Federal bill gives incentives for building Alaska gas pipeline

FAIRBANKS, Alaska - U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has announced several provisions benefiting an Alaska gas pipeline that she’s secured in a comprehensive energy bill.
Murkowski is the ranking Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.
If approved by Congress, the bill would increase a federal loan guarantee for an Alaska gas pipeline project from $18 billion, set in 2004, to $30 billion plus inflation from 2004 values.
In addition, a project could tap into super-low-interest loans from the Federal Financing Bank, a federal corporation, and clarifies 2004 language to specify that the federal loan guarantee will cover a full 80 percent of the total project costs.
“This is a recognition that Alaska’s gas resource is necessary for the country, and that we as a nation will step forward in helping to facilitate such a project,” she said. “The federal government is not nationalizing this. We are not taking it over. But, we are helping to facilitate it.
All provisions are available to either TransCanada, licensed by the state under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, or Denali - The Alaska Gas Pipeline, a joint venture between producers BP and ConocoPhillips.

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.