IGU Pentex decision set for Dec. 5

The Interior Gas Utility has moved the date for its decision on whether to purchase Pentex Natural Gas Co. from Nov. 28 to the IGU board meeting on Dec. 5. During its Nov. 7 meeting the IGU board had indicated a Nov. 28 decision date but, as reported by the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the date was later set to Dec. 5. Jomo Stewart, CEO of IGU, has told Petroleum News that the idea is to allow time for public meetings concerning the purchase in Fairbanks and North Pole on Nov. 21 and 28.

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority currently owns Pentex, which owns gas utility Fairbanks Natural Gas, a liquefied natural gas plant near Point Mackenzie, and a trucking operation for the shipment of LNG by road to Fairbanks. The idea of selling Pentex to IGU is to form a single, consolidated gas utility in Fairbanks, together with the LNG supply arrangements for the city. The consolidated business would expand the LNG plant, to increase the supply of gas for distribution in Fairbanks, with funding for the expansion to come from AIDEA’s Interior Energy Project, a project to bring affordable energy to Fairbanks and the surrounding Interior. The idea is also to encourage the use of natural gas in the city, to improve air quality.

IGU has expressed concerns about some of the terms in Pentex sale documentation which AIDEA has approved. Stewart has confirmed that members of the IGU and AIDEA board are meeting to resolve outstanding issues associated with the sale agreement.

- ALAN BAILEY