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Bill introduced to have state build gas pipeline, facilities Proposal from House Special Committee on Oil and Gas would create Alaska Gas Corp. to finance gas project Kristen Nelson PNA News Editor
A bill sponsored by the House Special Committee on Oil and Gas would create “a public corporation with the powers, duties and functions necessary to facilitate the acquisition and sale of North Slope natural gas.”
Committee Chairman Jim Whitaker, R-Fairbanks, said in a statement that the “project conservatively equates to $53 billion of new income for the state of Alaska over the next 28 years.” The bill mandates that the Alaska Gas Corp. would contract to private businesses in Alaska for construction and maintenance of a natural gas pipeline, gas conditioning facility, liquefaction facility and liquid natural gas sea transportation system. Whitaker said that state ownership of the project would “overcome the enormous tax burden associated with private sector ownership.”
If the bill passes, the first step would be a feasibility study by House Oil and Gas to be presented to the Legislature by January 2001. In other areas government participates Asked about the bill at the Alaska Support Industry Alliance April 9, Kevin Meyers, president of ARCO Alaska Inc., whose gas sponsor group is looking at ways to make an Alaska North Slope gas project economic, cautioned that the state would want to make sure the project was economic before underwriting it.
Richard Campbell, president of BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., said that as Alaska looks at the value of Alaska gas it needs to look at the competition around the Pacific Rim. Many states, Campbell said, are involved. In the Indonesia model, he said, the state builds infrastructure.
It would be, Campbell said, a significant move if the state got involved in infrastructure for a North Slope gas project.
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