Alaska's new governor meets with North Slope producers

Anchorage (Platts)--5Dec2006

Alaska's new governor, Sarah Palin, held meetings with North Slope
producers Tuesday, one day after being sworn into office.

Palin's new Revenue Commissioner, Pat Galvin, and acting Resources
Commissioner Marty Rutherford, along with new Lieutenant Gov. Sean Parnell,
also sat in on the talks.

The producers, including BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, will brief
Palin on the terms of an agreement they reached earlier this year with former
Governor Frank Murkowski. The Legislature did not ratify that deal.

Palin and her group are also scheduled to meet with others interested
in commercializing North Slope gas, including Royal Dutch Shell, TransCanada,
MidAmerican Energy Holdings, Chevron, the BG Group, and others including the
Alaska Gasline Port Authority, a municipal group.

"Our plan is to talk with as many people as possible about North Slope
gas and to hear about road maps for how it could be developed," Palin said in
a press conference after she officially took office Monday.

In her inaugural speech, Palin sounded a tough note on the gas
pipeline, promising that she would not allow producers to "warehouse" gas in
Alaska while developing gas in other parts of the world. She promised that any
negotiations with the industry on the pipeline would be open and transparent,
but the initial talks with industry groups were closed to the public.

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