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Gold/Mining/Energy : Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (255)	12/7/2006 3:14:39 AM
From: Snowshoe	Respond to of 570

Gas line meetings ______________________________________________________________ alaskanabroad.typepad.com Gov. Palin and Lt. Gov. Parnell meeting with Enbridge. So what to take away from Gov. Sarah Palin press conference today on her administration's meetings with companies interested in a natural gas pipeline project? Not much. Palin described the meetings as "very general level discussions" without a lot of specifics. Palin met separately with executives from Exxon, BP and Conoco. She also heard from Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron; BG, which shares a lease in the North Slope Foothills with Anadarko; and Semco Energy, which operates the state's biggest gas utility and where Ben Stevens is a board member. Independent pipeline companies TransCanada, Enbridge and MidAmerican Energy Holdings also talked about the possibility for a nonproducer-owned pipeline. The Alaska Gasline Port Authority was there, too, pushing its plan to build a two-part pipeline system that would send gas both to Canada and to Valdez for liquefaction and shipment south in LNG tankers. Harold Heinze, chief executive of the state-affiliated Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority, also met with Palin. Natural Resources Commissioner Marty Rutherford said the issue of fiscal certainty came up four or five times in talks with Exxon Mobil, BP and ConocoPhillips – as well as with TransCanada. Palin said there was a lot of excitement about the project from the representatives from Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell. All of the companies stressed the importance that the pipeline have a reasonable tariff structure and the ability for expansion to ensure access to future explorers. The non-producer companies raised concerns about feeling like they had been used by the previous administration as leverage with the big three. Palin said she assured them that would not happen again. Palin said it would be counterproductive to put an artificial timeline on the negotiations. She said the producer group was still enthusiastic about the project, but that they also still wanted a lot of state assistance on the economics of the project. The next step, Palin said, is to finalize her gas line team and determine what funding is available for the negotiations. Revenue Commissioner Patrick Galvin said he had not completed an assessment of how much the previous administration had spent on the negotiations. The administration plans to introduce a law of general application that will set out the state's expectations and incentives on a pipeline project. The new law will replace the stranded gas development act, under which Murkowski negotiated his deal with the producers. Palin said she does not plan to keep international oil consultant Pedro van Meurs on the payroll after his contract runs out this year. Van Meurs advised both the Murkowski and Knowles administrations on gas line issues. Palin did have, what I'm guessing is her first interaction with Juneau reporter Bob Tkacz. I know Bob's going to hate me for this, but I thought Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell handled him deftly.