Anchorage (Platts)--16Jul2009

Alaska Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell, who is to take the state's
executive helm shortly, reaffirmed its support for an Alaska natural gas
pipeline during a meeting with executives of ExxonMobil and TransCanada, he
said Thursday.

The project would bring Alaska North Slope natural gas to the Lower 48
states.

Parnell will become governor July 26 when current Governor Sarah Palin's
resignation takes effect. Palin announced July 3 she would step down.

In the meeting, Parnell reiterated his support for Palin's policy on the
gas pipeline and the framework laid out for the ExxonMobil and TransCanada
project by the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, or AGIA.

"AGIA has provided the momentum and clear path for bringing Alaska's
gas to market. Our administration will continue this effort as we work
together through the next phases of development," Parnell said in a statement.

The state has issued a license under AGIA to TransCanada, which was
joined recently by ExxonMobil in conducting engineering studies in preparation
for an open season in 2010.

Under the license, the state is paying a share of engineering and
development costs of the pipeline in return for TransCanada's commitment to a
set of state requirements.

A competing pipeline initiative, the Denali project, is being developed
by BP and ConocoPhillips outside of the state's AGIA framework.

Parnell praised ExxonMobil's alignment with TransCanada. "I expect
more discussions to occur between the AGIA-licensed project and the other
producing companies," Parnell said. Those include BP, ConocoPhillips
and Chevron.

--Tim Bradner, newsdesk@platts.com