NEB Hears Final Mackenzie Arguments and Skeptics Abound - Legislators Rush To Be Relevant to South Central Alaska Energy Crisis - ADN Supports LNG Extension

KTUU Story by Ted Lamb.  Our commentary: As the Legislative Session winds down, leaders have constructed an in-state, ANS gas pipeline plan.  We ask them to consider one question: "What signal does that send to potential investors in Cook Inlet gas exploration, development and storage projects?"  -dh

ADN by Tim Bradner (NGP Photo).  State and community leaders have finally focused on the serious threat we face with pending natural gas shortages in Southcentral Alaska, and it's about time.

AJC by Tim Bradner.  Preliminary estimates of what it might cost to build a 24-inch bullet line from the North Slope to Southcentral Alaska indicate that natural gas delivered through the system could be pretty expensive for gas and electric consumers — exceeding $10 per thousand cubic feet, or mcf, just in transportation costs.

Leader Post by Dina O'Meara.  The fate of a four-decades-long dream starts unfolding today as stakeholders in the proposed Mackenzie gas pipeline file through the doors of the Explorer Hotel in Yellowknife and into final regulatory arguments.  Oil-and-gas producers, First Nations representatives, federal and territorial leaders as well as environmental organizations will be heard during the National Energy Board hearings that will grant or crush the project's future.  "We are looking forward to hearing the views and opinions of hearing participants on the decisions we must take," said board chairman Kenneth Vollman.  ...  "At the time that this pipeline was conceived, no one was thinking about U.S. shale gas and the structural change in the continental gas supply it represents," said Judith Dwarkin, chief economist with Ross Smith Energy Group.  ...  Economist Ralph Glass, with AJM Consultants, doubts the pipeline will become a reality within the next decade.  "Why would you spend all this money to bring gas down when you can feed the markets with all the other plays in southern markets, like the Marcellus shale or Montney in Alberta," he asked. 

ADN editorial.  Alaska lawmakers, Southcentral utilities and Gov. Sean Parnell are right to back the bid of Marathon Oil and

Conoco Phillips to extend their federal permit to export liquefied natural gas from Nikiski. The companies' export license should work for them, for Alaskans and for their customers in Japan.

Calgary Herald.  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday launched the construction of a major gas pipeline aimed at winning market share in Europe while bypassing Ukraine, where strained relations have caused supply disruptions in the past

ADN.  State leaders oppose Fed's ANWR study plan..

ADN.  Shell Oil received a key clean-air permit for its planned drilling in the Beaufort Sea this summer.