Enbridge Inc. is in talks with Alaska officials to potentially construct, own and operate an in-state natural gas pipeline to serve interior and Southcentral Alaska. The 727-mile pipeline is a potential alternative to a larger pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project.

“The state will make a decision on which direction they’re going to go,” Enbridge spokeswoman Terri Larson told NGI. “We’re in substantive and exclusive discussions related to Enbridge becoming the owner/builder/operator, or the OBO, for the” Alaska Stand Alone Pipeline (ASAP) project.

“The mission of the ASAP is to develop and sanction a natural gas pipeline which is designed to deliver natural gas from the North Slope of Alaska to Southcentral Alaska, serving as many communities as practicable, with an affordable, long-term energy solution,” according to a project website maintained by the Alaska Gas Development Corp. (AGDC), the entity charged by the state to pursue the in-state line as well as the larger pipeline and LNG project (see Daily GPI, April 21).

Enbridge is not participating in the larger project, whose partners include TransCanada Corp. and the major North Slope producers. The state is expected to have an equity stake in the larger project should it go forward.

The in-state project could carry up to 500 MMcf/d to serve Fairbanks, Southcentral and other communities in Alaska. It would have a potential in-service date in 2020, according to Larson. The project would include a gas conditioning facility and one compressor station on the North Slope. Cost is estimated at about $8 billion. Potential shippers, according to Larson, are utilities and industrial end-users.