Alaska governor plans gas

Alaska governor plans gas, oil leasing in state waters off ANWR

Washington (Platts)--31Mar2004


Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski said Wednesday that he plans to offer roughly
350,000 acres of state land offshore of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge
for a gas-and-oil lease sale in October. "We have been stymied by special
interests" attempting to prevent the development of Alaska's energy resources
for many years, Murkowski, a Republican, said at a press conference in
Washington, D.C. "We're not going to stand by and be held hostage by OPEC."
The governor said his state "has reason to believe" that the US federal
government does not have authority over offshore ANWR and will not prove an
obstacle in offering the leases. "We're exercising the authority we have as a
state," following similar actions taken by states such as Louisiana in its
offshore lands, Murkowski said.

Murkowski did not say whether he hoped to force Congress to open ANWR itself
to gas-and-oil drilling activity by initiating an offshore program; the state
is acting "to force the issue of developing oil prospects in Alaska," he said.
Murkowski also noted that another company is expected to come forward as early
as Thursday with another proposal to build an Alaska gas pipeline under the
state's Stranded Gas Development Act. TransCanada PipeLines, the Alaska Port
Authority, and a consortium of producers including BP, ConocoPhillips and
ExxonMobil have already made similar applications. A subsidiary of MidAmerican
Energy Holdings withdrew its application for a pipeline proposal last week.

This story was first published in Platts real-time news and market reporting
service Platts Natural Gas Alert (http://naturalgasalert.platts.com ).