|
FERC to release Alaska LNG draft EIS; AGDC continues work
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is set to release a draft environmental impact statement for the Alaska LNG project June 28, the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. board was told in a June 20 meeting.
Joe Dubler, AGDC interim president, said the anticipated DEIS release reflects five years of work, 150,000 pages of data submitted by AGDC and 1,738 data requests from FERC.
He also told the board that the financial participation in Alaska LNG by BP and ExxonMobil was the first third-party participation in three years. The companies, he said, are willing to fund a third of fiscal year 2020 costs up to $10 million each. They will also be providing technical assistance for DEIS review and analysis and assistance in evaluating potential cost reduction opportunities, Dubler said.
FERC release Frank Richards, AGDC’s senior vice president of program management, said AGDC is expecting a 90-day public comment period once the DEIS is released. The public comment period is usually 45 days, he said, but because of the size of the project and the distances in Alaska, AGDC is anticipating a 90-day comment period.
Richards said FERC published the June 28 date on the FAST-41 website. AGDC became a FAST-41 project in 2017, triggering a requirement that federal agencies provide schedules. FAST-41, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, is designed to recognize major projects and elevate them in the federal arena, requiring a permitting timetable and a comprehensive schedule for all federal permits.
Once the DEIS is out, FERC will schedule public meetings. It is a FERC process, not an AGDC process, Richards said, and AGDC staff will be at the public meetings to listen to and record comments so that AGDC can address comments as the process progresses.
In addition to working with FERC, the lead agency for the EIS, AGDC also needs permits and authorizations from the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Land Management and National Marine Fisheries, in addition to a host of other federal, state and local agencies.
Commercial AFE Authorizations for expenditure approved in the past expire June 30, and the board was presented with new AFEs at the meeting.
For the commercial side, the AFE is $5 million for FY20, Leisa Wilcox, AGDC’s vice president of commercial and economic, told the board. This AFE is for short-term work, Wilcox said, noting that BP and ExxonMobil will step in to fund part of the work and AGDC needs to set up a procedure to handle accounting procedures for that.
Dubler told the board he didn’t know what the agreement would look like for FY20 but said it won’t be a joint venture. There will be no equity transfers associated with the agreement, he said: AGDC will remain 100% owned by the state. He said it is a cost-sharing agreement only and is more mechanical in nature, addressing how bills will be prepared, for example.
Wilcox said the parties are aligned on the principles and outline of the agreement and said she didn’t expect any big surprises.
Dubler said if the agreement wasn’t completed by July 1 all work between July 1 and completion of the agreement would be subject to reimbursement.
Technical, regulatory Discussing the $15 million AFE for technical and regulatory work, Richards said this was continuing work to address concerns and do any field work required. He said it also included continued work with the memorandum of understanding partners, BP and ExxonMobil, to look at potential cost reductions.
The project management team will be significantly reduced from last year, Richards said.
FY20 work is focused on obtaining the FERC order authorizing construction of the Alaska LNG project, he said, including: responding to items identified by FERC in the public comment period; addressing FERC engineering and environmental data requests; conducting any necessary field work; completing the FERC National Environmental Policy Act environmental review and receiving authorization to construct.
- KRISTEN NELSON
|
