“Full steam ahead” on gas line, governor tells Alliance

Kay Cashman

Just when people were wondering if a North Slope natural gas commercialization project was dead, Gov. Tony Knowles announced that the project was alive and well.

To a round of applause from attendees at The Alaska Support Industry Alliance’s 22nd annual meeting Oct. 23 in Anchorage, Knowles reiterated his commitment to the Alaska Highway route for the proposed gas pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope to the Lower 48.

Both the highway route, also known as the southern route, and the northern, “over-the-top,” route that would take North Slope gas from Alaska underwater through the Beaufort Sea to the Mackenzie Delta, are currently being evaluated by a team representing the three major North Slope gas owners. The producers’ team expects to determine before the end of this year if a gas commercialization project is feasible and, if so, which route makes the most sense.

In a preliminary report this past summer, the producers said that neither route appeared financially feasible, although the northern route looked more affordable than the southern route preferred by Knowles, the Alaska Legislature and Alaska’s Congressional delegation.

“Both routes? There’s only one route – our way is the highway!” Knowles told Alliance members, referring to the producers’ concerns about the economic viability of either route.

The governor said when he asked Frank Brown for his response to that report and for advice on what to do next, the co-chairman of the governor’s gas policy council and a former ARCO Alaska Inc. executive replied, “Full steam ahead!”

As previously reported, in addition to the Alaska Highway Natural Gas Policy Council, several state agencies are involved in an evaluation of a gas pipeline project to deliver North Slope gas to the Lower 48. Among others, those agencies include the Gas Pipeline Office, three divisions of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, the Alaska Department of Law and the Alaska Department of Revenue. None of these state offices is evaluating the feasibility of a northern pipeline route. The timetable for the release of most of their reports falls before the end of this year.