Alaska Pipeline Project

Project Applicant Information and History

The Alaska Pipeline Project is a team effort between TransCanada and ExxonMobil to build and operate a pipeline for moving Alaska North Slope gas to market.

The Alaska Legislature in August 2008 approved TransCanada's state license under the Alaska Gas Inducement Act (AGIA), with the governor issuing the license Dec. 5, 2008. The license entitles TransCanada to receive up to $500 million in state reimbursement for project development expenses as long as the company adheres to the state's timetable and meets other requirements. The AGIA license does not give the company any priority for federal licensing, nor does it grant TransCanada an exclusive right to construct and operate an Alaska gas pipeline. It merely provides the inducement of partial cost reimbursement to the state's preferred gas pipeline developer.

The Alaska Pipeline Project includes:

A 48-inch-diameter gas pipeline that will run in one of two directions, depending on what the customers want:
- The Alberta option: A 1,700-mile gas pipeline that will head south from Prudhoe Bay and then southeast into Canada, roughly following the Alaska Highway, through the Yukon Territory and into northern Alberta.
- The Valdez option: An 800-mile pipeline that would head south from Prudhoe to the port city of Valdez on Prince William Sound, Alaska, where the gas could be liquefied and loaded aboard tankers for export worldwide.
A gas treatment plant at Prudhoe Bay to remove carbon dioxide, water and other impurities from the flow before the gas enters the main pipeline.
And a smaller pipeline connecting the Point Thomson field east of Prudhoe Bay to the gas treatment plant.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in May 2009 approved TransCanada's request to start the pre-filing review process as a precursor to an environmental impact statement for the project and an eventual application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity to build and operate the pipeline. The Alaska Pipeline Project has contracted with Argonne National Laboratory to prepare the environmental impact statement. Concurrent with that work, the Alaska Pipeline Project held an open season April 30 through July 2010, to solicit bids from potential shippers to use the pipeline. The venture is currently in commercial negotiations with potential gas shippers and is scheduled, under the AGIA license, to file its application with FERC in October 2012. First gas is scheduled for 2020.

OFC Documents Related to the Alaska Pipeline Project

2010 First Phase Consolidated Implementation Plan -- The Alaska Pipeline Project

The Office of Federal Coordinator created the First Phase Consolidated Implementation Plan regarding federal agency activities, roles and responsibilities for the Alaska Pipeline Project to alert participating federal agencies to any potential conflicts in permitting and timelines, and to enable early coordination among agencies to resolve those potential problems.

About 20 federal agencies signed a 2006 memorandum of understanding with the Office of the Federal Coordinator, which was given the responsibility under the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Act of 2004 to prepare and maintain an implementation plan for coordinating federal permitting activities for the project. The gas line office issued the Alaska Pipeline Project implementation plan in May 2010.

View the APP First Phase Consolidated Implementation Plan >

February 2011 Alaska Pipeline Project Implementation Plan Attention Items Update

The Office of the Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects released the first semi-annual attention items update to the Alaska Pipeline Project First Phase Consolidated Implementation Plan in February 2010.

This first attention items update highlights permit issues and priority items from the first-phase plan, identifies critical work activities, and those items that are moving ahead without significant issues and will be updated in February and August of each year. Issues highlighted in the February 2010 update included air quality/non-attainment/greenhouse gas regulations, climate change, cultural resources/prehistoric and historic properties, landowner and land access issues, ocean dumping of dredged materials, bridges, coastal zone management, scope of project alternatives/statement of purpose and need, and wetlands.

View the February 2011 APP Implementation Plan Attention Items Update >

APP In-State Needs Study Volume 1 and 2

In January 2010, the Alaska Pipeline Project distributed a study of in state natural gas demand - prepared by Northern Economics, of Anchorage - as a part of its open season materials filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The Northern Economics study estimated Alaska utilities would need just 40 million to 100 million cubic feet of gas a day from the North Slope to supplement Cook Inlet supplies and to serve Fairbanks, with any additional Alaska demand coming from future industry that doesn't exist today.

View the APP In State Needs Study >

APP Field Study Update October 2010

"The purpose of this letter is to provide the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with an update on progress related to the gathering of environmental and engineering data, including ongoing field work, for the Alaska Pipeline Project." (Page 1)

View the APP Field Study Update October 2010 Letter >