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RCA approves Nikolaevsk pipeline
Eric Lidji For Petroleum News
After a delay, Nikolaevsk is cleared for natural gas.
With a series of approvals Aug. 8, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska is allowing Anchor Point Energy LLC and Enstar Natural Gas Co. to proceed on a small pipeline connecting the North Fork unit to the small southern Kenai Peninsula community.
The approval took some time to sort out, in part because applicant Anchor Point Energy asked regulators to waive certain reporting requirements. In particular, those requirements included details about the cost, expenses, financing and rates of the pipeline project and financial information for the companies that own Anchor Point Energy.
The RCA ultimately granted those waivers.
The project involves a two-inch, 8,930-foot pipeline to Nikolaevsk from the existing North Fork Pipeline — a line from the North Fork field to coastal Anchor Point.
Anchor Point Energy asked regulators to waive the requirement to report project details because the state is funding the project and because the extension wouldn’t impact rates on the North Fork Pipeline, which operates on contract and serves a single customer.
Anchor Point Energy asked regulators to waive the financial reporting because only one of its four owner companies currently has independently audited financial statements. In that case, state regulations require companies to file two-years of unaudited statements.
Confidentiality granted The companies provided this information, but asked that be kept confidential, saying the risk of a competitive or financial disadvantage would “outweigh the public interest.”
Anchor Point Energy is owned by North Fork operator Armstrong Cook Inlet and by its three partners at the field. All four companies are small independent producers.
The RCA granted the request.
The RCA previously granted confidentiality to the owners of Anchor Point Energy in earlier proceedings involving the North Fork Pipeline, a larger and costlier project.
The $447,000 state grant will pay for the pipeline and an associated regulator station.
Nikolaevsk is home to some 308 people, according to the most recent state estimates. The initial build out would bring gas to a school, a community fire station and 12 homes.
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