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Gov. Sarah Palin has backed away from the broad statement of support she gave the Alaska Gasline Port Authority in a 2005 advertising campaign in which she appeared with former Alaska Govs. Jay Hammond and Walter Hickel to proclaim the port authority’s plan as “the best and only proposal that provides maximum benefits to the state.” The full-page newspaper advertisement was paid for by the port authority and was published in conjunction with advertisements on radio and television as part of a campaign that began in late April 2005. The newspaper ad that carried the statement that Palin has now...

Encouraging natural gas exploration on the North Slope is vital to ensuring the success of any gas line project the state adopts, Gov. Sarah Palin's administration told lawmakers Wednesday. Currently some 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas is known to be on the North Slope. But geological estimates predict there could be as much as 200 trillion cubic feet more, creating a potential for further revenues for the state if that gas can get to market. But getting to that undiscovered gas is expensive, and lawmakers are now debating how big a role the state should play in providing...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 13 (Reuters) - A proposed pipeline moving Alaska natural gas to the big U.S. markets could be built a third shorter than initially envisioned, potentially cutting $10 billion off the price tag even as materials and labor costs soar, Alaska officials said. The idea may make the widely watched pipeline plan more feasible even as skyrocketing costs force energy companies to defer or scrap other big infrastructure projects. The pipeline from Alaska's North Slope could stop in Alberta instead of Chicago, hooking into existing pipeline infrastructure, said Pat Galvin, commissioner of the state Department of Revenue. "The...

The cost of the proposed Mackenzie natural gas project in the Northwest Territories is now pegged at $16.2 billion, Imperial Oil said Monday. The Calgary-based oil and gas company also revealed that production startup will be no sooner than 2014. Imperial disclosed the costs and timing details in a filing with the National Energy Board and Joint Review Panel. A consortium led by Imperial wants to build a 1,220-kilometre pipeline along the Mackenzie Valley in the Northwest Territories to the Alberta border, where it would connect with existing pipelines and link to southern markets. The consortium also includes ConocoPhillips Canada,...

JUNEAU, Alaska — The state of Alaska is sweetening the pot to get a multibillion dollar natural gas pipeline built. Gov. Sarah Palin on Wednesday announced Alaska would kick in as much as $500 million from the state's treasury to offset startup costs, like permitting fees. "We need to progress this project. There are hungry markets for Alaska's natural gas," she said. This perk will be part Palin's Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, also known as AGIA, which she plans to introduce Friday to the Alaska Legislature. Palin's bill would set project criteria which energy companies must meet in exchange for...

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski warned Alaska lawmakers Thursday that increased competition means the state must soon act on its oft-delayed natural gas pipeline project. "America is not going to wait on Alaska forever. There is a sense of urgency," the Republican said during her annual address to a joint session of the House and Senate. "If the promise of Alaska's gas continues to remain in limbo, what happens is that investors look elsewhere for development opportunities, and consumers look to other supply sources," she said. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last summer said there is over 6,000 trillion cubic feet...

ConocoPhillips Alaska exec says markets need to know North Slope gas pipeline is coming because of competition from coal It’s not yet a train wreck, but “in my personal belief, we have gone from being in front of the curve to being in back of the curve right now,” says Joe Marushack, ConocoPhillips Alaska vice president for Alaska gas development. Marushack, who has headed up the Alaska gas project for ConocoPhillips for six years, is leaving Alaska within a few weeks to head up the company’s Australia business. He told Senate Resources Feb. 9 that in the past he didn’t...

A new crude oil pipeline stretching 300 miles from Clearwater, Minn., to the Twin Cities received final approval from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which voted 4-0 in favor the project Thursday. Construction of the Minnesota Pipe Line Co.'s $300 million line will begin in early summer, and the company expects to have it operating by March 2008. The line is expected to pump up to 165,000 gallons of Canadian crude oil per day to the Flint Hills Resources refinery in Rosemount and the Marathon Petroleum Co.'s St. Paul Park refinery. "This is crude oil coming from a friendly nation....

Baltic Pipeline Faces a Minefield of Problems By Miriam Elder Staff Writer When a Gazprom-led consortium begins laying the foundation for a major new pipeline to pump Russian gas under the Baltic Sea directly to Western Europe, it is likely to run into problems -- thousands of them. The North European Gas Pipeline, or Nord Stream, is due to snake along the seabed over an area covered with hundreds of thousands of unexploded mines and munitions dating as far back as World War I. Officials and environmental groups in several of the countries that border the Baltic say construction of...

The trans-Alaska oil pipeline was taken off-line Tuesday after a spill of up to 500 gallons, state officials said. The crude oil spilled from an aboveground section of the pipeline at a remote gate in the Brooks Range in northern Alaska. The cause of the spill was a failed weld on a threaded O-ring fitting on a bypass line, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said. Officials closed valves on the line, and there was no further oil spilled. Alyeska Pipeline Co. officials were assessing when the pipeline could be restarted, spokesman Mike Heatwole said Tuesday. The pipeline was carrying...

Angry Merkel attacks Putin over latest pipeline closure · Russian pricing row with Belarus alarms EU· Dispute hastens effort to safeguard energy supplies Ian Traynor in Berlin and Luke Harding in Moscow Wednesday January 10, 2007 The Guardian (UK) Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany yesterday accused Vladimir Putin's Russia of unacceptable conduct by closing the oil pipeline crucial to Europe's energy consumption. In the toughest language she has used about the Kremlin in her 14 months in office, Mrs Merkel said Russia was destroying international confidence in itself by forcing energy clients to suffer from Russia's bilateral disputes with other...

Russia shuts oil pipeline in trade dispute By Alex Spillius Last Updated: 2:22am GMT 09/01/2007 Russia halted oil exports to Europe via Belarus yesterday as a bitter trade dispute escalated, renewing concerns that Moscow is bent on pursuing aggressive energy diplomacy. Taps were turned off on pipelines to Poland and Germany but the European Commission said there was no immediate risk of shortages in either country because of ample stocks in refineries. The commission was also investigating whether the supply was cut on another branch of the 2,500-mile pipeline feeding Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic. A spokesman for Andris...

ALARM - Interruption of the Russian oil deliveries towards Poland and Germany WARSAW - the Russian oil deliveries towards Poland and Germany were stopped in the night of Sunday to Monday at the border polono-bélarusse, announced Monday the Polish company of pipelines PERN.

Filed at 4:31 p.m. ET MOSCOW (AP) -- Belarus and Russia's natural gas monopoly have signed a contract for 2007 gas supplies, averting a cutoff that was threatened in a rate hike dispute, the Interfax news agency quoted Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko as saying Monday. OAO Gazprom had said it would halt deliveries to Belarus unless the former Soviet republic agreed to more than double the amount it had paid for gas in 2006.

Moscow -- A delegation of the Serbian Government will sign a memorandum in Moscow with Gazprom today. The agreement is for the construction of a gas pipeline running through Serbia and extending from the Bulgarian to the Croatian border. The realization of the project is expected to start next year, and the entire project calls for a pipeline to be built spanning a great deal of Southeast Europe, bringing gas from Russia towards Italy. After signing the memorandum, the Serbian Government and the Russian gas giant will form a work group for determining the elements of a future construction agreement....

Relatively quietly, and with tantalizingly few details available, Israel and Turkey have reached agreement on construction of a strategic pipeline linking the Black Sea and Red Sea, traversing Israel to eventually deliver energy resources to Far Eastern markets. If plans proceed to construction and operation, it will represent a major step forward for Israel, and will reinforce Turkey's moderating power among Muslim nations. Pipelines matter in the balance of world power. A lot. Their importance goes virtually unnoticed by the public, for they are not glamorous and they do not require large numbers of workers once they are completed. But...

The strike of Polish workers maintaining the oil pipeline Druzhba (Friendship) is probable to halt Russian oil supplies to Germany and Poland. Workers are ready to come out, reports Oilru.com. However, trade unionists are still not sure whether they should stop the pipeline work or not. If so, Russian oil supplies to Germany and Poland will be jeopardized. Workers of the northern line of Druzhba are not satisfied with the Polish Ministry of economic affairs' intention to replace Pern (the company operating the pipeline) with a new one. Primarily the strike was to start 16 October, then it was postponed...

BELGRADE -- An agreement has been signed between the Serbian Government, Srbijagas and Russian Gazprom export. The agreement is a memorandum of understanding for the construction of a pipeline that will run 400 kilometers through Serbia, according to Economic Minister Predrag Bubalo. He said that the Government agreed to the signing of the document and that the construction of the pipeline from Bulgaria towards Niš will be a great Greenfield investment for Croatia and North Italy, which will give Serbia alternate routes for receiving fuel. Bubalo said that the construction of the pipeline is very important for Serbia, because it...

Former state oil and gas director says reserves tax built on false premise Ken Boyd, former director of the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas, told Petroleum News Oct. 17 that the gas reserves tax is “a bad idea … built on a false premise.” You hear a lot about a gas line being a dream for 30 years, he said, “which is just nonsense.” When the gas cap was discovered at Prudhoe Bay, it “surprised the original lessees.” BP ended up with the flank acreage and a lot of the oil while ARCO and Exxon ended up with a...

Will Alaskans see the construction of a pipeline to move natural gas from the North Slope to the Lower 48? It's a huge project and the biggest economic issue in Alaska. The question for voters is: Who is best equipped to solve the . . . A central issue in this fall's race for governor concerns how to best push forward a pipeline project to unlock the North Slope's enormous natural gas reserves -- and flood the state with jobs and new wealth. Each of the leading candidates claims to have the right plan to finally make the decades-old dream...