Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration plans to work with oil companies to determine in the next 60 days whether the Alaska gasline project makes economic sense. The time frame was laid out by Brett Huber, Dunleavy’s senior policy adviser on energy issues.
“We’ve just entered into a cooperative agreement with the companies to take a look at this and … to try to get an economic answer, that viewpoint — within the next 60 days,” Huber said, adding: “It could be sooner than that.”
Huber was with Dunleavy and other senior administration officials at CERAWeek, a conference for oil executives and investors in Houston, Texas. Huber said investors need more information on whether the project pencils out.
“You have to really breach that economic hurdle before you can have serious, substantial investor talks,” Huber said. “All investors are going to expect us to have done that due diligence, and they’re certainly going to do it on their own.”
Huber and Dunleavy spoke to reporters in a conference call on Thursday. The governor said he didn’t hear much interest in Alaska’s gasline at the conference.
“The supply appears to be greater almost daily in terms of gas,” Dunleavy said. “And there’s so much volume down south here that in some locales, it’s difficult moving the gas.”
Dunleavy said he did hear interest from companies in investing in North Slope oil.
Andrew Kitchenman is the state government and politics reporter for Alaska Public Media and KTOO in Juneau. Reach him at akitchenman@alaskapublic.org.
