Alaska stake in LNG project approved

Alaska Lawmakers approved a plan late for the state to negotiate a partnership with North Slope producers BP, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and TransCanada Corp., a pipeline company, in the proposed pipeline and liquefied natural gas, or LNG, export project, reports the Alaska Journal.

The plan is essentially for the state to take its royalty and tax revenue share of natural gas production ‘in kind,” or in gas instead of cash, and to invest in 25 percent of the project, or sufficient capacity for the state to ship its own share of gas production, state Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Joe Balash has said in briefings.

SB 138 also provides for the state to separately negotiate a deal with TransCanada to invest in and own the state’s 25 percent share of the proposed 800-mile, 42-inch pipeline and a large gas treatment plant on the North Slope, Balash said.

The state would retain ownership, however, of its 25 percent of the LNG plant, which is planned at Nikiski, near Kenai, through a state corporation, the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., or AGDC.

Gov. Sean Parnell must still sign the bill, but that is expected.

Read more about the plan here, and see the full bill here.