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Oil Patch Insider
Governor to meet with ANS producers at end of month about gas pipeline, TAPS tariff; Teck Cominco pl Gov. Frank Murkowski is meeting with the three major North Slope gas owners at the end of the month. Initially the meeting was going to be about the gas pipeline. The governor wants to get a commitment in the near future from BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil to build a gasline from the slope.
On March 17, after receiving a letter from the Democratic members of the Legislature urging him to reduce the tariff charged by the trans-Alaska oil pipeline owners as “an alternative to the taxes you have proposed,” the governor said he would bring up the subject of TAPS tariffs in the end-of-the-month meeting. (BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil are the principal owners of TAPS.)
BP spokesman Daren Beaudo told Petroleum News Alaska March 19 that BP has “been in discussions with the AG and administration about entering into early negotiations” on the tariff. The current tariff structure expires in 2011 and can be reopened in 2007.
Beaudo said, “The state has asked us to start discussing these issues and we are exploring the possibility.” If Mackenzie gas goes to oil sand developments, what are implications for Alaska gas? As PNA’s Calgary correspondent Gary Park noted in his story on page 7 of this issue, the odds “strongly favor a Mackenzie Valley pipeline this decade.”
By 2008, the earliest a Mackenzie natural gas pipeline is expected to come online, the indications are that North America will be scrambling just to maintain gas supply levels. But if Mackenzie gas ends up going no farther than Alberta’s oil sands region (where the four Delta partners all have current and planned oil sands development interests), will Alaska gas will be desperately needed in the Lower 48 by the time it comes online in 2011, 2012? Teck Cominco plans shallow gas exploration Teck Cominco Alaska has applications in to state and federal agencies for shallow gas exploration near the Red Dog Mine. Temporary roads and pads would be used, with gravel placed on geotextile.
The goal is to find natural gas for use at the mine. One mile of road on private land would provide access for a drill rig; if exploration is successful, another mile of gravel road would be added. If unsuccessful, the gravel road would be removed. KPICC offers mini-forum in conjunction with job fair “The Future is Now!” is the theme for a Kenai Process Industry Careers Committee mini-forum April 4 at the Kenai Merit Inn and a job fair April 5 at Kenai Central High School.
The process industry careers committee, in partnership with the Kenai Peninsula Borough and ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc., is hosting the forum from 4-8 p.m. April 5. An overview of the Kenai Process Industry Careers Committee is from 4-6 p.m. Featured speakers begin at 6 p.m.: Bill Popp, Kenai Peninsula Borough oil and gas liaison on borough oil and gas issues and efforts; Mark Myers of the Division of Oil and Gas on the Cook Inlet oil and gas industry and 2003 areawide lease sales; and John Goll of the U.S. Minerals Management Service on the outer continental shelf lease sale program and proposed 2004 and 2006 Cook Inlet sales.
On April 5, at Kenai Central High School, an industry panel discussion with job seekers runs from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The career and job fair continues to 3 p.m.
Harbour replaces Thompson as RCA chair Dave Harbour, Gov. Frank Murkowski’s recent appointee to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, has replaced G. Nanette Thompson as chair of the agency.
A press release on RCA’s web page says Harbour was elected in a public meeting on March 12.
The five-member board regulates the rates charged by certificated utilities in Alaska, including water, sewer, electric, gas, oil and telecommunications providers.
Alaska Anvil, Air Logistics, Schlumberger, VECO, ConocoPhillips receive safety awards Among the 2002 Alaska Governor’s Safety Award recipients presented March 18 in Anchorage were the following oil patch firms:
• Alaska Anvil, an employee-owned subsidiary of Anvil Corp. with offices in Anchorage and Kenai, received a safety award of excellence. The governor’s office said the firm’s management “has always believed in the importance of safety and has taken great steps to insure safety’s presence in all aspects of Alaska Anvil’s day-to-day work.” The company has had only “three recordable, medical only incidents and one lost time incident since 1984. Over the past 21 months with over 626,000 man-hours worked, their incident rate has been zero.”
•Air Logistics, a Fairbanks-based helicopter operation with offices in Fairbanks, Deadhorse, Valdez and Anchorage, received a safety award of excellence. The firm was chosen for achieving one of Alaska’s leading aviation and industrial safety performance records, and for its ongoing attainment of Alaska Occupational Safety and Health’s voluntary protection program’s “Star” status. Air Logistics’ three year average “total recordable incident rate was 2.72 … 36 percent below the BLS average incident rate of 4.2 for all air transportation businesses. As of Dec. 31, Air Logistics has experienced only one accident in over 11 years of flying in variable and harsh climatic conditions in Alaska,” the governor’s office said.
• ConocoPhillips Alaska, the largest producer of North Slope crude, received a special achievement award for its field vehicle safety initiative in the Greater Kuparuk Area. According to the governor’s office, development and implementation of recommended actions from the initiative resulted in a “dramatic drop in the total number and severity of vehicle incidents in 2002” at Kuparuk.
• Kuparuk Materials Department, which is run by Natchiq’s Alaska Petroleum Contractors and ConocoPhillips Alaska, received a safety award of excellence. “The Kuparuk materials group has worked 1.3 million hours and handled an average 15 million pounds of freight annually for over 10 years without a lost time accident,” the governor’s office said. The group uses a “scientific, cooperative problem-solving approach to accident prevention … (and) believes that encouraging their people to take their work place safety culture and apply it at home is part of their success story.”
• ConocoPhillips Alaska also received an excellence award for the Greater Kuparuk area operations, which “achieved their best ever performance two years in a row in 2002 and 2001 for lost time incident rate, total recordable incident rate, total number of recordable spills, and recordable spill rate for the combined ConocoPhillips and contract workforce,” the governor’s office said.
• Schlumberger Oilfield Services received an excellence award for workplace injury prevention. In 2002, the firm had a 50 percent reduction in its lost work day rate and a 25 percent reduction in its OSHA incident recordable rate. The governor’s office said, “voluntary employee involvement in Schlumberger’s loss prevention teams leads the pro-active approach to safety performance through shared learning, incident investigation and closure of identified hazards. Schlumberger’s competent and motivated workforce drives safety processes. Management commitment is also paramount to the success of their program with a 30 percent increase in management-led well site health and safety audits and inspections in the past year.”
• Two VECO Alaska departments received excellence awards — North Slope Greater Prudhoe Bay Operations and Alyeska Contract Engineering Department. The Prudhoe operations group “worked more than 1.2 million hours during 2002 without a day away from work,” an “outstanding achievement” that was “accomplished through the focused efforts of the entire organization,” the governor’s office said. “More than 15,000 proactive observations were performed with the workforce during the year.”
Golden Valley Electric Association, Southeast Alaska Petroleum Resources Organization, Insituform Technologies and Dunkin & Bush Alyeska Work Group also received safety awards of excellence.
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