[R-G] TransCanada vying for $30-billion pipeline project

[Macdonald Stainsby]

Excerpt:

"Because construction isn't likely to begin before 2013 or 2014, the 
Alaska project isn't likely in direct competition with a plan to build a 
gas pipeline from the Mackenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories to 
Alberta. Mackenzie construction could start in late 2009 if it receives 
regulatory approval."

This is significant in the extreme, for a whole host of reasons. The 
first and most important of those is that we have had that nonsense 
about the pipelines competing with one another used to deflect each 
other, and to get the regulatory processes in both regions weakened to 
help the "competition" for some time. And, as the North Central Corridor 
pipeline slicing across unceded Lubicon territory makes clear, the 
Alaskan Gas will cut across Yukon, the north of BC, probably picking up 
some of the northeastern BC gas from the Peace Region, and them jump 
into the Albertan grid. The energy needs of the tar sands are impossible 
to underestimate-- the pipelines on the eastern side of Alberta are to 
be *turned around*, and start flowing south to north instead of into the 
US. That is so that the natural gas there, and the natural gas from the 
Mackenzie Gas Project, and a large swath of the gas from the Alaskan 
pipeline, ALL combine to get sent to the Wabasca, Cold Lake and 
Athabasca Regions to destroy nations, wipe out all life in all 
directions and send the needed [mock] oil to the US in order that they 
can maintain their occupation and destructions of nation after nation in 
the majority world for what little there is left of oil in the earth.

In Alaska, when big greens have campaigned rightly about the sanctity of 
the ANWR region, they have ignored a region *right next door* in the 
"national petroleum reserve" (loaded with gas and oil) that is now 
slated to be utterly destroyed by construction, where that gas will 
ultimatel fuel the furtherance of destroying the Boreal Forest in 
Alberta and the NWT, where the MGP is slated for the same reason, also 
carrying out genocidal impacts-- and these things are ALSO to include 
nuclear, not "instead".

As we speak, the announcements are being made (on Alaska gas, on the 
"wrapping up" of the JRP into the Mackenzie Project, on the expansion of 
the tar sands and most significantly on the North Central Corridor. It's 
all connected. Look to the maps on the final total of only the 
pipelines: http://oilsandstruth.org/maps

--M

TransCanada vying for $30-billion pipeline project
DAVID EBNER
Globe and Mail Update

November 30, 2007 at 7:35 PM EST

TransCanada Corp. is among the companies vying to build a $30-billion 
natural gas pipeline to connect northern Alaska with the continental 
United States.

Calgary-based TransCanada, the country's largest gas pipeline company, 
said Friday evening that it has submitted a "strong application" to the 
state of Alaska to build a line from the north slope of Alaska, home to 
major stranded gas reserves, to link to the firm's existing Alberta 
infrastructure.

TransCanada did not reveal the price of the proposed project or other 
details, saying it would wait for Alaska to assess its application.

Among other companies that revealed their ambitions yesterday was 
ConocoPhillips Co. of Houston, the oil and gas producer that controls 
gas fields in Alaska.

ConocoPhillips said its project could cost between $25-billion and 
$42-billion, saying $30-billion was its best estimate right now. The 
company's proposal is similar to that of TransCanada, linking Alaska 
with Alberta. ConocoPhillips said it would consider a further extension 
to Chicago, depending on available capacity on existing infrastructure.

Alaska was expected to unveil a complete list of applicants late Friday 
night.

Because construction isn't likely to begin before 2013 or 2014, the 
Alaska project isn't likely in direct competition with a plan to build a 
gas pipeline from the Mackenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories to 
Alberta. Mackenzie construction could start in late 2009 if it receives 
regulatory approval.

Volume on the Alaska pipeline could be four billion cubic feet a day — 
more than 5 per cent of estimated demand in the United States in 2025. 
The Mackenzie Valley pipeline could deliver upwards of two billion cubic 
feet a day, though initial plans are for 1.2 billion cubic feet a day."

"[Alaska] is a monumental project and a huge amount of gas," analyst 
Fadel Gheit of Oppenheimer & Co. told Bloobmerg News.

A plan to build a pipeline to deliver gas from Alaska has languished for 
years but this decade has become more realistic as the price of the 
commodity has averaged roughly $6 per million cubic feet, triple the 
rate of $2 seen in the 1990s.

Proposals to the state of Alaska were made under the Alaska Gasline 
Inducement Act, a law passed under Gov. Sarah Palin that outlined rules 
for ideas for a pipeline. The No. 1 plan is expected to be put before 
the state legislature in early 2008. The system follows a previous deal 
that was scrapped that had been negotiated between former Gov. Frank 
Murkowski and the three largest gas holders, Exxon Mobil Corp., BP PLC 
and ConocoPhillips.

Earlier Friday, BP reiterated its position that it will not submit a 
proposal under Gov. Palin's system. Exxon said it was considering its 
options.

Exxon owns about 70 per cent of Imperial Oil, the main proponent of the 
$16-billion Mackenzie pipeline. ConocoPhillips is also involved, as is 
Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

ConocoPhillips said it would be interested in having partners. 
TransCanada said it was also interested in that possibility.

"It has been our long-standing position that an alignment of the state, 
the producers and TransCanada is the optimal path to a successful 
project," said Tony Palmer, a TransCanada vice-president.

TransCanada is currently a partner with ConocoPhillips on a proposed oil 
pipeline to the U.S.

Another possible Canadian player in Alaska is TransCanada rival Enbridge 
Inc. but Enbridge did not reply to inquiries yesterday. Enbridge and 
TransCanada in 2005 fought over who should be allowed to build the 
Canadian portion. TransCanada said it had legal rights under federal 
legislation from the late 1970s, the last time an Alaska project was 
close to reality, whereas Enbridge disputed those rights.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071130.wrtanscan30/...

-- 
Macdonald Stainsby
Coordinator, http://oilsandstruth.org
--
moderated radical news & discussion list:
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green

In the contradiction lies the hope.
    --Bertholt Brecht.