10-28-08.  Oilweek, by Paul Stastny.    The story of MGM Energy Corp., Oilweek´s 2008 Producer of the Year, has the makings of everything the Canadian oil patch is built on: determination, risk taking, and proving the skeptics wrong.  As for the current situation, MGM president Henry Sykes is quick to point out MGM´s opportunity was conceived by the Mackenzie pipeline´s regulatory delays.  "We need to be clear about one thing," he says. "While we´re very, very frustrated with the progress of the regulatory regime, if there hadn´t been the delays and there hadn´t been the feeling in the oil patch that this thing is going slow, the opportunity that we now have to start this business and grow this business probably wouldn´t have been there."    *  Even in a best-case scenario, if the environmental and social impacts report-still not forthcoming-is completed and if regulatory approvals are promptly issued and if the project´s proponents decide in favour of construction, ground would still not be broken until sometime after 2014.  "I wouldn´t want to estimate how long after 2014," says Pius Rolheiser, a spokesman for Imperial Oil, which is part of the consortium behind the pipeline proposal and its de facto operator.

10-27-08.   Order of the Last Cattle Prod.  China will build a total of 150,000 kilometers of oil and gas pipelines in the coming 12 years.  This information comes from the fifth China International Pipeline Exhibition which was just concluded in Langfang, Hebei Province. More than 240 domestic and foreign enterprises from 20 countries participated in the exhibition.    *     Not Now Chairman Lau Blog.  Summary: Palin's big accomplishment as Governor of Alaska is to award a license to TransCanada Corp to get going on a pipeline that can transfer gas, be it liquefied or not, from Alaska to the Lower 48 States.

10-26-08.  AP, by JUSTIN PRITCHARD and GARANCE BURKE.  Contrary to Gov. Sarah Palin's campaign promises to "build a pipeline quickly," the massive project to send natural gas south is still no sure thing.  (Huffington Post)      *     Alaska Gas Pipeline Blog.  As oil and gas prices plummet keep a sharp eye out for the first cracks in the plans of Alaska Gas Pipeline producers and potential builders. Last week we heard that financially stronBlog Talk Radio.  g ExxonMobil is holding steady with it's capital investment plans. This week we're see some signs of potential weakness in Denali Pipeline partner ConocoPhillips.     *     Blog Talk Radio from Wasilla Alaska.  PALIN’S "SIGNATURE ACCOMPLISHMENT" FLAWED, UNFAIR, MAY NOT BE BUILT     *     Alaska Pride.  How Alaska Governor Sarah Palin Deliberately Channeled $500 Million and A Natural Gas Pipeline State License to TransCanada.

10-25-08.  Reuters by Scott Haggett.  CALGARY, Alberta, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Enbridge Inc (ENB.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is considering offering aboriginal groups an equity stake in its planned 525,000 barrel a day Northern Gateway oil sands export pipeline in order to secure support for the project, a company official said on Friday.     *      Calgary Herald via 'Take Your Cross'.   It’s not enough that oil prices are subject to the vague inner workings of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries, but if things go according to plan, a natural gas-focused organization is in the process of being established.  Key energy officials from Qatar, Russia and Iran met Tuesday to discuss this very subject. This is significant because these countries are the three largest in the world in terms of natural gas reserves.  The obvious question from this news is what impact could it have on natural gas markets, especially in North America.    One key figure at the negotiations in Tehran, Gazprom head Aleksei Miller, spoke of a possible agreement on a “large gas troika” rather than a cartel. “Taking into consideration the common strategic interests of the three countries in the gas sector, the potential of the three countries in the gas industry, and the fact that Russia, Iran, and Qatar have three-fifths of the world’s total gas reserves, the parties agreed to hold trilateral meetings on a regular basis,” Miller said.     *     Alaska Gas Pipeline Blog.  As oil and gas prices plummet keep a sharp eye out for the first cracks in the plans of Alaska Gas Pipeline producers and potential builders. Last week we heard that financially strong ExxonMobil is holding steady with it's capital investment plans. This week we're see some signs of potential weakness in Denali Pipeline partner ConocoPhillips.  According to Brett Clanton of the Houston Chronicle

10-24-08.  Russell Stigall Site, AFTER OIL.  Someday in the next few decades, the Trans-Alaska pipeline will deposit into the hold of a tanker ship in Valdez the final barrel of North Slope Crude.  The oil will complete its 800-mile journey in 9 days and its sale will deposit in Alaska’s coffers the last few of the billions of dollars the state has made from its oil during the pipeline’s decades of operation. Oil extracted from massive hydrocarbon deposits below the ice and permafrost of the North Slope and frozen Bearing and Arctic Seas have slipped down the long straw for 30 years.  *   Alaska has offered half a billion dollars to help the oil industry complete a 3,600-mile natural gas pipeline from North Slope, through Canada to the U.S. The international project could cost $20 billion. But with hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of natural gas and natural gas liquids trapped under North Slope permafrost, oil companies may take the risk.  (Note: Mr. Stigall has produced an excellent analysis but one would observe that with proper care, Alaska could provide incentives that would keep TAPS operating longer than is now anticipated.  One also notes that a $20 billion gas pipeline estimate varies based on delays, changing commodity prices, a final determination as to where the pipeline will terminate and other factors.  -dh)

10-23-08.  Fairbanks News Miner, by Rena Delbridge.  Main lines, bullet lines, instate lines, — Alaskans are hearing a lot about natural gas and how to get it to markets.  At least five gas line proposals have been announced, but none are actually under construction, despite advertisements touting field work, like surveying and aerial photography.     *     DC Writer Blogger, from Pipeline & Gas Journal.  FERC officials say they aren’t pressuring the competing Denali and TransCanada Alaskan pipeline projects to merge. But the two projects—one already in the pre-filing process—are heading toward submitting construction applications to FERC at roughly the same time in 2011 or 2012, depending on whom one talks to, in what would be a regulatory clash and crash that the agency hopes to avoid. In an interview, Tony Palmer (NGP Photo-r), vice president, Alaska Development, TransCanada, says his company continues to talk with BP and ConocoPhillips, the Denali partners—about taking an equity interest in the TC pipeline, whose proposed route is essentially the same as Denali’s. “No one has slammed the door,” he states, noting that TransCanada will not make hard and fast offers to the two companies, plus ExxonMobil and other potential shippers, until the start of the open season in spring, 2010.  Palmer says FERC has publicly encouraged the two Alaskan pipeline bidders to get together. “That would be positive if it occurs,” adds Palmer. “We favor shippers joining our project.”  Scott Jepsen (NGP Photo-l), spokesman for Denali, is a bit more restrained. “The owners of Denali have stated that they will consider participation by other parties that add value and reduce risk,” Jepsen states.

10-22-08.  AP via ADN, by Steve Quinn.   Exxon Mobil Corp. and state officials are trying to settle a complex lawsuit over a North Slope natural gas field deemed essential to a successful 1,170-mile, multibillion-dollar pipeline project.    *       Calgary Herald, by Deborah Yedlin.  It's not enough that oil prices are subject to the vague inner workings of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries, but if things go according to plan, a natural gas-focused organization is in the process of being established.  Key energy officials from Qatar, Russia and Iran met Tuesday to discuss this very subject. This is significant because these countries are the three largest in the world in terms of natural gas reserves.      *     PNA.  The Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority has a request for proposals out for an environmental impact statement contractor for its proposed Beluga to Fairbanks natural gas pipeline.     *     Alaska Gas Pipeline BlogSpot.  ConocoPhillips and Chevron will announce capital spending plans later this year.  This is good news for the Point Thompson project which will eventually produce gas for the Alaska Gas Pipeline. Point Thomson holds nearly one-fourth of the North Slope's 35 trillion cubic feet of known reserves (Link to Point Thompson Lawsuit story).  We look forward to some positive indication from ConocoPhillips and BP - builders of the Denali gas pipeline.

10-21-08.  ADN by Don Hunter.   A baker's dozen of state House and Senate candidates answered questions Monday at an Anchorage Chamber of Commerce forum, trying to draw distinctions among themselves without straying too far from the needs for safe streets, better schools, a thriving economy and doing something with that North Slope natural gas.

10-20-08.  Globe & Mail, by Dana Stabenow.  Try this visual exercise. Put a map of Alaska over a map of the South 48, same scale. The map of Alaska overlaps both the Canadian and Mexican borders and the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. You could drop the state of Texas (268,601 square miles) down inside the state of Alaska (656,425 square miles) and never find it.  We've only been a state since 1959. I was born in the Territory. My parents eloped to Palmer (next door to Sarah Palin's Wasilla) to be married by the Territorial representative.  We have opinions, oh my, yes. I once wrote that if you put four Alaskans in a room, you'd have five marriages, six divorces and seven political parties. My first political act at 18 was to sign Alaskan Independence Party founder Joe Vogler's petition for secession from the union. I admit I was laughing a lot at the time, but my father seriously believed that Alaska ought to hook up with the Yukon Territory, British Columbia and Siberia to form a nation. Gov. Walter Hickel (Photo-above, 11-06-06 by Dave Harbour) wanted to run a garden hose from Alaska to California to sell them glacier water. Everything to excess! No idea too big or too ridiculous, that's Alaska.  What book, for example, would encapsulate the Alaska native experience for you? In his autobiography, Many Battles (Liveright, 1973), the late governor of the Alaska Territory and, subsequently, Senator Ernest Gruening discusses his pivotal role in Alaska's quest for statehood. He also gives an eyewitness account of Elizabeth Peratrovich's speech to the Territorial Legislature in 1956 in support of native rights.  That history begins with Captain James Cook. Start with the log from his third voyage. There followed more explorers, and Russian fur hunters and traders (see Hector Chevigny's biography of Alexander Baranov), but the first big influx of white settlers came with the Klondike Gold Rush, which we commemorate on our licence plates, even though the Klondike is in - gulp - Canada. The best account of the gold rush is, appropriately, by a Canadian: Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush, 1896-1899, by Pierre Berton.  Brian Garfield's The Thousand Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians is a page-turning account of the war in the Aleutians, a book Alaskans like to hand out whenever an outsider says, "But the United States has never been invaded by an enemy army." Tell that to Castner's Cutthroats. Next big rush: Oil. Yeah. Much on everyone's mind at present, and I wish there was a single definitive volume to which I could point you, but no. John Strohmeyer's Extreme Conditions: Big Oil and the Transformation of Alaska (Simon & Schuster, 1993) angered a lot of Alaskans with its focus on greed and corruption, but he's looking a little prescient now. Art Davidson's In the Wake of the Exxon Valdez suffers some from being rushed into print six months after the spill, but it's still an invaluable you-are-there account.

10-19-08.   Leader Post, by Bruce Johnstone.  The head of Evraz Inc. North America officially opened the company's $90-million large-diameter pipe mill expansion project in Regina Thursday and expressed confidence in the energy sector, despite the recent downturn in oil prices.  "We're absolutely committed to the energy business,'' Jim Declusin, president and CEO of Evraz Inc. NA, told invited guests and Evraz employees at the official opening.  "That's why we made the acquisition,'' Declusin said, referring to Evraz's purchase of the Ipsco Inc. from Stockholm-based SSAB for $4 billion US this spring.  The Russian steelmaker then sold off Ipsco's U.S. tubular assets to another company and retained Ipsco's Canadian assets, including the Regina steel mill and pipe facilities, for $2.4 billion US.  Shaw Pipe Protection Ltd., which applies a protective coating on the pipe, also invested $15 million to expand its facilities to handle the increased pipe production.  Jim Clarke, vice-president of tubular operations for Evraz Inc. NA, said the expansion will solidify Evraz's leadership role in large-diameter pipe, with twice as much production capacity as its nearest competitor.  Greg Maindonald, vice-president and general manager of Evraz Regina Steel, who is responsible for the Regina steelmaking operations, said expansion projects will help ensure the legacy of the founders of Ipsco will live on for another 50 years.       *            Moscow Times.  Gazprom said Tuesday that it offered to help Alaska increase gas supplies to the U.S. mainland, even after Governor Sarah Palin warned against Russia's resurgence while campaigning to become vice president.  The company sent eight senior executives to Anchorage for talks Monday with Alaska's Department of Natural Resources and ConocoPhillips chief executive Jim Mulva, state and company officials said.  The courtship of Alaska comes less than a month after Palin criticized Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for "rearing his head" over Russia's maritime border with her home state.  CEO Alexei Miller was accompanied by deputies Valery Golubev and Alexander Medvedev, who oversees the country's gas exports.

10-18-08.   NNS.  Western Arctic - The NDP's Dennis Bevington will be heading back to Ottawa for a second term as MP for the Western Arctic.  Despite a resurgent Conservative Party represented by Brendan Bell, Bevington won the Western Arctic seat on Tuesday night, taking 5,669 votes.       *     AJOC, by Tim Bradner.  Doyon Universal Services LLC was awarded an extension of its contract with Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. to provide facility management, security and catering services. The company is also providing support this year for the Denali pipeline group, the natural gas pipeline initiative by BP and ConocoPhillips.  ... “We expect to be working with TransCanada next year too,” Phillips said. Despite that fact that Denali and TransCanada are competitors in pursuing gas pipeline projects, “there would not be a conflict, but we would obviously build a 'fire-wall' between the groups working on the projects.”

The British Explain America's Part in the World's Financial Crisis

Fannie Mae CEO is Humbled to Be With Friends - In the Words of Our Own Congressional Leaders - Expose

"The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."  Cicero, 55 BC.

10-17-08.  Turnagin Times.  Point, by  Representative Mike Hawker: Alaska’s economic future depends upon utilizing our vast undeveloped natural gas resources. In addition to the long-term revenue stream gas will provide, Alaskans must be guaranteed gas for in-state consumption and the development of value-added industry. Exploring for gas will also result in the additional oil needed to extend the operating life of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.  I have come to believe that the actions of Alaska’s government raise barriers rather than remove barriers to making progress towards developing our gas resources. The approach taken by government has been to “pick a winner” from among the possible stakeholders in a gas export project and then backing that “winner” to the exclusion of all others. This approach is destined to fail by erecting barriers to all the other stakeholders, especially those who want to develop gas to meet our in-state needs. Alaska will get a pipeline project started when government stops trying to pick a winner. Government should focus on creating an economic and regulatory environment that protects our interests, but assures every stakeholder has equal footing and opportunity to succeed. Getting Alaska’s gas to market is a huge undertaking with a place for everyone who wants to be a part of the great venture. Government must bring all those stakeholders together and tear down the barriers to willing cooperation that we have been erecting.  Industrialist Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” This is the lesson Alaska needs to remember as we work to develop our natural gas resources.    Counterpoint, by Mike Kenny.   As described above, I support the All Alaska Gas Line to Valdez being built first for many reasons but primarily because it is my belief that if our resources are used to create wealth, that wealth should be created in Alaska when at all possible.  It is likely that a number of issues in Canada whirling around the Tar Sands development will delay pipeline construction for many years. It is also likely that improved drilling techniques and recent large discoveries of natural gas in the lower 48, will make Alaska’s gas non-competitive.  No, I do not support the state’s direction. Nor do I support the Denali (Conoco Phillips/BP) direction. Alaska’s future must come first.   *      ADN via Petroleum News Alaska, by Eric Lidji.  Anadarko's exploration program in the foothills, the first explicit attempt to find natural gas in northern Alaska, comes as several companies and a state agency have crews conducting fieldwork related to possible natural gas pipeline projects.  TransCanada and the BP-Conoco Phillips joint venture Denali both are doing preliminary work before deciding to pursue a multibillion-dollar project for a gas pipeline routed into Canada.  Meanwhile, both Enstar Natural Gas Co. and the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority are conducting fieldwork related to in-state pipelines or spur line projects.

10-16-08.  Today, RDC's Vice President, Phil Cochrane, introduced Chris Fluhr, the U.S. House of Representatives Republican Chief of Staff who addressed current Congressional energy challenges.  Then, The Heritage Foundation's Rob Gordon (Senior Advisor for Strategic Outreach), discussed 'Polar Bears and Other Things With Bib Teeth: EPA's Proposed Co2 Rules'.  SEE THIS WEBSITE!  (Story and photos to come....)     *        Alliance next Thursday: Erec Isaacson of ConocoPhillips Alaska speaking on Energy Security.

10-15-08.  BNET.    The Canadian government wants to work with the U.S., native tribes and the private sector to bring much-needed gas supplies from Canada's Far North to gas-starved markets in the Lower 48. But it favors a market-based approach, said Robert Nault, Canada's minister of Indian affairs and northern development.

10-14-08.  Bloomberg, By Tony Hopfinger and Stephen Bierman.  Alexei Miller, chief executive officer of OAO Gazprom, Russia's natural-gas exporter, met with Alaskan and ConocoPhillips officials to discuss business opportunities in the most northerly U.S. state. (Photo: Tony Hopfinger with Dave Harbour, 2-2002) ... Miller and other Gazprom executives expressed ``general interest'' in working in Alaska, Marty Rutherford, deputy commissioner of the state's Department of Natural Resources, said by phone in Anchorage today.   ... The Gazprom executives also met with ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva, ConocoPhillips spokesman Charlie Rowton said by e-mail. ``The focus of today's conversation was not Denali, the Alaska Gas Pipeline, but other broad-based business opportunities,'' Rowton said.