Alaska governor signs bill granting

Alaska governor signs bill granting $1.65-mil for gas marketing

Singapore (Platts)--12Apr2004


Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski Friday signed into law SB 241, which
appropriates $1.65-mil to the Department of Revenue for costs associated with
bringing Alaska's North Slope natural gas to market. The bill includes
$650,000 in funding for the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority for its
continuing efforts to develop an LNG export project, a statement from the
governor's office said. This funding will allow ANGDA to continue in its
efforts to identify and develop Pacific Rim markets, both on the US West Coast
and in Asia. In addition, it will allow ANGDA to evaluate specific in-state
needs for the Kenai and Anchorage regions, as well as development of a
petrochemical industry within Alaska. An additional $1-mil was authorized for
expenditure on issues common to all of the various pipeline proposals
currently pending.

Those common efforts include legal opinions examining the extent to which
tax-exempt bonding authorities can be employed in the financing of the
pipeline, market evaluations, permitting issues, in-state consumption needs,
and socioeconomic studies on the pipeline's impacts on communities along its
proposed route. "This is another important step forward for my
administration's commitment to bring Alaska's vast North Slope natural gas
reserves to market in the Lower-48," Murkowski said. The funds will be
available to the Dept of Revenue immediately.

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