As the LNG Plant Closes, a Nigerian investor plans to move the Kenai Agrium plant (lock, stock and barrel) to Africa!
Comment: Until now, hope has sprung eternal that someday the Agrium plant would pop back to life with a new supply of
adequately priced natural gas feedstock…or that the facility could be converted to other value added benefit for the Kenai Peninsula and the Alaska economy. But this report describes a unique project to uproot, transport and replant the Kenai fertilizer facility in Nigeria. Operations will begin this spring and summer with the project scheduled for completion by the end of October. It once again reaffirms that Alaskans must understand we are in a competitive world. We may want 'value added' activity in Kenai to be sustained by a subsidized North Slope in-state gas pipeline or other pipe dreams, but a smart Nigerian investor thinks it makes more economic sense to move the facility to a place where gas feedstock is being flared into the atmosphere in huge volumes and is practically free. Of course, some fancy operating may be required to bring the deal to reality in a country where a Petroleum Industry Bill is pending in the National Assembly, where President Goodluck Johnson is making and extending appointments to the National Petroleum Corporation and where, "youths dragged people from their cars and murdered them at illegal roadblocks in central Nigeria over the weekend, while rioters burned fuel stations and homes in the latest clashes between Christian and Muslim gangs." Yes, we are not an island. Yes, we must compete. (Complete Agrium story below.) -dh
Harbour Briefed Business Community on "Steady Barrage of Federal Attacks on Alaska's Economy"
Thanks to the kind invitation of Carol Bannock, the Kenai Chamber and ERA Airlines we had the honor of addressing members of the Kenai Chamber of Commerce yesterday. We urged the citizens of the Peninsula to join all dedicated Alaskans in becoming activists in support of our state's oil and gas industry. We said the critical challenge to Alaska is filling the Trans Alaska pipeline and that next to that reality, other priorities were small. We said that filling the pipeline required action THIS LEGISLATIVE SESSION to improve the investment climate by amending the state production tax and — much as Alberta has done — admitting we went too far and act decisively to cut back on the onerous tax burden placed on Alaska's most important investors. We told our audience that federal OCS development, with revenue sharing, is one of the most immediate ways to recover the Alaska economy. Then we emphasized again the need for citizen activism. We reported that Governor Sean Parnell, Senator Lisa Murkowski, Senator Mark Begich, and Congressman Don Young with help from allies like Washington Congressman Doc Hastings, were united in their struggle against an overreaching federal administration that is doing everything within its power to strangle the life out of Alaska's economy. "But they can't do it alone," we said. They need citizens to become more involved. We collected business cards and promised to keep our Kenai friends informed of ways in which they could become more informed, involved and active. -dh
The Office of the Federal Coordinator's Communications Director Jennifer Thompson wrote us that, "Last fall, our office
commissioned this report by Roger Marks (NGP Photo) to look into the economic issues of a main versus in-state gas line project. We just released it and I thought you may be interested in it." The report, " reviews the opportunity cost to the state of a potential subsidy of a small in-state gas line vs. the option of possibly applying the same amount of state leverage to a larger mainline project." Marks wisely concludes the report by noting, "Pipeline economics are significantly affected by economies of scale. Tariffs on smaller-diameter pipelines will be much higher than on large ones, and these differences become increasingly exaggerated with the long pipelines necessary in Alaska. It is difficult to predict significant industrial demand for North Slope natural gas, and it also is unclear how much indigenous Cook Inlet production will endure to meet most or much of local demand in the years ahead. … If the point of an in-state line subsidy is simply to provide lower-cost energy to Alaskans, there are other alternative subsidies that could provide energy at low prices." (Down his complete report here.)
ADN by Becky Bohrer. Spokesman Dave MacDowell says the scope of work determines staffing levels and Denali finished the technical and field work necessary for this portion of the project. The focus now is on negotiations with possible shippers.
Meanwhile, in Canada, the Communist-inspired and heavily networked CPJ forges ahead with its anti-development, job-killing, bureaucracy promoting agenda. CPJ was part of the committed effort by civil society and faith-based groups that worked in solidarity with Aboriginal groups that eventually defeated of the MGP in the 1970s.
National Parks Traveler by Kurt Repanshek. The Denali National Park and Preserve Natural Gas Pipeline Act was introduced to the 112th session of Congress on Tuesday by Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R) and Mark Begich (D). The measure, which failed to gain passage in the last Congress, would give the Interior secretary the authority to grant a right-of-way along the George Parks Highway for construction of the gas pipeline. No officially designated wilderness would be crossed by the pipeline, according to the legislation.
More on natural gas for Homer, Alaska, from the Tribune.
Kenai Project Report, February 10, 2011, (More here from heavyliftpfi -dot-com):
Earlier this month, Fairstar signed a Letter of Intent to provide a total land and marine logistics solution to transport 115 modules as well as related equipment from the Agrium Kenai Nitrogen Operations, comprising Plants 4, 5, and 6, from Kenai, Alaska to Ossiomo, Nigeria.
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