ADN.  State Rep. Jay Ramras (NGP Photo), R-Fairbanks, said he plans to seek a legal analysis to determine if the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act of 2007 -- designed to spur North Slope natural gas development -- could thwart construction of a small-scale, in-state natural gas pipeline.  Two years ago, the state signed contracts to help pipeline company TransCanada Corp. begin building a large natural gas pipeline. The act commits the state to work only with TransCanada, and Ramras questioned the penalty Alaska might face if it uses financial incentives to [...]

ADN Editorial.  This year, the Legislature and then-Gov. Sarah Palin funded a comprehensive study of in-state gas issues, including the feasibility of a bullet line.  "The state is really leading that effort now," though Enstar is participating in it, says John Sims, the company's director of corporate communications.  "Enstar has shifted our focus to our short term strategy. We have needs that have to be met in 2011, and obviously there's no way a bullet line would meet those needs."  There are good reasons talk about the bullet line has [...]

KSKA.  Soon after BP and ConocoPhillips announced plans to combine resources to start Denali – The Alaska Gas Pipeline in April 2008, Bud Fackrell (NGP Photo) was appointed president of the project, which would eventually ship 4 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day from the North Slope to the Lower 48, Alaska and Canada. His talk, “Denali – an update on the Alaska gas pipeline project: a world class effort with global implications” was recorded on Friday October 30th at the Alaska World Affairs Council. Google Earth Movie: Denali Virtual Tour Community Forum: Denali Pipeline (19 [...]

ADN by Elizabeth Bluemink (NGP Photo).  Scientists say Alaska's Arctic waters could hide a massive storehouse for oil and natural gas, estimated to nearly rival the onshore discoveries of the North Slope. Betting on that, Shell two years ago spent more than $2 billion to obtain leases in the two seas and mobilized hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of equipment to Alaska. But after spending all that money, the oil company has been stymied. Environmentalists and North Slope governments sounded the alarm about potential impacts on bowhead whales and [...]

Alaska Gas Pipeline Coordinator, Mark Meyers (NGP Photo), issued a report documenting status of projects.  Here is his cover letter and here is his full report. See ADN story by Elizabeth Bluemink.  The Alaska Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday issued a 51-page report detailing work so far by TransCanada Corp. and Exxon Mobil, the two companies attempting to develop the pipeline under a state license, which requires the state to reimburse up to $500 million of the cost of the multibillion-dollar project.  The two companies now have 100 people working [...]

    ADN by Elizabeth Bluemink (NGP Photo).  "All of a sudden, we are going from the abstract to the real," saidMark Myers (NGP Photo), a state official overseeing the project of TransCanada Corp., the Canadian pipeline company that won the state's license. In June, TransCanada began working with Exxon Mobil, the third major North Slope producer, on its project.  Critics of the state's approach, however, predict that no one will commit their gas next year and that millions of dollars in public money will be wasted over the next [...]