Possibly eyeing some changes to the structure of Alaska’s partnership with big oil, Governor Bill Walker has ordered a 45-day review of the AK LNG Project.
Gov. Walker: “We have one project being driven by those who have competing projects around the world, but maybe at some point they decide they’d prefer their other projects rather than the one from Alaska, and we just can’t be in the situation that we don’t have an option ourselves that we can control.”
Walker’s office says he intends to put together an advisory review team by the end of this Legislative session, which is just under a week away.
The advisers would be chosen for their experience in oil and gas negotiations, examining how the State’s agreement will play out with TransCanada, Exxon, ConocoPhillips, and BP. Walker said one company resisted the review period more than the others, but didn’t specify.
Experts in the industry fear that the uncertainty of a review will jeopardize negotiations, since the 6-week timeframe would complicate plans for a special session on the gasline project.
The decision to move from Pre-FEED to FEED (Front End Engineering and Design) was scheduled to occur in mid-2016. An agreement with TransCanada was expected to be signed this December.