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Quick passage of energy bill needed, Alberta to Chicago gasline unlikely, Meyers tells Calgary conference
Petroleum News
ConocoPhillips Alaska President Kevin Meyers told a Ziff Energy conference in Calgary Nov. 4 that quick passage of a federal energy bill is essential to an Alaska-Alberta natural gas pipeline staying on track.
First gas, Meyers said, is expected to flow from the North Slope through the proposed new gas pipeline in 2013, but that schedule could slip if a federal energy bill containing crucial elements is not passed by the end of the year. An energy bill must include language to streamline the permitting process and a gas price support provision, he said. Kvisle says Alberta has plenty of excess pipeline capacity Meyers also said the cost of the pipeline project from the North Slope through Alberta to Chicago has dropped from $20 billion to approximately $19 billion. However, he saw no reason to continue the new line past Alberta if there was affordable capacity available in existing pipelines from Alberta to the United States.
Hal Kvisle, president and chief executive officer of TransCanada Corp., said that the existing pipelines out of Alberta have excess capacity of more than 4 billion cubic feet of gas per day that can be used by both the North Slope and Mackenzie Delta producers for transport to U.S. markets.
Meyers also said his company continues to support both pipeline projects, and expects the Mackenzie line to be built first.
In addition to passage of a federal energy bill, Meyers said his company needs to know how much Alaska will demand as its share of the gas revenues.
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