Alaska gasline incentives move in Senate

Petroleum News Staff

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said April 9 that she has won Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approval for an additional piece of an incentive package for a trans-Alaska gas pipeline.

The committee approved a federal loan guarantee for gasline construction of up to 80 percent of up to $18 billion of the cost of building the project. Murkowski said this guarantee will provide assurance to financial markets so that gas owners and pipeline builders can secure financing.

Murkowski also won approval of an amendment to encourage federal officials to work in “a mutually beneficial fashion” to facilitate construction of a separate natural gas pipeline down the Mackenzie River Valley in Canada.

The Finance Committee had already approved incentives for accelerated depreciation and an income tax credit if the wellhead price of gas on the North Slope goes below $1.35 per million Btus.