Watch live hearing  today @ 1 p.m. ADT re: HB 105, AIDEA BONDS; PROGRAMS; LOANS; Fairbanks LNG PROJECT (Note increased C.I. reserve estimates) … Friday, Gas Larry Persily, Federal Coordinator, Kenai Peninsula gas pipeline, LNG, Photo by Dave HarbourPipeline Federal Coordinator's Office Closed; Larry Persily (NGP Photo) now Kenai Borough Gas Pipeline Coordinator … AJOC, Midwest Utility Coming North To Alaska?

Alberta Oil Magazine by Richelle Wiseman.  (Mackenzie Valley Oil Pipeline?  See our earlier stories.  Photo, Invuik Church, Circa. 2002)

Inuvik, NWT, Church, Dome, Dave Harbour PhotoIt took nearly 40 years, one national inquiry and thousands of hours of negotiations, but in 2011 the National Energy Board finally approved the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline. By then, there was just one problem: nobody really wanted to build it anymore. A massive pipeline that was once described as “the biggest project in the history of free enterprise” had been waylaid, ironically enough, by free enterprise. Gas prices were too low to justify the expense or generate a reasonable return for investors. And yet, there’s a movement afoot, driven by both government and industry officials, to build another major oil project in the North. Who said Canadians weren’t capable of optimism – or irony?  

Wall Street Journal — Stupidity of Oil Export Ban….

Commentary: As Obama squashes TransCanada's Keystone, an army of Interveners seek to quash TransCanada's Energy East exit for oil sands crude.  And, more recently, Alaska's governor transfers support for the TransCanada/producer/state Alaska LNG project to a 100% government controlled gas pipeline, imperilling the former.  -dh    


Larry Persily, former federal coordinator for Alaska gas line projects, has accepted a position with the Kenai Borough government to include sharing information with the public about the Alaska LNG project and oil and gas issues in general. He will distribute the twice-a-week summaries in his new capacity. The update service will continue free of charge to readers.

Office of the Federal Coordinator is closed

The Office of the Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects closed on March 7, 2015, due to lack of funding. Its website, Arcticgas.gov, is being maintained, but not updated, by the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, with assistance of Alaska Resources Library & Information Services (ARLIS) at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Much of the office’s work also can be accessed online at The Pipe Files, a searchable digital library of hundreds of Alaska gas line project documents going back to the 1970s.

Congress created the Office of the Federal Coordinator in 2004 to help expedite and coordinate federal permitting for construction of a pipeline to move Alaska North Slope natural gas to North American markets. The current project under consideration by North Slope oil and gas producers involves piping the gas to a liquefaction plant in southcentral Alaska for export of LNG. More than 20 federal agencies are expected to have jurisdiction over that project.