Alaska stand-alone pipeline moves along: AGDC's in-state gas pipeline backup plan.

• Author: Bradner, Mike
• Position: OIL & GAS

Alaskans are intently watching the planning for a large forty-two-inch natural gas pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, but there is also a smaller pipeline moving along in the shadow of the giant project. This is the state of Alaska's own "in-state" gas pipeline being pursued as a backup in case the large industry-led project flops, which has happened before.

The Alaska Stand-Alone Alaska Pipeline, or ASAP, is being planned by the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) a state corporation that is also the state entity that would own part of the large gas project if that moves forward. The smaller ASAP is looked on as insurance, offering Alaskans the security that they will be able to get North Slope gas one way or another.

There are similarities between the two projects and huge differences. Both follow roughly the same route parallel to the TAPS line from the North Slope to Interior Alaska and then branching off to Southcentral Alaska on a route generally parallel to the Parks Highway and the Alaska Railroad. Both are also about the same length--the big pipeline would be 800 miles long and end in Nikiski, the site of the proposed LNG plant, while the smaller state pipeline would be 737 miles long and terminate at a junction with the ENSTAR Natural Gas pipeline system in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

The small pipeline isn't exactly small. While its cost is estimated at $7.5 billion to $8 billion, much less than the $45 billion to $65 billion for the big project, it is still a mega-project and would be one the largest US energy projects in years, according to Dan Fauske, CEO of AGDC.

The ASAP plan now is to use a thirty-inch diameter pipe that would operate at a lower pressure and transport mainly "lean" gas, mostly methane, with no natural gas liquids entrained in the gas. A key advantage of the low-pressure, lean gas operating mode is that gas can be taken from the pipeline by communities with relatively little processing, Fauske says. A previous plan for the ASAP pipeline was to operate at higher pressures and to carry natural gas liquids, but this would have required expensive "straddle" plants at take-off points to remove the natural gas liquids from gas to be used locally, he says.

One major difference between the two projects is that the big pipeline serves a large LNG plant with most of the gas being exported as LNG, while the small pipeline is intended, for now, to serve Alaska communities and industry. The...