Unocal’s interest in TAPS still hanging

Unocal Pipeline Co. continues to ask the Regulatory Commission of Alaska for extensions of the deadline for filing an application to sell its operating authority on the trans-Alaska Pipeline System.

In a Sept. 1 compliance filing an attorney representing the company said “Unocal still is not in a position to file an application to transfer its operating authority at this time.”

The filing said that, as with other applications for extensions, Unocal and the other TAPS owners are still arbitrating “a dispute over several transfer-related matters,” and described the litigation as “time-consuming” and “likely to continue for a significant period of time.”

In a Sept. 6 order approving the request RCA said Unocal proposed to file either an application to transfer its interest or an explanation of why the application cannot be filed by March 1, 2018.

Unocal Pipeline’s interest is the smallest in the line, 1.36 percent. The company filed for temporary suspension of its service on the line in June 2012, telling RCA then that the suspension was temporary “pending the finalization of the sale of its ownership interest.” The commission had approved the sale earlier in 2012 of the other small interest, that of Koch Alaska Pipeline Co., to the major owners - BP Pipelines (Alaska) Inc., Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. and ConocoPhillips Transportation Alaska Inc.

- Petroleum News