The Dunleavy administration has announced that BP and ExxonMobil are ready to invest in the Alaska gasline project again.
At the Alaska Oil and Gas Association Conference, Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer announced that the two companies will put in $20 million to help move the project along past the federal permitting stage.
Gov. Michael Dunleavy was scheduled to make the remarks at the AOGA conference, but was delayed in Juneau due to a mechanical problem with the Alaska Airlines jet. Meyer delivered the news at the Dena’ina Center during the noon luncheon at the one-day conference.
During the Walker Administration, ConocoPhillips, BP, and ExxonMobil had backed out of the project, while Walker explored signing contracts with China to build the gasline to Nikiski and facilities on the North Slope and at tidewater for export of the gas to mainland China, primarily.
The companies remained engaged in providing technical help, however, and kept a positive outlook for selling gas to the project, if it is ever built. The announcement that they are putting dollars back in the project may be seen as a vote of confidence in the prospects for Alaska natural gas commercialization.
“…while Walker explored signing contracts with China to build the gasline to Nikiski, and facilities on the North Slope and at tidewater for export of the gas to mainland China, primarily.”
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Are we, or are we not, planning to “sell” natural gas to Communist China, an authoritarian one-party state that denies its own people the basic freedoms that Americans and other Westerners take for granted while aggressively stealing military and corporate secrets from Americans?
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“…two companies will put in $20 million to help move the project along ”
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If this is a plan to sell gas to Communist China, who or what was bought for $20M matters less than making sure –really, really sure– that Alaska’s Permanent Fund does not get mortgaged to build this boondoggle, Alaska’s residents are held harmless from unanticipated financial risks like currency manipulations, and America’s security is not jeopardized by giving the Communist Chinese further inroads into Alaska’s infrastructure and real estate.
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With a good governor shackled by his very own Deep State and a legislature-lobbyist team that can’t seem to get out of its own way, much less ours, it seems reasonable to ask who’s minding the store, who will protect the interests of productive Alaskans?
I hear you but don’t think there is any chance whatsoever that Governor Dunleavy will go along with the PF, SOA balance sheet or credit rating being part of the risk capital for a mega commercial project. Personally, I believe there is a roll under some scenarios but that would require us being good negotiators – and have less risk and better return than the other capital. Norway and Singapore did it. Our culture hasn’t produced those outcomes, so where I suspect Gov. Dunleavy is coming from is probably correct, unfortunately.
I think the Gov. has a disciplined philosophy about the rolls of the public and private sectors. I wouldn’t mind being wrong. Little private capital resides in Alaska, so any projects will perpetuate our status as a colony.
Hi there,
My name is Kobe Rizk and I am the college intern at Must Read Alaska. I noticed the high commenting activity on this post. I want to encourage you to view our newly launched political forum on the website. To do this, go to the MRAK home screen and select the “Forums” tab at the top menu bar. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me at [email protected], or if you would prefer, reach out to Suzanne. You have the ability to create your own topics and discussions, and I would encourage you to share these with fellow MRAK readers. We would love to see some more activity on this new and exciting part of the MRAK project.
Kobe
according to Wikipedia, China has more technically recoverable shale gas than any other country, so why would they want to buy our very high priced LNG our best ( totally made up) price would be about $8.00 mmbtu , our competition from the lower 48 can produce it for under $3.00. .Soon China will have all the fracking technology that we do and will be producing it themselves. So can we please bury this dinosaur project already !! We’ve. already have spent well over a BILLION $$ on this BOONDOGGLE . OH, and you may ask yourself, why do the oil companies invest in it$ two words BLACKMAIL and TAX raising threats .
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