ALASKA SUES BP, EXXON MOBILE OVER NATURAL GAS (PRICE COLLUSION)

MSNBC ^ | 22 December 2005

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Who must lose? The Port Authority or BP, Exxon & Mobile?

[RightWhale]

Port Authority also has a non-viable proposal according to BP and Exxon. The contract still in negotiation, negotiations suspended until January, is the BP Exxon Conoco proposal. The Gov is offering $2 billion of state money immediately with more possible in the years to come, which is a 10% stake in the project, which is an excellent investment for the state.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Port Authority also has a non-viable proposal according to BP and Exxon.

Why is it nonviable in their opinion?

[RightWhale]

The third proposal, Calpine, has already gone down in flames. The Port Authority proposal is non-viable because it is not competitive with the Alaska Highway route due to adding the extra steps of liquifying and putting the product on tankers only to offload and put in the Canada pipeline anyway. Besides, Port Authority lacks the financial depth of pocket to construct the project.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

I can see that -- most public entities do not have enough funds to properly invest in anything. However, that doesn't seem to stop them from trying, does it?

[RightWhale]

Port Authority is a quasi-public corporation created under but not by the State, and not by state-level deartments. The State itself as represented by the Gov is doing something else.

[Arthalion]

Boies beat Microsoft when he was in the Attorney General's office, but other than that his carrer has been marked by high profile losses. He's just intelligent enough to pick losers with fat pocketbooks.

In case anyone else missed the association, this guy was Al Gore's lawyer in the 2000 race, and the guy who argued that the votes should be recounted until Gore won. He also represented Fastow from Enron fame, tried to defend Napster as a legitimate business, and works for SCO in their ill-fated attempts to sue Linux out of existence. This guy has a penchant for choosing the losing side (even his win agains MS was mostly overturned on appeal).

[BILL FROM TROUT CREEK PASS]

So this why Propane prices have doubled since 2002. Just paid $1.71/ gallon for 200 gallons that probably won't last two months.

Crooks, all of them.

[jwh_Denver]

They made billions off of that and probable manipulation of recent gas prices and need to give billions back

Can we wait to give them a trial before we hang them?

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

You would not want me to have my way with those who defraud. Trust me, you wouldn't. Hugo Chavez is just a little kid.

[deport]

From the article..... Seems the State is trying to finalize the project and these investors are being shut out thus the lawsuit.....

Gov. Frank Murkowski has halted negotiations with the port authority and is focused solely on closing a deal with the three oil companies for their $20 billion (euro16.7 billion) pipeline proposal. Murkowski spokeswoman Becky Hultberg said the governor's office has not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

[RightWhale]

This lawsuit is one of several that must be made and all has been foreseen. The Port Authority is trying to make a deal out of nothing, and their 'investors' are not private people. Port Authority received some funds from the public coffers, that's all, and Port Authority is not a dept of gov't but a corporation like the Post Office created by gov't. The State of Alaska is not represented by the Port Authority, and the State is negotiating their own deal. What you see is the rise of factions.

It is interesting that the Natural Gas Pipeline gets little notice until one of the losers files suit. There has been a lot of activity up to now, and Port Authority is a latecomer and on the way out.