Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell met with chief executives from BP PLC, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil Corp. in Anchorage to discuss commercializing the Alaska North Slope’s natural gas reserves. Parnell requested the Jan. 5 meeting after calling on the three major ANS gas reserve holders’ to work together on developing an LNG export project aimed at Asia’s growing markets.
“We had a productive discussion about how to get alignment between the companies and grow Alaska’s economy through oil and gas development,” Parnell said following the 2-hr meeting with BP’s Bob Dudley, ConocoPhillips’s James Mulva, and ExxonMobil’s Rex Tillerson.
The executives briefed the governor on work their companies had done since his request, Parnell stated. The meeting’s agenda also included an update on ExxonMobil’s Point Thomson gas project and a discussion of the state’s goal of bringing oil production back to 1 million b/d.
Parnell and other state officials have noted that declining crude production is pushing the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez toward its minimum effective operating level. Alaska produced 17.539 million bbl, or an average 565,774 b/d, of crude during October 2011, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
“I appreciate the willingness of the chief executives to come to Alaska to discuss the important topic of commercializing North Slope gas,” Parnell said. “For a gas project to advance, all three companies need to be aligned behind it. This meeting is an important step, but much work remains.”
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].