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Canadians promise quick gas line decision
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News Editor-in-Chief
Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski, commenting March 1 on a February trip to Ottawa to meet with Canadian federal officials, said Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin indicated the issue of who can build the Canadian segment of a North Slope gas pipeline to the Lower 48 would be resolved within two to three weeks.
Murkowski noted that of the four “legs” of the pipeline project, the price looks good, federal enabling legislation was passed and the state of Alaska is working on state fiscal certainty. The fourth leg, he said, is regulatory structure in Canada.
In the 1980s Canada authorized Foothills, now owned by TransCanada, to build the Canadian segment of the line, and TransCanada has said it intends to defend that right.
Enbridge has been working with the North Slope producers on a separate proposal for the Canadian segment.
The governor said he did not know what choice the Canadian government would make. Both sides, he said, have been lobbying hard.
“I’m satisfied that the Canadian government is going to move with dispatch on this, because it’s kind of where we’re hung up,” he said. Railroad study group The governor said there was no timeline set for another topic of discussion with Canadian officials: a railway link between Alaska and Canada.
This Canadian administration is interested in studying the proposal, and Murkowski said he expects “a determination by the Canadian government in a relatively short period of time as to how they propose to fund their studies.” The Alaska end of the study has been authorized, he said, but not funded, so that would be the next step.
The first step will be for Alaska and the Yukon Territory to get together. The governor said a meeting is scheduled in Anchorage in mid-March. Both would then talk with respective federal governments, and the formal process would move forward through a bi-lateral commission.
The governor said the goal is to develop the railway “under a corridor concept” with the gas pipeline, both in Alaska and in Canada, so the railroad could be used for transporting supplies for the gas pipeline.
The Canadians already have money available for the Yukon portion of a railway study, part of $40 million appropriated for that country’s northern strategy.
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