Receipt authority in limbo

Kristen Nelson

Gov. Bill Walker included authority for the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. to accept third-party funding in the operating budget.

The authority appears in the budget as designated program receipts and would allow AGDC to accept investments from third parties in the Alaska LNG project. As proposed, the authority was open ended, allowing AGDC to accept any amount of money from third parties.

The House limited the amount to $1 billion. The authority in the House version includes $1 billion for the fiscal year ending this June and a separate allowance for $1 billion for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019.

The Senate dropped the $1 billion provisions, although it left references to the authority in the bill.

AGDC President Keith Meyer said April 12 that the organization has been operating on an austerity budget, stretching funds previously provided by the Legislature. He said he expects full support from the Legislature to move the project forward and doesn’t expect designated program receipts to be a barrier.

AGDC wants and needs third-party investment and expects the designated program receipts issue to be resolved this year, he said, adding that he wants the state to have the option to invest but not the requirement.

Meyer said AGDC wants third-party funding in place this year to keep up the pace of the project, so funding issues won’t cause slippage in the schedule to have first gas in 2024-25. As long as the project is in construction in 2020, AGDC can make a 2024-25 online schedule, he said. The operating budget was in conference committee when this issue of Petroleum News went to print.

- KRISTEN NELSON