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RCA approves interim connection permits for Milne Point, Northstar pipelines Final permits will not be issued until commission rules in pipeline tariff protest brought by Tesoro Alaska Petroleum Co. in 1997 Kristen Nelson PNA Editor-in-Chief
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska has approved interim connection permits for BP Transportation (Alaska) Inc.’s Northstar oil pipeline between Seal Island and Pump Station 1 and Milne Point Pipeline Co.’s common carrier pipeline between Milne Point and the Oliktok Pipeline. Both interim orders were signed Aug. 31.
Northstar BP Transportation (Alaska) received a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the commission for its 10-inch 17-mile Northstar sales oil pipeline in 1999. The commission required that BP and the trans-Alaska pipeline system carriers represented by Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. file an application for connection permit and that application was filed in March and went out for public notice. No comments were received.
The commission said that it is required by statute “to determine necessary and reasonable terms, conditions and limitations for the permit to be granted.” That may be done without formal proceedings, the commission said, if the connecting party and the pipeline carrier agree on the terms and conditions of the connection, the terms and conditions are reasonable and there are no protests. The parties are in agreement and there were no comments filed in opposition, but, the commission said, “to grant the requested permit on a permanent basis, we must also find that the terms and conditions of the connection are reasonable.”
Because the commission still has an open docket from 1997 investigating connection policies, it said it believes “the best approach is to first resolve the issues in Docket P-97-5 before granting permanent permits for connection in this instant case.”
Since BP and Alyeska have a target date of Sept. 30 for oil to flow into the trans-Alaska oil pipeline from Northstar, and since Docket P-97-5 will not be decided by that date, the commission said it finds “it in the public interest to facilitate timely start-up of Northstar by granting a interim connection permit.” The commission said it was not foreclosing “further consideration of the reasonableness of the proposed terms and conditions” for the Northstar connection.
Milne Point The commission approved the certificate of public convenience and necessity for the new 8-inch 10.4-mile common carrier pipeline between the Milne Point unit and the Oliktok Pipeline May 15. The commission required an application for connection, which was filed by the Milne Point Pipeline Co. and the Oliktok Pipeline Co. in April, however the filing included an unsigned draft connection agreement.
The commission came to the same conclusion for the Milne Point line that it reached with Northstar: it believes the issues raised in Docket P-97-5 should be resolved before permanent permits are granted for connection for this pipeline.
The applicants have set an October target date for startup of the line, and since Docket P-97-5 will not be decided by the target date, the commission decided to issue an interim approval, but has not yet done so because it has not yet received a fully executed copy of the connection agreement. The commission has given Milne Point Pipeline Co. until Sept. 14 to file a completely executed copy of the connection agreement.
Docket P-97-5 Docket P-97-5 was established by the commission in 1997 to investigate the connection policy of the trans-Alaska pipeline system carriers and the tariff provisions contained in the tariffs of Amerada Hess Pipeline Corp., ARCO Transportation Alaska Inc., BP Pipelines (Alaska) Inc., Exxon Pipeline Co., Mobil Alaska Pipeline Co., Phillips Alaska Pipeline Corp. and Unocal Pipeline Co.
The docket is part of the proceedings resulting from a protest filed by Tesoro Alaska Petroleum Co. over tariff rates and dismantling, removal and restoration costs for the trans-Alaska pipeline system that was heard by the commission earlier this year; the commission has not yet ruled in that case.
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