RCA takes Hilcorp consolidation case

State regulators have agreed to oversee efforts to consolidate four Cook Inlet pipelines.

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska will sponsor a settlement conference starting Jan. 7, 2014, to attempt to unite the Hilcorp Alaska LLC-operated Kenai Kachemak Pipeline, Kenai Nikiski Pipeline, Cook Inlet Gas Gathering System and Beluga Pipe Line into a single system. The proposed system would have a single tariff with a postage-stamp rate.

Hilcorp proposed consolidation earlier this year as a way to improve efficiency and potentially lower costs on the pipelines, which work as a unit but can occasionally compete.

The conference will use “alternative dispute resolution,” a process where any entity can petition the RCA to oversee a regulatory matter that is not currently on the docket. The RCA has appointed the contracted administrative law judge Blythe Marston to oversee the conference, but the RCA will not be a participant in the confidential conference.

The conference will be open to Hilcorp, all shippers on all four pipelines, all Cook Inlet natural gas producers, regional gas and power utilities and state officials, among others.

The length of the proceedings depends on how quickly those parties can come to terms.

—Eric Lidji