BP tells ROW agents to stop saying federal government agencies require tree clearing

"Talking Points to Avoid" appearing in a current BP "Tree Cutting Talking Points" paper specify:

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• Homeland Security - Property Owners have not been receptive to this talking point and BP would not receive support from Homeland Security Department that tree cutting is their requirement.
  
  
• DOT Requirement - The DOT has stated that they are not requiring the tree cutting and have told pipeline companies to stop informing property owners that tree clearing is being done at their request.

BP, Conoco-Phillips kill Denali pipeline proposal

JUNEAU, Alaska - One of two groups planning to build major natural gas pipelines in Alaska has dropped its bid, saying on May 17 that it didn't get the shipping agreements necessary to justify continuing.

The announcement came from the Denali partners - BP and ConocoPhillips.

Denali had been competing to build a line with Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. and partner ExxonMobil. The latter continue to press ahead with their proposal.

Denali said it is withdrawing its application before the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission after spending US$165 million and investing more than 760,000 man-hours in the effort.

In a statement, Denali said it didn’t have the required commitments to move ahead with the application.

“Denali is a market-driven company. As such, we cannot spend the billions of dollars necessary to advance the project unless we have binding agreements with shippers,” said Bud Fackrell, Denali president. “Although we have been in discussions with potential shippers for nearly a year and half, we have been unable to secure the financial commitments necessary to advance the project.”

TransCanada officials said that although it remains the sole survivor, Denali’s decision to withdraw doesn’t guarantee it will be able to come to commercial terms with Alaskan producers.

It plans to present its own application to the FERC in October of 2012.

BP-Husky to expand crude oil line into Ohio

OREGON, Ohio - A business decision in Canada is expected to have a positive impact on business in greater Toledo.

After years of negotiating, British Petroleum and Husky have reached a deal to build a major crude oil pipeline from Alberta, Canada, into the United States. The expansion will translate into additional business for the BP refinery in Oregon, east of Toledo.

The construction is expected to add construction jobs as the result of the investment of millions of dollars in the local refinery.

"This investment positions us to be a real energy independence leader for our continent, building on the capacity we already have, both in traditional fuels and biofuels and in renewables," U.S. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur said on Dec. 1 in Washington.

Rep. Kaptur said that the Alberta Sands Project will make the greater Toledo region one of the most important for petroleum refining in the entire Midwest.

Internal study finds BP’s Alaska pipelines on verge of failing

WASHINGTON - The pipeline system that moves oil, gas and waste between BP's operations in Alaska is plagued by severe corrosion, an internal maintenance report says.

The document, obtained by the independent investigative journalism group ProPublica, and reported on Nov. 4 by ProPublica’s Abrahm Lustgarten, shows that as of Oct. 1, at least 148 BP pipeline points on Alaska's North Slope received an ''F-rank'' from the company.

BP workers say this means inspections have found that more than 80 per cent of the pipe wall is corroded and could leak or rupture.

Most of the pipelines carry toxic or flammable substances. The document says many metal walls of the F-ranked pipes are worn within millimeters of bursting, risking an explosion or spills.

BP oil workers say the company's fire and gas warning systems are unreliable, that the giant turbines that pump oil and gas through the system are ageing and that some oil and waste holding tanks are verging on collapse.

BP's Alaska spokesman, Steve Rinehart, said the company had ''an aggressive and comprehensive pipeline inspection and maintenance program'', which included spending millions of dollars and regularly testing for safety, reliability and corrosion.

Former EPA official says Corexit, widely used in Gulf spill, kills dolphins, humans

EPA whistleblower Hugh Kaufman recently spoke on Democracy Now about BP’s claims regarding Corexit and the effects it is having on the Gulf of Mexico and the life forms that it comes in contact with.
He alleges that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is covering up the toxic effects that will result from using nearly two million gallons of the chemical dispersant since the start of the catastrophic oil spill in the U.S. Gulf.
Hugh Kaufman is a former U.S. Air Force captain. He joined the EPA in
1971. He helped write the laws that are on the federal books regarding the disposal, storage, handling and treatment of solid and hazardous waste. Though the EPA has approved the use of Corexit as an oil dispersant, Kaufman alleges that it is extremely toxic, dangerous and shows proof that the chemical was linked to many health problems when used in the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Kaufman also believes that BP used the chemical dispersant to dissolve as much oil as possible to prevent the public from ever truly knowing how vast the spill actually is.
Kaufman also alleges that people who are currently coming in contact with Corexit are suffering internal bleeding and hemorrhaging.
In a video clip, Kaufman says "...Consequently, we have people, wildlife… we have dolphins that are hemorrhaging. People who work near it are hemorrhaging internally. And that's what dispersants are supposed to do. EPA now is taking the position that they really don't know how dangerous it is, even though if you read the label, it tells you how dangerous it is. And, for example, in the Exxon Valdez case, people who worked with dispersants, most of them are dead now. The average death age is around fifty. It's very dangerous, and it's an… economic protector of BP, not an environmental protector of the public."

Magellan Midstream buying pipeline assets from BP for $289 million

Magellan Midstream Partners LP, a refined petroleum products distributor, on July 13 agreed to acquire oil storage and pipeline assets from BP Pipelines Inc., a unit of embattled oil giant BP Plc, for $289 million. As part of the deal, the company will acquire 7.8 million barrels of crude oil storage and more than 100 miles of active petroleum pipelines from BP Pipelines in North America.
Magellan expects the deal to be immediately accretive to the partnership's distributable cash flow per unit, with the potential for additional growth in cash flow from the assets over time.
The acquisition will also provide the company with nearly 40 miles of crude oil pipelines between Houston and Texas City, Texas, varying in size between 24 and 26 inches in diameter.
"This acquisition leverages Magellan's expertise in transporting and storing petroleum products by greatly expanding our crude oil logistics infrastructure and our energy footprint in the attractive Cushing, Okla., and Houston, Texas markets," said Don Wellendorf, chief executive officer of Magellan.
The assets will facilitate Magellan's strategy of developing its existing East Houston terminal into a key distribution point for crude oil to Gulf Coast refineries by improving its connectivity within the Houston market and extending their reach to the Texas City refining region.
Analysts had expected BP to sell some of its assets to raise cash to deal with the Gulf oil spill. According to media reports, the company is in talks to sell $18 billion worth of assets to U.S. oil and gas company Apache Corp.
BP has announced a package of measures, including the creation of a $20 billion fund to fulfill certain obligations arising from its oil and gas spill in the U.S. Gulf. The oil giant so far spent more than $3.5 billion on cleanup and damages.
According to media reports, Magellan and BP were in talks regarding the pipeline sale for several months, well before the April 20 rig explosion responsible for the oil spill.

Criminal cases filed against BP under federal RICO law

According to a story in the July 5 Bloomberg Businessweek by Paul M. Barrett and Justin Blum, “It’s almost a foregone conclusion… that the federal investigation of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill will produce criminal charges.”
Prosecutors “are very likely to bring criminal charges against BP and other companies involved,” says David M. Uhlmann, a former chief of the Justice Department’s environmental crimes section who now teaches at the University of Michigan Law School, Bloomberg Businessweek reported.
Whether BP or any individuals will face felony charges - or even prison time - is a more complicated question.
In the past, the U.S. Department of Justice has usually based criminal charges in oil spill cases on violation of the Clean Water Act, under which the party responsible for the spill can be fined up to $4,300 per barrel spilled if willful negligence is proved.
However, in the case of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and related Macondo well blowout, Justice may opt to charge BP under the federal RICO statute.
One hint of what a broader indictment might look like comes from private civil-racketeering lawsuits that have been brought on behalf of property and business owners in Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida.
One of the suits, filed on June 12 in federal district court in Pensacola, Fla., accuses BP and Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward not only of instances of pollution, but also alleges the company engaged in an illegal “enterprise” to mislead regulators over a period of years.
Included in the alleged pattern of wrongdoing was BP’s failure to improve its safety practices in response to past incidents, resulting in criminal fines, the suit says. An explosion in 2005 at BP’s Texas City refinery, which killed 15 workers, and an oil leak in 2006 from a BP pipeline in Alaska are among the past BP criminal actions cited in the suit.
Taken together with the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Florida suit alleges, these events show that BP engaged in a scheme that violated the civil provisions of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
The RICO law was enacted in 1970 to help prosecutors put Mafiosi behind bars. It has been used more broadly against corporations and high-profile individuals. It allows prosecution of people who operate or oversee an illegal enterprise, even if they did not commit the main criminal acts in question. The maximum prison term is 20 years for each count.
In the right hands, the Pensacola civil suit could evolve into something more: a criminal indictment.
“I would be amazed if the U.S. government didn’t use this as a road map to some sort of criminal case,” says attorney J. Michael Papantonio, whose firm filed the Pensacola suit.
In his suit, Papantonio asserts that filings BP made from 2000 to 2009 with the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service misrepresented the company’s preparations for a potential deepwater disaster and dishonestly minimized risks.
Contrary to BP’s written assertions that it was capable of remedying a major oil spill, the company and its executives have conceded since the April 20 rig explosion that they weren’t prepared, the suit claims.
A separate civil racketeering suit filed in Louisiana on June 21 makes similar allegations. The one in Alabama is narrower and targets BP’s conduct in responding to damage claims since the spill.
The RICO approach could allow BP’s antagonists - in either a civil or criminal context - to argue that cost-cutting steps in 2010 contributed to the blowout that killed 11 workers and led to the environmental crisis.

Competing Alaska gasline joint ventures said considering merger

ANCHORAGE - The BP/ConocoPhillips Denali joint venture that is planning to build a massive natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the Lower 48 is in preliminary talks to join a competing project headed by TransCanada and Exxon Mobil, according to a source familiar with the projects.
The BP/Conoco project, known as the Denali Pipeline, received approval from federal regulators earlier this month to conduct an open season to solicit interest in the project from North Slope gas producers. The TransCanada/Exxon project - which won a special license to build a pipeline from the State of Alaska in 2008 - received its open season approval in March.
The $30-billion-plus price tag on the project means it is highly unlikely two pipelines would actually get built - a joining of the projects has long been seen as inevitable.
But BP's growing financial burden from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill may be accelerating the process. BP has already announced plans for up to $10 billion in asset sales, and likely changes in its capital spending.
Dave MacDowell, a spokesman for Denali, said he wasn't aware of such discussions, but stressed that BP and ConocoPhillips "have said repeatedly they are open to considering involvement of any entity that adds value and takes on risk."
The natural gas pipeline would be among the largest single energy infrastructure projects in the world. It would include a massive natural gas processing plant on the North Slope and 1,700 miles of pipe that would most likely run to Alberta, Canada. There, existing pipelines would carry the gas to U.S. markets.
Alaska granted TransCanada a license in January 2008 to build the long-sought companion to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, which has been moving oil to U.S. markets since 1977.
That license followed a public bidding process initiated by then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who canceled a pipeline deal that her predecessor, Frank Murkowski, had negotiated in closed-door sessions with the three major North Slope producers.
The three producers - Exxon Mobil, BP and Conoco - did not take part in Palin's state bidding process, saying it did not provide the kind of tax and tariff assurances they needed. ConocoPhillips announced its competing project shortly after, and BP joined in that project in April 2008.
Many were skeptical of the state-backed project from the beginning, saying it could not proceed without cooperation from the producers. Dwindling state coffers in Alaska, which relies heavily on royalty payments and taxes from oil and natural gas production, also undermined support.
But last year Exxon Mobil said it would partner with TransCanada on the state-backed project. Exxon Mobil holds many of the largest natural gas fields on the North Slope.

CSB to investigate Deepwater Horizon blowout

WASHINGTON - In response to a request from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to conduct a full and thorough investigation into the causes of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) Chairman John Bresland pledged to investigate the accidental chemical release that destroyed the rig - but also stressed that such an investigation may pose a challenge to the board's resources.
Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., and Subcommittee
Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich., sent a letter to CSB on June 8 requesting the investigation.
"We make this request because we believe CSB's past work on BP puts it in a unique position to address questions about BP's safety culture and practices," they wrote, noting in particular CSB's investigation into the 2005 fatal BP Texas City, Texas, refinery explosion and the 2006 BP pipeline leak in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
Waxman and Stupek asked CSB to investigate whether the circumstances leading up to the explosion reflect problems in BP's safety culture; whether cost-cutting and budgetary concerns played a role in BP's decisions about well design and testing; how BP, Transocean and other contractors assessed changes to process, technology, equipment, personnel, budget and training on the rig; if BP provided adequate oversight of contractors; and whether CSB can draw parallels between this oil rig explosion and the 2005 Texas City explosion.
In his response, Bresland stressed that CSB will make this work a priority and "apply all of our available resources to ensure the best possible investigation." He added that the process will include key investigators who were involved in the BP Texas City refinery explosion investigation.
He added, however, that this investigation must "be approached without any preconceptions and that all possible underlying factors and causes are thoroughly and objectively examined. Like other CSB investigations, the investigation should include an examination of key technical factors, the safety cultures involved, and the effectiveness of relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards."
Bresland also noted that CSB will work to avoid duplicating other investigations already planned or underway. He requested the committee's help in promoting cooperation with other investigations and in ensuring that CSB's investigation remains independent from potential criminal inquiries.
"The CSB plans to focus on events prior to and including the explosion on April 20; we believe that an examination of the response to the disaster and the impact of the ongoing massive oil spill is beyond the CSB's current resources and abilities," Bresland wrote.

$200,000 pro-offshore drilling study funded by Florida now subject of ridicule

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – A rushed April study commissioned by incoming Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, that found minimal risks in drilling off Florida's coasts, is now the subject of broad contempt in the wake of the massive and so far unstoppable BP gulf oil spill.
The study, which cost $200,000 in taxpayer money, was ridiculed in a WUSF segment on May 31, and was subsequently covered by publications ranging from the St. Petersburg Times and Creative Loafing to the Orlando Sentinel and the liberal “Daily Kos” blog.
The 177-page study is titled “Florida Gulf Coast Oil and Gas Risk Assessment.” It’s a “drill-baby-drill”-leaning document produced by a British firm called The Willis Group.
The study's key conclusion, which of course sounds laughable now, especially with reports saying oil is already hitting beaches from Pensacola to Destin, and may hit other locations shortly, is this: "Oil spills from offshore exploration, development, production and the transportation associated with these activities are unlikely to present a major risk to Florida."
Another conclusion: "A 1,000-barrel spill is a 1 in 100 year event in state waters, assuming pipelines are the main transportation option; even a spill that size would likely be intercepted through emergency response prior to reaching Florida’s shoreline."
Yet another conclusion: "We view the risks associated with oil and gas drilling in Florida State waters as serious but manageable, as incremental to the forces of nature Florida faces each year, and small relative to risks from Florida’s existing industrial activity."

Lawsuit against BP filed in Alaska

JUNEAU - BP stockholders have filed a lawsuit in Alaska against top BP executives claiming that "gross mismanagement" has tarnished the company's reputation and hurt its value.
The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court in Anchorage on May 20, alleges the BP officials did not take the necessary steps to ensure compliance with safety rules and environmental safeguards. It cites cases including April's oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico and concerns that U.S. lawmakers raised earlier this year about BP operations on Alaska's North Slope.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, and appointment of an "independent corporate monitor" to implement safety and environmental
compliance measures.
Named defendants include BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward and members of BP's board of directors.
The state of Alaska is currently suing BP for $1 billion over a crude oil spill on the North Slope.

‘60 Minutes’ whistleblower sues to shut down BP’s ‘Atlantis’ Rig

HOUSTON - A whistleblower who appeared on the May 16 telecast of “CBS 60 Minutes” contending that the BP Atlantis platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico is a disaster waiting to happen filed a lawsuit on May 17 aimed at shutting the rig down.
The suit seeks to force the federal government to halt operations at Atlantis, alleging that BP never reviewed critical engineering designs for the operation and is therefore risking another catastrophic accident that could dwarf the company's Deepwater Horizon spill.
The allegations about unsafe conditions on BP's Atlantis platform were first made in 2009, but they were laid out in fresh detail in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Houston against Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the Minerals Management Service, the agency responsible for regulating offshore drilling in the Gulf.
The whistleblower is Kenneth Abbott, a former project control supervisor contracted by BP who gave an interview to "60 Minutes.”
In a conversation last week with the ProPublica Web site, Abbott alleged that BP failed to review thousands of final design documents for systems and equipment on the Atlantis platform - meaning BP management never confirmed the systems were built as they were intended– and didn't properly file the documentation that functions as an instruction manual for rig workers to shut down operations in the case of a blowout or other emergency.
Abbott alleges that when he warned BP about the dangers presented by the missing documentation, the company ignored his concerns and instead emphasized saving money.
"There were hundreds, if not thousands, of drawings that hadn't been approved and to send drawings (to the rig) that hadn't been approved could result in catastrophic operator errors," Abbott told ProPublica.

BP has fought safety measures for deepwater oil rigs since Clinton days

WASHINGTON - BP, the company that chartered the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Mexico in April, spent years battling federal regulators over how many layers of safeguards were needed to prevent a rig accident of the type that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon.
One area of immediate concern, industry experts said, was the lack of a remote system that would have allowed workers to clamp shut Deepwater Horizon's wellhead so it would not continue to gush oil.
The well drilled by the rig was still spilling 210,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico on May 4.
In a letter sent as late as 2009 to the U.S. Department of the Interior, BP objected to what it called "extensive, prescriptive regulations" proposed in new rules to toughen safety standards. "We believe industry's current safety and environmental statistics demonstrate that the voluntary programs continue to be very successful."
While BP's arguments against safeguards date to the Clinton administration, BP won the greatest concessions during the Bush administration.
The agency said operators were expected to have multiple layers of protection to prevent a spill.
But according to aides to Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat who has followed offshore drilling issues for years, the industry aggressively lobbied against an additional layer of protection known as an "acoustic system," saying it was too costly. In a March 2003 report, the agency reversed course, and said that layer of protection was no longer needed.

BP shareholders defeat oilsands resolution

BP shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a resolution that would have required the company to report on the environmental, financial and reputational risks of developing Canadian oilsands projects. The resolution was rejected by 85 percent of shareholders voting.
BP was one of four major oil companies involved in oilsands extraction targeted for such shareholder resolutions. The other three, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil, have their shareholder meetings in May.
Besides being more expensive to extract, crude oil derived from oil sands, also known as tar sands, emits 20 percent more CO2 over its life cycle than oil from conventional sources.
However, the rising price of oil, combined with the prospect of a major new source in a friendly, stable nation, makes such development attractive, and Canada’s tar sands contain the second largest crude oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia.

Bad luck BP involved in yet another pipeline spill at Prudhoe Bay

ANCHORAGE - A new spill has occurred in the Prudhoe Bay oil field, the Department of Environmental Conservation said on Dec. 22.
The spill was discovered on Dec. 21 by a BP oil field operator doing a routine inspection at a drill site. It was coming from a six-inch pipeline carrying a mixture of oil, water and natural gas, officials said.
BP spokesman Steve Rinehart said the break occurred where the production line left the well house.
"That break triggered the automatic shut-off valve of the well," he said.
The force of the release destroyed the back of the well house and blew open its front doors. When the pipe separated, it misted the surrounding area.
DEC said about 12,000 square feet of the well's gravel pad was sprayed with oil, as well as an undetermined area of tundra.
The cause and amount of the spill were not immediately known.
Rinehart said it appears to be a small spill "because it happened and ended quickly."
A BP spill response team was sent on Dec. 21 to delineate the contaminated area, state officials said. Two DEC staff who were in Prudhoe Bay also have been sent to the well pad at Drill Site 6 to evaluate the spill.
BP operates the Prudhoe Bay oil field.
In November, one of the North Slope's biggest spills - 46,000 gallons of oil, water and natural gas - was reported at the Lisburne oil field, another BP-operated site. That spill occurred when an 18-inch pipeline split on Nov. 29.
Officials believe ice plugged up the Lisburne pipe and likely caused a two-foot-long rupture at the bottom of the pipe, allowing oil and water to spray out across a three-quarter acre of tundra. Most of the oil and water congealed in a large pile under the pipe

Bush appointee resigns as U.S. coordinator for Alaska gas pipeline project

ANCHORAGE - Republican Drue Pearce, the federal official responsible for coordinating planning for the proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline, has resigned her position at the request of the Obama administration.
Pearce, a former Alaska state Senate president who has held the position since it was created by then President George W. Bush in 2006, said she will step down effective Jan. 3.
The Office of the Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation is reviewing competing plans offered by both TransCanada Corp. and a joint venture formed by BP and ConocoPhillips to build a pipeline to ship natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to domestic U.S. markets.
Pearce was the first person to hold the job, which is designed to keep federal agencies working together to get the pipeline built without undue delay. Some 22 federal agencies in the United States - plus others in Canada Thomas Barrett- must sign off on an environmental impact statement before the project can move forward.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said she was pleased that Pearce's deputy, retired U.S. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thomas Barrett, will serve as the interim coordinator until the White House appoints someone new.

BP faces suit claiming Ocensa pipeline damaged Colombian farmland

LONDON - Ninety-five Colombian farmers are suing BP in the high court in London for allegedly causing serious damage to their land, crops and animals.
In the first case of its kind, the farmers are claiming that BP Exploration Co. Ltd., which joined forces with Colombia's national oil company and four foreign multinational corporations in a consortium to construct the 450-mile Ocensa pipeline, caused landslides and damage to soil and groundwater, causing crops to fail, livestock to perish, contaminating water supplies and making fish ponds unsustainable.
The farmers are claiming damages against BP for breach of contract and negligence.
If the court accepts the evidence, it could open the way for similar claims by other communities in developing countries who say they have been adversely affected by oil pipelines.

Exxon elects to support TransCanada over Denali gas pipeline plan

IRVING, Texas - Exxon Mobil said on June 11 that it will work with Canadian pipeline operator TransCanada to build a natural gas pipeline to provide natural gas from Alaska’s North Slope to the lower-48 states.
Exxon holds the largest natural gas reserves on Alaska’s North Slope. Its decision deals a blow to the rival Denali project being developed by BP and ConocoPhillips.
The competition to build a gas pipeline was set up by Gov. Sarah Palin, who had been critical of the slow pace at which oil companies, including Exxon, were moving.
TransCanada said it would retain a majority interest in the project. Both it and Exxon invited BP and Conoco to abandon their rival effort, saying they would be welcome to join the TransCanada plan.
“It has always been our position that the project will require the support of all the North Slope producers, the state of Alaska and TransCanada, and we will need to work with them,” Marty Massey, a senior executive with the Exxon Mobil Production Company, said during a conference call.
Alaska’s estimated 35 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves are now being reinjected into oil fields or left in the ground because there is no way to get it to consumers.
With Exxon and TransCanada on one side, and BP and Conoco on the other, there are two contenders for what would be the biggest civil engineering project in North America.
BP and Conoco responded to the Exxon announcement by saying their joint pipeline project, dubbed Denali, was going forward. But both said they would be open to alternative plans.
TransCanada has estimated that the project will cost $30 billion. It would stretch roughly 1,700 miles from the North Slope of Alaska through Yukon and northeastern British Columbia to the Alberta border near Boundary Lake. From there, it would connect to Alberta’s existing gas infrastructure, which is linked to the United States.

ConocoPhillips says Denali gas pipeline to be in service by 2019

ANCHORAGE - ConocoPhillips and BP Plc plan to bring their proposed natural gas pipeline in Alaska into service by 2019, a ConocoPhillips executive said during the company's analyst meeting on March 11.
The Denali pipeline, estimated to cost $30 billion, is expected to begin accepting bids for gas transportation in 2010, said Ryan Lance, the company's president of exploration and production for Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The companies had previously said the pipeline could begin transporting gas as soon as 2018.
The 2,000-mile pipeline proposed by BP and ConocoPhillips would bring two billion cubic feet of gas a day, or six to eight percent of total U.S. daily consumption, from Alaska's North Slope to Alberta, Canada. The companies may also build a 1,500-mile pipeline extension from Alberta to Chicago.
Alaska officials are reviewing a competing proposal from TransCanada Corp. backed by Gov. Sarah Palin, who during the 2008 presidential race implied that she had already arranged for the gas pipeline to be built.
Only one pipeline is likely to be built, if any, and it may well be Denali rather than the TransCanada proposal backed by Palin.

Denali awards contract for design of giant gas treatment plant

JUNEAU, Alaska - The company competing with state-endorsed TransCanada to build a large-diameter natural gas pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope is spending several million dollars on early engineering for a gas treatment facility there.
The plant would be the largest of its kind and could cost $5 billion to $6 billion, said Dave MacDowell, director of media and communications for Denali The Alaska Gas Pipeline LLC, a partnership formed by North Slope producers BP and ConocoPhillips.
The engineering work is a major step toward an open season. Treatment plant costs will factor into the tariffs producers will pay to ship gas through the line.
Denali and TransCanada have competing proposals to build a large-diameter, transcontinental gas line. Denali has actively advertised each step toward an open season.
TransCanada won a state license and up to $500 million through the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act in 2008.