Alaska Natives willing to talk with Yukon tribes about pipeline partnership

Larry Persily

Petroleum News Juneau Correspondent

The consortium of Alaska Native corporations created in an attempt to gain an ownership stake in a gas pipeline from the North Slope would like to meet with Yukon First Nations’ leaders to see what the two groups could accomplish together.

No meeting is scheduled but Ken Thompson, president of the Alaska consortium, said he expects the cross-border talks could start this fall. (See related story on page 1.)

Thompson has organized 11 of Alaska’s 13 regional Native corporations into a company called Pacific Star Energy, which is seeking up to a 10 percent ownership stake in an Alaska natural gas project to move gas from the North Slope to market.

Pacific Star is eager to talk with its Yukon counterparts about establishing a similar consortium of First Nations to take a stake in the Canadian portion of line, Thompson said. Or, perhaps the two Native-led companies could join together and own a combined share of the entire line.

“There might be a way we could all participate in that whole stretch,” he said, from the North Slope to the marketing hub in Alberta.

Thompson said he expects to bring the issue before his full board by the end of the year.