Nov 10 (Reuters) - Former Alaska Governor Bill Walker said
this week he was a founding member of Alaska Gasline & LNG LLC
(AGLNG) that wants to take over the state's Alaska liquefied
natural gas (LNG) export project and complete it by March 2028.
The Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC) is developing the
LNG project, which includes an 807-mile (1,300-km) pipeline from
the North Slope to a liquefaction plant in Nikiski on the Kenai
Peninsula.
AGLNG, which also includes former AGDC President Keith
Meyer, said on Monday that AGDC has approved a plan to transfer
the project to a private entity to be selected by the end of
2020, with the transition to be completed by June 2021.
The state agreed in 2016, when Walker was governor, to take
over the LNG project from North Slope oil producers. AGLNG said
AGDC received 14 non-binding letters of interest in the project
from Asian companies, including Tokyo Gas Co Ltd.
But that was before new export plants flooded the market
with supplies in recent years that caused gas prices to drop and
then collapse this year due to coronavirus demand destruction.
Those low prices have made buyers of the super-cooled fuel
reluctant to sign long-term agreements needed to finance new
multibillion-dollar export plants.
In response, AGDC looked at the competitiveness of its
project and in June reduced its estimated cost to $38.7 billion
from the previous forecast of $44.2 billion.
AGDC, which received federal authorization to build the
project in May 2020, has already signed agreements with BP PLC
and Exxon Mobil Corp to help advance project
development.
BP and Exxon produce massive amounts of oil in Alaska and
have discovered huge gas resources that are stranded in the
North Slope. Alaska LNG would allow that gas to access markets
around the world.
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino
Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)