Major players spring surprise joint pipeline venture: BP Alaska and ConocoPhillips Alaska will start this summer.

• Author: Lavrakas, Dimitra
• Position: Late-Breaking News At Press Time

BP Alaska and ConocoPhillips Alaska's surprise conference April 8 upped the ante on the development of an Alaska gasline from the North Slope.

Combining resources to start a new company for the project: Denati--The Alaska Gas Pipeline, ConocoPhillips Alaska President Jim Bowles and BP Alaska President Doug Sutttles said the pipeline will move approximately four billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to markets.

"That's 6 to 8 percent of the entire U.S. demand for gas," said Bowles. "That's significant.."

The companies plan to spend $600 million to reach the project's first marker--an open season targeted for commencing before year-end 2010. This summer field work will begin.

The line would run from Prudhoe Bay, down the Alaska Highway to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory in Canada, and then to Alberta, Canada. There is a possibility the line might...