The Alaska Pipeline Project Begins Its Open Season

The Alaska Pipeline Project is conducting separate but coordinated open seasons simultaneously in Alaska and Canada.

The Alaska Pipeline Project is a joint effort between TransCanada Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation to develop a natural gas pipeline under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA).

The Alaska Pipeline Project’s open season offering will be assessed by potential shippers over a three month period from April 30 through July 30, 2010. The project has provided information to potential shippers in Alaska and Canada on its anticipated engineering design, commercial terms, estimated projects costs and timelines. Shippers will assess this information and determine their interest in making long-term, contractual commitments to reserve capacity on the pipeline.

Two options are provided in the Alaska Pipeline Project open season. The first option is a pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope, through Alaska, the Yukon Territory and British Columbia, to Alberta, Canada, a distance of approximately 1,700 miles (2,737 kilometers), where the gas can be delivered on existing pipeline systems serving major North American markets.

The second option would transport natural gas from the North Slope to Valdez, Alaska, a distance of approximately 800 miles (1,287 kilometers), where it would be converted to liquefied natural gas in a facility to be built by others and then delivered by ship to North American and international markets.

Both options would provide opportunities for Alaska communities to acquire natural gas from a minimum of five delivery points on the pipeline. The Alberta option would additionally provide the opportunity for local natural gas deliveries in Canada.

A world-class gas treatment plant (GTP) and Point Thomson natural gas transmission pipeline are components of both options. The GTP would be built next to the North Slope’s Prudhoe Bay facilities to treat the gas so it can be shipped on the pipeline. An approximately 58-mile (93-kilometer) pipeline would connect the natural gas supplies of the Point Thomson field to the plant and pipeline.

Return to May 2010 Western Energy News

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