Governor Bill Walker insists his deeper look at the ASAP project won’t jeopardize the mega-AK LNG Project…
Gov. Walker: “Very, very hopeful that the AK LNG is successful and we’re doing everything we can to make sure that is successful but if for any reason one of those four companies step away, we don’t want to be left without another option.”
But two legislative consultants disagree.
Janak Mayer with Enalytica told the Senate Resources Committee earlier this month that a “backup” pipeline is not the best approach…
Mayer: “We think that is a crucial and very, very valid concern and we also think there are very established ways in the industry of dealing with this that are much more established than trying to create a separate project to do so.”
Mayer and his partner, Nikos Tsafos, told Senators that the AK LNG Project is making historic progress…
Mayer: “In looking at it this time, the thing that has really struck both of us is just how committed all three companies are to this, just how much they’ve committed in terms of the level of spending on the project year after year, in terms of how many people are involved, in terms of executive and management time, in terms of putting the very best people on this, it’s really struck us just how committed the partners are to this project.”
ExxonMobil is managing the AK LNG Project in partnership with ConocoPhillips, BP, and the State of Alaska with TransCanada.
The consultants worried that the Governor has given the market the impression that he may take the state in a different direction, causing questions about how closely Alaska will work with the industry partners on future decisions.