Alaskan Northwest moving ahead with state ROW application

Petroleum News Alaska

Alaskan Northwest Natural Gas Transportation Co. notified the State Pipeline Coordinator’s Office March 6 that it wants to discuss the steps needed to complete its 1981 application for a pipeline right-of-way across state lands. The company said that the original application “has been kept active and in good standing since that time.”

Alaskan Northwest is the partnership designated under the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Act to own and operate the Alaska Highway pipeline project. Alaskan Northwest is owned by subsidiaries of Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd. and TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. Foothills is designated by the Canadian government to own and operate the Canadian segment project.

The Joint Pipeline Office said the company received a grant of right-of-way across federal lands in Alaska in 1980, but the state application was put on hold due to natural gas market conditions in the Lower 48.

John Ellwood, project manager for the Alaska Highway pipeline project, said in a statement that “Alaskan Northwest has maintained its permits and rights-of-way over the years in order to capture the timing advantage and gain momentum once the price of gas makes an Alaska natural gas pipeline viable.”

The pipeline right-of-way on State lands is approximately 235 miles. Alaskan Northwest already has in place the federal grant of right-of-way of more than 400 miles in Alaska.

Ellwood said the state right-of-way is part of perfecting the company’s existing permits and approvals.