The state of Alaska has entered into an agreement with four companies to buy a 20-25% stake in a proposed LNG project. The state will put up $5.75 billion to help fund Alaska LNG, a project involving ExxonMobil, BP, ConocoPhillips and TransCanada that could cost up to $65 billion. Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Joe Balash told Bloomberg the state’s participation would allow it to control the cost of transporting LNG. The project would encompass a gas treatment on the North Slope, an 800-mile pipeline that would stretch from Nikiski to the Prudhoe Bay and Point Thompson and a tanker terminal site. It would have the capacity to export approximately 2-2.4 billion cubic feet of gas a day. Alaska’s legislature must approve the state’s funding of the deal before it can move forward.
