Alaska accepts TransCanada's Stranded Gas Act application

Alaska has reviewed and accepted TransCanada Corp.'s application under the Stranded Gas Development Act—the third such application being negotiated with companies wanting to build a pipeline to move Alaska's North Slope gas to market. Company and state officials will begin talks within the next few weeks. The state also is negotiating with two other sponsor groups.

June 22, 2004

2 min read

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, June 22 -- Alaska has reviewed and accepted TransCanada Corp.'s application under the Stranded Gas Development Act—the third such application being negotiated with companies wanting to build a pipeline to move Alaska's North Slope gas to market.

Calgary-based TransCanada, through its subsidiary Alaskan Northwest Natural Gas Transportation Co., applied June 1 to build a 48-in. steel pipeline from the North Slope to the Alaska-Yukon Territory border, where 4.5 bcfd of gas would feed into the Canadian system for distribution across North America (OGJ Online, June 7, 2004).

Company and state officials will begin talks within the next few weeks. The state also is negotiating with two other sponsor groups: Canadian company Enbridge Pipelines Inc. (OGJ Online, May 07, 2004) and major North Slope producers BP PLC, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil Corp.

"It is my hope that we will have a contract from one or more of these groups to present to the legislature in January," said Gov. Frank H. Murkowski.

The Stranded Gas Development Act allows the state to negotiate a contract for payments in lieu of state and municipal taxes with the intent of providing a greater degree of fiscal certainty for developers of the proposed multibillion-dollar gas line project. Legislative approval is required of any contract negotiated under the Act.