TransCanada wants LNG role

TransCanada is “more optimistic” than it has been for a long time that Alaska is close to announcing an LNG export project in which the Calgary-based company is aiming to secure a “strong role” in the construction and operation of a pipeline, Chief Executive Officer Russ Girling said Nov. 19.

He said discussions over the last 12 to 18 months have achieved “alignment” between the Alaska gas producers (ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and BP), TransCanada and the state on an LNG venture that could see an LNG announcement in “coming months.”

While acknowledging the producers have always wanted to control some equity portion of a related pipeline, Girling told a webcast from Toronto that TransCanada would “hope to land a position” similar to what it has in place for delivering natural gas to two liquefaction terminals on the British Columbia coast.

He said that would involve “being a large component of the gas delivery system and potentially part of the upstream as well.”

Girling said the Alaska producers have “always said that at some point in time, never telling us exactly what that point is” the 7-8 billion cubic feet per day of Alaska gas that is currently being reinjected should be moved to market.

Changes in the Lower 48 gas market show that is no longer a “logical market over the next couple of decades, but there is an opportunity to move it to LNG markets.”

He said the discussions with the producers, the state and TransCanada have reached the conclusion that LNG exports “make some sense and that Kenai is the most logical place” for a terminal.

Girling said the progress also covers the fiscal terms under which the gas would be produced.

—Gary Park