline. He said every pipeline company that testified before the Legislature through months of hearings on AGIA said fiscal certainty is a must-have for producers.  ...  Rep. John Coghill, R-North Pole, was reassured when BP and ConocoPhillips said they regard the TransCanada and Exxon partnership as a positive move that will help refine open season terms.  *    Financial Post.  Bob McLeod, the Northwest Territories' Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment, kicks of a three-day fact-finding mission in Washington today, with hopes of sorting out precisely what the U.S. government is prepared to do to move the Alaska gas line ahead, and then take that information back to Ottawa. He has meetings scheduled with the U.S. Department of State; the Department of the Interior; members of the Senate and Congress; and others.  "We need a level playing field," he said. "If the American government is prepared to provide loan guarantees that exceed the cost of the [Alaska] pipeline, then....       *       The Fraser Institute.  Manitoba has dethroned both Saskatchewan and Alberta as the most attractive Canadian province or territory for oil and gas investment, according to an international survey of petroleum executives and managers released today by independent research organization the Fraser Institute. Saskatchewan, which was the top province in 2008, drops to the number two spot in Canada. But investors are most critical of Alberta, ranking the province as the least attractive among Canada provinces ranked for oil and gas investment. Aside from Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Alberta now also trails Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec....  (Comment:  One could logically conclude that with Alaska's greater remoteness to the North American pipeline grid and markets and with our more punishing tax burden the "Last Frontier" would rank behind Alberta as an attractive oil and gas investment climate.  This--combined with the coming, South Central Alaska energy crisis--is why NGP friends should be cautioned about risky, Alaska real estate investments in the foreseeable future.  -dh)     *      Maritime and Energy.  A/S Norske Shell, operator of production license 326, has completed the drilling of wildcat well 6603/12-1. The well proved gas. The discovery is located 150 km northwest of the 6506/6-1 gas discovery (”Victoria”) in the northern Norwegian Sea.  The well was drilled in 1376 metres of water, which is the greatest water depth of any discovery made on the Norwegian shelf to date.