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AGIA: No electronic filing; no record of downloads
Petroleum News
Questions and answers about the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act request for applications are available online at www.rfainquiries.com/, a non-State of Alaska Web site which allows for anonymous questions — and answers from the state — about what the RFA means and how the application process works. This Q&A opportunity is targeted to those working on applications.
General public comments on AGIA are accepted on the governor’s AGIA Web site at www.gov.state.ak.us/agia/agia_comments.php. The administration has said it will respond to comments it receives at the public site.
Among the answers available July 18 on the RFA inquiry site were the following:
• Applications must be submitted hardcopy and on a compact disk; electronic submissions are not allowed;
• The state does not have information about who has downloaded the RFA or how many times it has been downloaded;
• If clarifying information is requested by the commissioners of Natural Resources and Revenue that information will be included in the application released for public review unless it is confidential, in which case a summary will be released; and
• The administration will make public the basis for rejection of any applications deemed incomplete.
What will state do to encourage producer participation? While most questions and answers posted are relatively short, the state did provide a lengthy answer to one question — what it will do to encourage the North Slope producers to participate in an open season conducted by an independent pipeline company.
The state said it “will closely monitor the actions of all relevant parties leading up to and during any open season.” It will “take whatever actions it can as a sovereign to move the project forward and assure that gas is produced from its lands consistent with the terms of the leases and unit agreements.”
The state said that consistent with the new approach under AGIA, Gov. Sarah Palin “is determined to use all commercially reasonable and legal means to insure that Alaska’s gas resources are developed.”
The North Slope producers “as reasonable commercial players, should commit gas in an open season for an economic pipeline project, even without the state taking steps to ‘encourage’ their behavior.”
Project economics will become clear as the pipeline project moves forward and there is more certainty about the netback value of gas on the North Slope and the tariff rate. “The producers will want to make firm transportation commitments to ship their gas on an economic pipeline project, regardless of who owns and operates the project,” the state said. “The producers have a contractual duty to commit gas to a pipeline where it is economic to do so, under the terms of their leases and unit agreements with the State of Alaska.”
The response also lists the AGIA incentives to producers to commit gas at an initial open season.
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