BP seeks approval for new cost method 01/17/2010
Trans-Alaska oil pipeline carriers want FERC's help with rates; settlement efforts fail in long-running interstate tariffs dispute
Fed up with losing money, the company with the largest ownership stake in the trans-Alaska oil pipeline has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve a new method for allocating the co...

Responses split on RCA storage authority 01/17/2010
CINGS request for declaratory ruling draws response: CEA, MLandP say storage should be regulated utility; Aurora, Marathon say not
There is unanimity on one thing: Third-party natural gas storage is needed in Cook Inlet. That was a theme running through responses received by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska when it asked for...

FERC sets Alaska open season workshop 01/10/2010
Staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will hold an open season pre-filing workshop at the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage Jan. 12 from 1-5 p.m. FERC said the workshop wi...

Need regulatory clarity 01/03/2010
CINGS wants to know if RCA will regulate new Cannery Loop gas storage facility
Anxious to move forward with the development of a new natural gas storage facility in Alaska's Cook Inlet basin, to support declining winter utility gas deliverability, on Dec. 21 TransCanada subsidia...

What chance now for North Slope LNG? 12/20/2009
World market is growing fast but North Slope gas would need to compete on cost with massive new supplies close to tidewater
Few subjects raise the temperature more in a room full of Alaskans on a cold winter night than the perennial debate about exporting North Slope gas in a pipeline through Canada versus exporting the ga...

Shell's Chukchi exploration plan gets conditional MMS OK 12/13/2009
The Minerals Management Service has conditionally approved Shells' proposed Chukchi Sea outer continental shelf 2010 exploration plan. But it's basically approval for data gathering - drilling won't...

Alyeska shifts jobs away from Chugach 12/06/2009
In a series of major cost-cutting decisions, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. is finalizing new agreements with contractors that could shift hundreds of trans-Alaska pipeline jobs away from unions. The c...

The Explorers 2009: Northern Alaska and Arctic offshore 11/15/2009
In 1968 the discovery of the giant Prudhoe Bay field, the first field to be discovered on Alaska's North Slope and among the 20 largest oil fields ever discovered worldwide, triggered a northern Alask...

State says line on schedule, on budget 11/15/2009
Alaska commissioners of Natural Resources, Revenue, report to legislators on the state-backed TransCanada gas pipeline project
The AGIA-licensed Alaska Pipeline Project is on schedule and on budget, Alaska's commissioners of Revenue and Natural Resources said in a report to legislators released Oct. 31. The report, the secon...

Legislators get biannual report on AGIA 11/08/2009
As required under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, legislators have received the second biannual report on the Alaska Pipeline Project licensed under the act. Alaska Commissioner of Revenue Pat Gal...

Enstar estimates pipeline costs for RCA 10/18/2009
Pipeline costs to hook up the North Fork gas field on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula to the Enstar Natural Gas Co. system are estimated at some $27.8 million, including $4.5 million for the portion to be fu...

Kenai gas field turns 50 years old 10/18/2009
Discovered by Unocal and Ohio Oil a half century ago, Kenai created the Cook Inlet natural gas industry and still fuels Southcentral
The Kenai gas field started out as an oddball no one quite knew what to do with, but became an essential component of daily life and industry in Southcentral Alaska. And now, at 50, the field is like...

Stevens: State needs 'incentive climate' 10/11/2009
Alaska must unite to tout its natural resource potential to world industry and Washington, ex-senator tells Alliance crowd
Citing the spirit and drive of statehood proponents 50 years ago, former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens said Alaskans today must unite in a bipartisan effort to "encourage global industry to invest in our stat...

Oil Patch Insider: Canada takes delivery of two Arctic submarines 10/04/2009
The Canadian government has taken delivery of two remote-controlled submarines that will be used in mapping the Arctic seabed. The program's purpose is to document Canada's territorial claims in the A...

Tax tussle rages 10/04/2009
Tens of millions at stake as lawyers argue trans-Alaska pipeline's value
The state, major oil companies and a trio of local governments are locked in an epic battle over how much the trans-Alaska oil pipeline is worth for property tax purposes. The parties recently complet...

Two pipelines move planning forward 09/27/2009
Denali, TransCanada update Alaska Oil and Gas Congress: TransCanada seeks alignment; Denali to complete cost estimate this year
The 5th Annual Alaska Oil and Gas Congress heard updates in mid-September from the two groups proposing to build a natural gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope to market: the state-licensed Alaska Gas...

Gas prices, availability, now and then 09/27/2009
Alaska Oil and Gas Congress hears pessimistic, optimistic views on future for Arctic gas; told it can't be highest-priced commodity
Natural gas prices are low and supply is plentiful. What does that mean for a proposed Alaska gas pipeline which could begin shipping gas in 2018? The 5th Annual Alaska Oil and Gas Congress, held in An...

North Fork's a go 09/27/2009
Pipelines will connect Kenai Peninsula field to Southcentral gas network
Armstrong Cook Inlet, operator of the North Fork unit in the southern Kenai Peninsula, has signed a contract with Enstar Natural Gas Co. for the supply of gas from North Fork into Enstar's Southcentra...

Decade older; what have we got? 09/20/2009
Mackenzie Gas Project faces being overtaken by Alaska line, shale gas; Ziff Energy analyst - pipeline dead without government money
In more than a decade since visionaries unveiled the second serious attempt in 30 years to develop Canada's Arctic natural gas resources - call it Mackenzie Mark II - time has been wasted; costs have...

Exxon sews up production well starts 09/13/2009
Drilling kicks off $1.3 billion Point Thomson gas cycling project; key rulings expected in dispute between Alaska and companies
ExxonMobil announced Sept. 9 it has completed drilling and casing the surface section of the first production well in the company's billion-dollar project to produce hydrocarbon liquids from the Point...

Ready at Umiat 09/13/2009
Renaissance says field development will depend on sustained oil prices
The Umiat oil field, adjacent to the Colville River on the eastern side of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, has remained a tantalizing puzzle since the U.S. Navy discovered oil there in 1946 and...

AK-WA Connection 2009: Kenworth Alaska keeps state trucking 08/23/2009
Longtime dealer prepares for future growth in economy with major upgrades, larger service areas at Anchorage and Fairbanks stores
Kenworth Alaska is one organization with a strong Alaska-Washington connection. Part of the Kenworth Northwest dealerships owned by the Cymbaluk family, Kenworth Alaska has served transportation need...

BP pushes for AOGCC probe 08/23/2009
Wants 'waste' claim reviewed, punitive damages barred in Prudhoe spill case
Lawyers for BP continue to press for partially diverting a state lawsuit over the 2006 Prudhoe Bay pipeline spills from the courts to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. BP's lawyers also...

MMS: Shell's new Beaufort plan complete 08/16/2009
The U.S. Minerals Management Service has determined that Shell's new Beaufort Sea exploration plan is complete, thus starting a 30-day period during which the agency must carry out an environmental as...

2 into 1 - a nonstarter; Kvisle scuttles idea of combined line 08/09/2009
It's a bit like the unwelcome party guest who just won't go home, no matter how direct the hints. Whenever the daunting costs of getting gas from the Arctic to southern markets surface, it doesn't tak...