Denali details pitch for Alaska pipeline

AP via Houston Chronicle ^ | April 7, 2010, 9:04PM | BECKY BOHRER

[thackney]

Everyone seems to agree there's room for only one major pipeline to move natural gas from Alaska's prodigious North Slope to North American markets. Now, a high-stakes showdown is taking shape over who will be in charge and what it will take to make the long-hoped-for project economical and a reality.

Denali, a joint effort of ConocoPhillips and BP, formally proposed a $35 billion project Wednesday, with a pipeline stretching more than 1,700 miles and having delivery points to help meet gas needs in Alaska and Canada.

Denali billed the project, which includes a gas treatment plant on the harsh North Slope, as “one of the largest private investments in the history of North America.”

Houston-based Conoco-Phillips and Britain's BP claim lease rights for about half of Alaska's known North Slope gas. The Slope's other major player, Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp., is helping TransCanada Corp. of Calgary, Alberta, with a competing project that has been promised up to $500 million from the state. Its two options include a line to Canada with a comparable $32 billion to $41 billion price tag.

Both ventures aim to be in service by around 2020, with plans to deliver about 4.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day to North American markets via larger lines to Canada. TransCanada's other option is smaller in size and cost — between $20 billion and $26 billion — for a liquefied natural gas facility that would export the fuel by ship.

Attention now turns to the next few months, when the competing projects plan to court gas producers and seek shipping commitments as part of what's called “open season.”

“No one is going to build two pipelines,” said Larry Persily, the federal coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects.

[thackney]

From the Anchorage Daily News, same base story, more detail.

http://www.adn.com/2010/04/07/1216738/denali-pitches-its-gas-pipeline.html

[thackney]

Denali Pipeline Web Site with maps, videos, schedules and other info for the curious.

http://denalipipeline.com/

Gas Pipeline Facts & Figures*
The Pipeline – Prudhoe Bay to Alberta

Total Length 1,730 to 2,000 miles (depending upon terminus)
Alaska Length ~730 miles
Canada Length 1,000 to 1,300 miles (depending upon terminus)
Gravel Requirements ~25 million cubic yards

Pipeline Design

Outside Diameter ~48 inches (dependent upon volumes nominated by shippers)
Grade High strength steel
Design Pressure 2,500 PSI
Wall Thickness ~1 inch
40 Foot Joint Weight ~10 tons
Avg. inlet rate 4.5 bcfd (Dependent upon volumes nominated by Shippers. Expandable with additional compression.)

Compressor Stations

Alaska 4-6
Canada 8-12

Approximate Number of Crossings

Road/Railroad 600
Pipeline/Utilities 130
Rivers & Streams 750

Estimated Construction Workforce

•2,000 Equipment Operators
•1,650 Welders/helpers
•1,250 Laborers
•750 Teamsters
•420 Inspectors
•175 Foremen
•135 Surveyors
•90 Technicians
~ 6,500 direct pipeline jobs per construction season
> 50 million construction man-hours total

Estimated Construction Equipment

Trenchers 20
Backhoes/Trackhoes 350
Dozers 350
Loaders/Graders 160
Sidebooms 700
Pickups/trucks/buses 2,200
Gravel Trucks 230
Trailers 650
Generators/pumps/etc 1,100
Crushers/batch plants 30

Estimated Geotechnical Classifications

Continuous permafrost 12%
Discontinuous permafrost 64%
Unfrozen soils 24%

Approximate Land Ownership

Federal/Crown 51%
State/Provincial/Territorial 30%
Native Corp./First Nations 9%
Private 8%
Borough/Municipal 2%

Gas Treatment Plant (GTP) - Facts & Figures
Denali will build a Gas Treatment Plant (GTP) at Prudhoe Bay to remove carbon dioxide (CO2), water and other impurities from the gas before it is shipped in the pipeline. It will also provide initial gas chilling and compression. The GTP will be the largest plant of its type on earth, and will have process modules weighing up to 9,000 tons. The CO2 that is stripped from the incoming gas will be injected into underground reservoirs.

An estimated workforce of 2,500 will build modules over a two year period. The modules will be barged to the North Slope where they will be assembled.

Process Modules (estimated tonnage)

Heaters (3) 12,000 tons total
CO2/H2S (5) 9,000 tons total
Flare/metering (1) 9,000 tons
Sales Gas Chilling (1) 9,000 tons
Sales Gas Dehydration (1) 7,000 tons
CO2 Compression (3) 8,000 tons total
CO2 Dehydration (2) 7,000 tons total
Utilities (1) 7,000 tons
Control Room (1) 5,000 tons
Power Generation (1) 7,000 tons
Sales Gas Compression (1) 3,000 tons

Total Process Modules (20) ~170,000 tons total

Estimated Gravel and Land Requirements

Dock loading area 3,000 cubic yds gravel
West Dock Causeway 31,000 cubic yds gravel
West Dock Road 160,000 cubic yds gravel
Pipeline crossing upgrades 40,000 cubic yds gravel
GTP Pad & flare area 700,000 cubic yds gravel
GTP South road access 40,000 cubic yds gravel

Total Gravel ~1,000,000 cubic yds

GTP and flare area 60 acres
GTP expansion 5 acres
Laydown area 10 acres (existing)
Staging area 34 acres (existing)
Ice Roads 30 acres (temporary)

Total Land 139 acres

[hosepipe]

Why not two pipelines for almost the same price..
One to go threw Canada to the lower 48 and the other to go to Valdez or Anchorage to be liquefied and shipped to the Asian market and points west maybe Australia...

Why NOT?..

[thackney]

I suspect the final product will be one pipeline with a spur to Valdez. But the gas that goes through the LNG will be at a discount to pipeline gas.

Too much expense in the LNG process, better than nothing, but more expensive than pipeline.

[thackney]

points west maybe Australia...

Australia is become one of the world's largest exporter of LNG. You won't be selling to them, you will be competing with them and Russia.

[hosepipe]

Reducing gas to liquid should be easy in the winter above the Brooks Range..
Heck ambient temp is below -40 degrees...

[thackney]

The Natural Gas would become LNG in Valdez, not the North Slope. LNG requires keeping −260 °F. A pipeline hundreds of miles long of LNG would be even greater expense and wasted energy trying to maintain temperature.

Also, the North Slope hits -40°F but it is far from the average temperature.

Season Weather Averages for Deadhorse

Sorry, I don't know how to only display the average temps without precipitation.

[hosepipe]

What temp does methane generally come out of the ground at?..

[thackney]

Depending on the field, depth, etc it is typically 120~240 degrees F. Some outside that range, and if a big pressure cut is taken there should be significant cooling. But the moisture, CO2, H2S and others have to be removed first. Some of that clean up may involve adding heat before the pure gas can be chilled.

If compressed for pipeline flow, it will be heated due to compression. But that heat will be lost first through air exchange coolers then some dissipation through the pipeline.

[Western Phil]

Thanks for the interesting information.

Some things that came to mind while perusing http://denalipipeline.com/ :

Is the automated welding in use now for pipeline construction? If so, do any of the welds not pass inspection?

I would not expect many corn fields as shown in wheel ditcher representation picture background. Almost looks like Illinois.

They appear to considering winter construction, i.e. ditching in frozen soil.

Is the route for the gas line in close proximity to the petroleum line along any, some, all of the possible route?

Is there a “take up” requirement or proposal included?

[hosepipe]

Thanks.. nothings easy is it..

[thackney]

I am not aware of significant welding automation for this application. At one inch thick it takes multiple passes to complete. Also diameters this large use “brother-in-law” style welding; two welders trying to stay on opposite sides to reduce heat induced stresses.

They are going to cut through some fields, but certainly none north of the Brooks Range.

Most areas with permafrost require winter construction. The land is a unpassable swampy mess when thawed and no loades of significant weight can be affordable to move. Most North Slope construction is done in the winter.

Both competing projects plan to parallel TAPS from the North Slope to around Delta Junction.

I don’t know what you mean by “take-up”.

[thackney]

That’s why they pay decent dollars to get them done.

I would love to see this project go forward. But I doubt significant Natural Gas leaves Alaska before 2025, if then.

[redhead]

ping!

[proud_yank]

What temp does methane generally come out of the ground at?..

The temps and pressures of the Pt Thompson lease are unusually high. IIRC, well over 200 deg F.

Regarding welding, automated submerged arc welding (SAW) could be used to weld 40' pipe lengths to create 80' lengths. You could only do that where they could be shipped to the site via rail.

[proud_yank]

Thanks! Great info here.

[thackney]

I believe Point Thompson is 10,000 psi and 300 degrees.

The automatic welding you reference would only be done in controlled environment? Not suitable for outdoor, mobile construction?

[Eye of Unk]

I have a question for everyone on this thread who do NOT live in Alaska.

If the pipeline starts would you move here looking for a job?

[redhead]

"Thanks! Great info here."

We went to the CPG meeting last night, and the featured speaker was an old-timer from the MEA (Matanuska Electric Association). He gave us an overview of Alaska's power needs and ability to fulfil them, and the picture is NOT good without a new pay of natural gas. Even if we did get the pipeline in from Pt. Thompson, it would be 20 years before all the enviromental hoops would be jumped through and the construction completed. The Cook Inlet source is losing ground quickly. At the present level of population, we MIGHT be able to squeeze through, especially if augmented by new hydroelectric plants. They are probably the cheapest and easiest solution in the short run.

What a deal... here we sit, on the biggest discovery of nat gas in decades, and they have to burn it off because nobody can get to it to utilize it.