On September 5, 2012, TransCanada Corp. (TRP-NYSE) submitted a revised routing for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline through Nebraska as part of its effort to win state approval to build the line and eventually a Presidential Permit for construction. (Energy Investment Banking, by Allen Brooks)

ADN/AP by Dan Joling.  Moving ice may keep a Royal Dutch Shell petroleum drill ship away from a Chukchi Sea prospect for several days. 

Today’s Notes and Links: Is Alaska Competitive?

When we received the latest paper issue of Petroleum News, the Bakken Section seemed to outweigh Alaska news reports.  Perhaps this is not unexpected in view of the fact that both Texas and North Dakota now produce more oil than Alaska.  Here’s PNA’s excellent online issue: check the headlines and consider yourself how well Alaska is competing within the world petroleum marketplace.  -dh

For those who think Alaska’s geography, climate, remoteness from markets, regulatory requirements, labor costs and — most critically — tax structure, are competitive in the world gas market, this story of Canadian gas export success* might be worth considering.  While the B.C. and Alberta provincial governments support these projects, they do not own them.  Support comes not in the form of massive subsidy and political manipulation, but by moderation of tax and other government influenced expenses affecting investment decisions.  (Here is a group that focuses specifically on how to, "Make Alaska Competitive").  -dh

Today, your author will appear on Coastal Television’s "Alaska Political Insider" at 4 p.m. Alaska time.

David Holt, Consumer energy alliance, Neil Cavuto, Lybia, energy policyAt 8:05 p.m. Eastern time, Consumer Energy Alliance President David Holt (NGP Photo) is scheduled to review the effect of Mid-Eastern current events on American consumers with Fox Business News analyst, Neil Cavuto.  We expect to hear the words, "Alaska" and "Canada" more than once.  -dh

*Calgary Herald by Stephen Ewart.  The selection of Prince Rupert by Spectra Energy and BG Group as the site for a huge LNG plant and export terminal marks the second time in two months that energy companies have chosen it over nearby Kitimat.

It reveals a curious dynamic as the pair of isolated tidewater ports compete for large-scale energy investment, even as the debate over pipelines – specifically, bitumen pipe-lines – ensues in political and business capitals across the country.
 
The Kitimat-Prince Rupert rivalry is a regional battle in the broader energy war.
 
In August, Malaysian energy giant Petronas completed a $5.5-billion purchase of Calgary gas producer Progress Energy and announced it will construct an LNG plant at Prince Rupert for the shipment of gas to markets in Asia.
 
Spectra and BG Group plan to build an $8 billion LNG plant that could be operating by 2020.
 
Meanwhile, construction is underway down the jagged coastline of B.C.’s Inner Passage on the Kiti-mat LNG plant – backed by Apache, Encana and EOG – that is set to open in 2015. It will be the first of at least three LNG plants the B.C. government wants in operation by 2020.
 
Shell Canada, Mitsubishi, PetroChina and Korea Gas have also announced plans for a $12-billion LNG facility at Kitimat.
 
The series of announcements support the B.C. government’s strategies for natural gas and LNG development that underpin economic growth in the province’s north. Those three plants would export almost as much gas (6.9 billion cubic feet) as Canada consumes each day (7.7 Bcf).