Unocal exit as TAPS owner still pending
Unocal, the smallest stakeholder in the trans-Alaska pipeline system, continues to work toward its exit from the TAPS owner group.
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska in July 2012 gave Unocal permission to temporarily suspend service on its share of capacity on the oil pipeline, pending the sale of its ownership interest.
Unocal said it was bowing out as an owner because its interest in TAPS “no longer meets the company’s core strategic needs.”
The major TAPS owners are BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, and these companies could assume Unocal’s interest.
Unocal, which is part of Chevron, holds by far the smallest share at 1.36 percent.
In an April 25 filing, Unocal Pipeline Co. told the commission it “still is not in a position” to transfer its interest.
Unocal and the other TAPS owners “have a dispute over several transfer-related matters,” the filing said, and the parties are “arbitrating their dispute, and are also litigating portions of the dispute so that the transfer process can move forward.”
This is the same language Unocal has used repeatedly in periodic updates provided to the commission.
In a May 9 order, the commission directed Unocal to file another update by July 25.
- Wesley Loy
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