2-3-12 - Friday's Gas Pipeline, ANWR and Northern Waters Potpourri

See Our Northern Waters Task Force Commentary and Links Below

Office of the Federal Coordinator, by Bill White (Photo).  Building a major pipeline to carry stranded North Slope natural gas to market would boost the number of jobs and wealth in Alaska. But the impact would be muted compared to the economic upheaval from building the trans-Alaska oil pipeline 35 years ago.  That's a key conclusion of a draft economic analysis, prepared by the gas line project developer and released Jan. 13, that forecasts how life in Alaska would change if the proposed $32 billion to $41 billion pipeline from the North Slope to Alberta gets built.  The project would jolt Alaska, injecting into the economy jobs and money that otherwise wouldn't be there.  Roughly 10,000 workers would be employed during peak construction, and spending could reach $6 billion on wages, goods and services in Alaska.

Alaska Dispatch.  During his nearly four decades in office, the House has passed 11 of his ANWR drilling bills, Congressman Don Young (NGP Photo) said. All but one died in the Senate. The only one that made it through Congress died ignominiously on President Bill Clinton's desk.

TAMPA - December in their fall business forum in Tampa, Florida the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) passed a pro-development ANWR resolution in support of increasing domestic energy production and reducing oil imports.  Alaskan State Representative Dan Saddler (NGP Photo) of Eagle River introduced the resolution to the national body on behalf of Alaska.  The Alaska State Legislature, Alaska congressional delegation and Governors office all strongly support development in the 10-02 Area of ANWR. 

See Senator Cathy Giessel's  (NGP Photo) current ANWR comment.  See Giessel's earlier ANWR comment.  

WASHINGTON, D.C., The House Natural Resources Committee today passed three bipartisan American energy bills this week that are important components of the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, which will create over a million good-paying jobs, remove government barriers to American energy production, make America more energy secure, and help repair our roads and bridges without raising taxes.

“This Republican jobs plan opens access to American energy resources, creates new jobs, brings certainty for small businesses that depend on affordable energy, and generates new revenue that can be used to build roads and infrastructure projects to create even more American jobs. Unlocking our Nation’s energy resources starts a wave of economic benefits and job creation that will positively touch nearly every aspect of our economy,” said Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (NGP Photo).  The energy portion of the plan would expand access to American offshore and onshore energy resources - creating over a million new American jobs, lowering gasoline prices, reducing our dependence on foreign sources of energy, and raising new revenue.

• Offshore Energy Production. The plan would require the Administration to move forward with new offshore energy production in areas containing the most oil and natural gas resources that President Obama placed off limits for drilling after taking office. The plan includes the Atlantic Coast, Pacific Coast, and portions of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. It requires the Secretary of the Interior to conduct oil and natural gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Alaska and Virginia that have been delayed or cancelled. The plan will create over 1.2 million jobs and establishes fair and equitable revenue sharing for coastal states. Click here to learn more.

• ANWR. The plan would open less than 3 percent of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska to responsible energy development by directing the Interior Secretary to establish lease sales in the North Slope. The North Slope of ANWR was specifically set aside in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter and Congress for oil and natural gas development. The plan would create tens of thousands of new jobs and improve the local Alaskan economy. ANWR contains approximately 10.4 billion barrels of oil and at peak production could supply the U.S. with up to 1.45 million barrels of oil per day. Click here to learn more.

The Alaska Northern Waters Task Force concluded its work January 30  (NGP Photo: Reggie Joule, Chairman).  It held a press conference this week and issued a report which, among other things, urged that the group be made permanent by transforming it into the Alaska Arctic Policy Commission.  See our earlier analysis and editorial comment.  Scroll down for  our current editorial comment.  Listen to this week's meeting with the media: 

Posted: February 02, 2012 : 38:59 The Legislature's Alaska Northern Waters Task Force released its findings and recommendations Monday, and members held a press conference Thursday to discuss them and the next steps. ... •  Download Audio  [MP3:37.35MB]   Comment:  Please find the full report and official webpage here along with recommendations to create from this temporary task force an "Alaska Arctic Policy Commission".  All members found great value from the communication they enjoyed with the communities and with one another during the 18-month life of this task force study.  No doubt they learned much.  And, there is no doubt that as America's only Arctic state, Alaska has a stake in development of international Arctic policies.  One also observes that from this good intent and rationale comes the growth of another costly bureaucracy that in some ways subsumes from the State's Administration the authority to represent Alaska with the federal government, other countries and international non-profit organizations.  In short, while one always wants to seek better communication and address critical issues, one also notes that growth of government agencies is not without cost and can impact our constitutional distribution of state powers.  (One also observes that the worldwide travel and diplomatic opportunities for Commission members will be truly breathtaking!) -dh

Canada ambassador: Pipeline should be built “on merits” - Fuel Fix, David Hendricks - The U.S. government must decide whether it wants more oil from Canada or wants to continue relying on high levels of supplies from the Middle East and Venezuela, the Canadian ambassador to the United States said Wednesday while in San Antonio.

Liquefied natural gas producers turn to Asia - The Globe and Mail, Sean McCarthy - Faced with the prospect of a long-term glut of gas and low prices in North America, producers in western Canada have more incentive than ever to build liquefied natural gas terminals on the west coast to allow exports into the premium-priced Asian market.

ExxonMobil Licenses Oil Sands Steam Injection Technology to Baker Hughes - Business Wire - ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company has awarded the first license for its patented steam injection system and production method to Baker Hughes to improve the efficiency of in-situ oil sands projects. Approximately 80 percent of Canada’s oil sands can be produced using in-situ technology, which involves the injection of steam to enable bitumen to be extracted through drilling versus surface mining.

UPDATE 1-PetroChina buys Canada shale stake from Shell - Reuters, Alison Lui - PetroChina Co Ltd said on Thursday it has signed an agreement to buy a 20 percent stake in a shale gas project in Canada from Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the latest in a series of overseas acquisitions by Chinese state energy giants.

Russia Says Arctic Surveys May Add to its Continental Shelf - Bloomberg, Jake Rudnitsky - Geographic surveys conducted in 2011 in the Russian Arctic could add as much as 1.2 million square kilometers (463,000 square miles) to Russia’s continental shelf, according to the Natural Resources Ministry.