ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The
Alaska Pipeline Project announced today that it filed its plan with
the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to obtain
approval to conduct the first natural gas pipeline open season to
develop Alaska’s vast natural gas resources. The 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 open season plan filing is an important step in the
development of Alaska natural gas resources and we have worked
diligently to advance the project,” said Hal Kvisle, TransCanada
president and chief executive officer. “This significant
milestone demonstrates that we are meeting the AGIA commitments
on-schedule and in-line with the required process, effectively
aligning the interests of the State of Alaska, the project,
shippers and other interested parties.”

The open season plan is posted and can be reviewed on the FERC
and Alaska Pipeline Project websites, and members of the public can
provide comment through the month of February. If FERC approves the
plan, the Alaska Pipeline Project will finalize its open season
offering and provide it to potential shippers at the end of April
for their assessment during the 90-day period through July
2010.

href=”http://www.thealaskapipelineproject.com/m.php?p=project_map”
target=”_blank”>Click map to
enlarge.

“The work of the Alaska Pipeline Project in preparing a 
comprehensive and competitive open season package reflects the
combined technical, planning, commercial and project management
expertise of both ExxonMobil and TransCanada,” said Neil Duffin,
president of ExxonMobil Development Company.

During the open season, the Alaska Pipeline Project will provide
information about its terms and conditions to potential natural gas
shippers, allowing them to assess their interest in making longterm
commitments to reserve capacity on the pipeline.

The open season process initiated with FERC applies to the
portion of the project in the United States. A separate but
coordinated open season for the Canadian portion of the project
will be conducted concurrently with the U.S. open season.

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Two Options

During the open season, shippers that want to ship natural
gas to markets both inside and outside Alaska will have the
opportunity to evaluate the technical and financial feasibility of
two pipeline routes and project designs and to indicate the one
they prefer.

One option would transport North Slope natural gas across
Alaska to Alberta, Canada, a distance of approximately 1,700 miles
(2,737 kilometres), where it could be further transported to North
American natural gas markets. Communities in Alaska and Canada
would also have the opportunity to access the natural gas for local
needs through a number of take-off locations along the pipeline
route.

Another option is to move the natural gas south to Valdez,
Alaska, where shippers could arrange to liquefy the gas and ship it
on tankers to North American or international markets. Communities
in Alaska would have the opportunity to access gas under this
option as well.

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Both options would provide opportunities for Alaska communities
to acquire natural gas from the pipeline from a number of
strategically located off-take connections.

Components of both options include a world-class gas treatment
plant (GTP) and Point Thomson natural gas transmission pipeline.
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 kilometres) pipeline would connect the
natural gas supplies of the Point Thomson field to the plant and
pipeline.

The results of the open season
will determine the preferred development option. Updated cost
estimates for the project are in the range of US$32 billion to
US$41 billion for the North Slope to Alberta option, and US$20
billion to US$26 billion for the Valdez option. Both options have
an expected in-service date of 2020 and would provide either 4.5
billion cubic feet of natural gas per day under the Alberta option
or 3.0 billion cubic feet per day under the Valdez option.

The Alaska Pipeline Project provides Alaska a viable opportunity
to develop its North Slope gas resources and is designed to deliver
a reliable and secure source of clean energy to markets for decades
to come. The project would be one of the largest private
investments in the history of North America and would provide
substantial benefits to the State of Alaska, the Lower-48 states,
and Canada, including significant revenues, jobs, business
opportunities and new long-term supplies of natural gas.

For more information on the Alaska Pipeline Project, visit the
project’s target=”_blank”>newly launched website

Source: www.thealaskapipelineproject.com