Yukon Pacific drastically cutting staff

by The Associated Press

Yukon Pacific Corp. is downsizing its staff, including its chief executive, Jeff Lowenfels.

The change comes after 19 years of trying to build an 800-mile pipeline to move natural gas from the North Slope to Valdez and convert it to liquefied natural gas for shipment.

Lowenfels said he will continue to work as a part-time consultant for the Anchorage company as Yukon Pacific’s work force shrinks from about a dozen positions to just a couple.

The company, owned by Virginia-based transportation giant CSX Corp., has done nearly everything it can to make the multibillion-dollar project happen, he said. It secured most of the permits needed to build the pipeline, and it has received preliminary orders from some Asian LNG buyers.

The problem, he said, is that the state and oil companies that own the North Slope gas still claim the project doesn’t make financial sense.