The Alaska Gasline Port Authority, the governor said, is the latest applicant under the act.

“Now we welcome, obviously, all applications that come in under the stranded gas law that was passed by the Legislature and this will be assigned to one of our teams and this will obviously take a good deal of evaluation.”

The state is currently meeting with the North Slope producers on their application, and is also negotiating with TransCanada.

“I might say with the introduction of this particular addition, why clearly we’re going to have a hard time meeting the legislative deadline” to have a contract to the Legislature before it adjourns in May.

The governor said he hoped to make an announcement in a couple of weeks on the time schedule, in conjunction with the Legislature.

The port authority All-Alaska Gas Pipeline Project includes construction of an 800-mile gas pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope to Valdez where a gas liquefaction facility would be built to export liquefied natural gas to the West Coast.

In December the port authority announced it had signed a development agreement with Sempra LNG, a unit of San Diego-based Sempra Energy, to assist to the development of the authority’s project and to market the related LNG. The port authority also said in December that it has an option to purchase rights of way and associated permits from Yukon Pacific for buildin The port authority also said in December that it has an option to purchase rights of way and associated permits from Yukon Pacific for building the gas pipeline, which would run parallel to the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

The port authority has been in discussions with the state under a protocol agreement signed last May. U.S. Air Force radar sites, all existing manmade structures and the communities of Barrow and Kaktovik from the designated area.

See story in Dec. 5 issue, available online for subscribers at noon, Friday, Dec. 3, at www.PetroleumNews.com