FERC has given Yukon Pacific Co. LP a three-year extension to begin construction of its proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project in Alaska. It was the company’s third request to push back the construction start-up date.

Yukon Pacific, a unit of CSX Corp., requested the delay in March, saying it “[was] needed to secure market and capital commitments necessary for construction to commence.” Without it, the company said the LNG export project would be undermined, and more than $100 million in investment would be stranded.

The Commission gave the company until May 2007 to start construction. The agency previously had set May 2004 as the deadline.

The so-called Trans-Alaska Gas System (TAGS) project, which the Commission approved in 1995, calls for the siting and construction of liquefaction and associated facilities at Anderson Bay, Port Valdez in Alaska for the purpose of exporting LNG to Japan, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan. The proposed facilities would liquefy gas that is received over a proposed intrastate pipeline originating on Alaska’s North Slope [CP88-105].

Yukon Pacific said that without the extension, it could be forced to abandon this “large and complex” project. “Yukon Pacific’s site approval must remain viable for the project to remain viable. If the approval lapses, there will be a great risk that Asian markets will turn to other foreign supply sources,” the company said.

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