Mackenzie Pipeline Leaders "Optimistic"

From Bloomberg:

Imperial Oil Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Bruce March, head of Canada's largest oil company, said he's the most optimistic he has been in the past five years about the chances of the Mackenzie gas pipeline proceeding.

``We're very committed to the project and we're probably more optimistic than we've been in the last five or six years,'' said March.

Building the proposed 1,220-kilometer (758-mile) pipeline has been marred by regulatory delays and surging costs. Calgary- based Imperial, head of the conduit's development group, in 2007 doubled its cost estimate for the project and pushed back the target completion date by three years to 2014. (LINK)

The cost are up, the schedule has move to the right, there are regulatory delays.  There are a lot of lessons here for the Alaska Gas Pipeline.

Mackenzie Pipeline Enjoys `Head Start'

Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice says the Imperial Oil Ltd.'s Mackenzie pipeline project has cleared most regulatory hurdles and has a ``head start'' over a competing project in Alaska.

The Mackenzie pipeline capacity is about 25% of the capacity of the planned Alaska Gas Pipeline.

Calgary-based Imperial, is 70 percent-owned by Exxon Mobil Corp. Other partners in the Canadian project include Exxon Mobil, Shell Canada Ltd., ConocoPhillips and the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, which represents some northern native bands.

This project will compete with the both planned Alaska pipelines (TransCanada AGIA, and ConocoPhillips BP Denali) for customers, steel, engineers and craft labor. Unlike the plannned Alaska pipelines, the Mackenzie passes the "Is Exxon Happy" test.