A pipeline to move gas from Alaska’s North Slope to Alberta would provide a good opportunity to utilize downstream Canadian pipeline assets to move gas to the Lower 48, an Enbridge Inc. executive told NGI Wednesday.

Ron Brintnell, Enbridge director of gas development, said his company is encouraged by the Tuesday announcement by BP and ConocoPhillips of their Denali Alaska gasline project (see Daily GPI, April 9), noting that Enbridge would like to be part of the project with a 10-20% equity stake.

“That’s the kind of area we think is the right fit for Enbridge,” Brintnell said. “We would hope to be a full participant.”

The Denali project is similar to another project being considered by the state under its Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) process. That proposal is from TransCanada and a decision on whether it will be presented to state lawmakers is due May 19 (see Daily GPI, March 31). Both TransCanada’s proposed pipeline and Denali would end up in Alberta, and gas could then move to market on a number of existing pipelines, Brintnell said.

“We don’t believe that ultimately there will be a need for a new pipeline coming out of Canada,” he said. “With our own Alliance Pipeline, with the Spectra pipeline [BC Pipeline] and TransCanada’s pipeline, there will be the ability to move the gas into the Lower 48 and into the market.”

ConocoPhillips’ Brian R. Wenzel, vice president of gas development, said “there are multiple ways of bringing gas into the Lower 48 from Alberta,” the Associated Press reported. “We’ll look at existing network capacity and look at costs. We’ve got to keep those options open.”

As for the competing Denali and TransCanada proposals to tap the North Slope, the two have their similarities. While TransCanada would tap a $500 million state development subsidy offered under AGIA, Denali would not. Each, however, would require about $600 million for planning costs alone. TransCanada would move 4.5 Bcf/d while Denali would move 4 Bcf/d. TransCanada has proposed completion in about 2017 while Denali targets 2019.

It’s possible that the projects could be combined. TransCanada has offered participation in its project to producers, and the two producers behind Denali said this week they would be open to the participation of a pipeline company, which could certainly be TransCanada and/or Enbridge.

“We’re encouraged to hear them [the Denali backers] say that they’re open to participation, so we ultimately think that there will be a spot for us,” Brintnell said. He touted Enbridge’s development abilities, particularly in the North, adding that the company has garnered much expertise in procuring labor and materials as it works through $12 billion worth of development. “No one in North America is currently developing the amount of pipeline that Enbridge currently is,” he said.

Whether the Denali announcement came because of or in spite of the state’s AGIA process, Brintnell would not say. After TransCanada was announced as the sole qualifier under the AGIA process (see Daily GPI, Jan. 7) — a process in which the state’s major North Slope producers (BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil) did not even participate — many criticized Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her AGIA plan (see Daily GPI, March 18; Jan. 28). Many saw the absence of the producers from the process as making the TransCanada proposal ultimately a nonstarter.

However, this week’s Denali announcement elicited praise for AGIA and Palin from even Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the daughter of former Gov. Frank Murkowski, whom Palin had criticized during her campaign for his pipeline negotiations with the producers.

“By [Palin’s] tough stance over the past two years, she has brought the companies around to building a gas line now,” said Murkowski. “It is unlikely this announcement would have come today if not for a process like AGIA that has crystallized the outlook for development of Alaska’s North Slope gas reserves.”

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