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Key ANS Leaseholder Exxon Wants in on Alaska Gas Line Despite a pending lease dispute, Exxon Mobil Corp. has indicated it wants to work with the Alaskan government and three other companies competing to build a natural gas pipeline in the state.
Exxon holds the most gas leases on Alaska’s North Slope, so its preference for one project over the other could prove a deciding factor in which of the two competing projects is seen to completion.
The company is fighting to regain control of leases on a field on the eastern North Slope, which were revoked in 2006. Though Exxon held the Point Thomson field for decades, the state revoked the leases on the grounds that the company had failed to put the field into production, as required by the lease terms. The case is still pending in court.
Exxon says that supply from that area, which it estimates could produce about 1 billion cubic feet per day, is “essential” for a successful gas pipeline project. Under a proposed $1.3 billion plan, Exxon and its partners would begin drilling at Point Thomson next year.
ConocoPhillips and BP announced in April that they had plans to build a 2000 mile pipeline capable of moving 4 billion cubic feet of gas per day from the North Slope to Alberta, Canada. A competing proposal by TransCanada won licensing and financial support from the state in early August when Alaska’s senate approved Gov. Sarah Palin’s proposal.
TransCanada’s pipeline would run 1715 miles, from Prudhoe Bay to Alberta, with an initial capacity of 4.5 billion cubic feet per day. The company has declined to indicate whether litigation over the Point Thomson leases will factor into its decision over which pipeline plan to join. Return to September 2008 Western Energy News To sponsor Western Energy News , please contact WEI at 503 231-1994.
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