2013 Alaska Gas Heroes and Zeros

Heroes

(1)   Great Bear Petroleum.  These guys took a fresh look at Alaska’s petroleum resources, invested in their ideas and completed their objectives.  New gas and new oil from Alaskan shale deposits will fill the oil and gas pipelines in the future.  Great job – best wishes for continued success.

(2)    Everyone working at Point Thomson.  Oil and gas from Point Thomson will fill the pipeline(s).  All the hard work at Point Thomson will pay off in the future.

(3)    ExxonMobil & The State of Alaska – Nice job on the Point Thomson settlement.

(4)   Governor Parnell – Ramped up his game in 2012, meeting with North Slope Producers CEOs - Bob Dudley of BP, Jim Mulva of ConocoPhillips and Rex Tillerson of Exxon Mobil.  The Point Thomson settlement cleared the deck and in March 2012 the producers announced that they had aligned. He also hit the road and started talking to LNG customers.

(5)    Pedro van Meurs – Keep on sticking to the math and providing reality checks.

(6)   LNG Buyers – The Alaska Gas project is a nonstarter without LNG Buyers and this year we started seeing Japanese and Korean LNG Buyers enter the picture.  With a bit of luck the buyers will become equity partners and help move the project forward.

(7)    Cheniere Energy & Sasol.  Cheniere is moving forward with a lower 48 LNG export project and Sasol is moving forward with a lower 48 gas-to-liquids (GTL) project.  These types of projects will sponge up lower 48 shale gas, and boost gas prices.  Projects like these lead the way and Alaskans should take note and understand the parameters of real world natural gas success stories (here’s a hint – fiscal certainty).
8)  Combined Cycle Power Plants.  One by one high efficiency combined cycle power plants are coming on line.  These plants will replace aging coal plants over the next decade and consume lots of lower 48 natural gas, which will help build natural gas prices back up to a reasonable level.  Anything the builds lower 48 gas price support helps the Alaska gasline project.  Congrats to TVA for bring the John Sevier Combined Cycle plant online ahead of schedule and below cost.

Zeros

(1)    Matt Damon.  Shale gas hater Damon received funding for his anti-shale gas movie from the United ArabEmirates.  The public discourse about lower 48 shale gas ultimately impacts the price of gas, jobs and the future of gas exports from Alaska.  Bad shale gas law could choke Alaskan shale gas development. The American electorate is about as uninformed, uneducated and mathematically impaired as is possible.  It’s sad to see the simpletons led astray by one of our own funded by those who will profit from our poverty. (Ask me how I really feel!).

(2)   The 2012 presidential campaign.  There was no real discussion of the economic benefits of domestic energy development – a real missed opportunity.  Good policies now could help Alaska in the future. In 2008 I looked forward to 2012, now I’m almost certain that we are in the first years of the idiocracy.

(3)    I could name some other maladroit zeros closer to home, mainly for inaction, but for the time being I’m hopeful that project alignment, real customers and forward momentum will pull them along.

 Good luck in the new year, and work safely.

Go Pedro

The Alaska Dispatch has a good letter from Pedro van Meurs (LINK).  Pedro has replied to the Concerned's invitation to run for Governor.  Both the invitation and the reply are humorous and point to the root cause of Alaska's ongoing failure to build a gas pipeline.  Pedro says:

Alaska has not lifted a finger to attract new investment from a fiscal perspective. In fact, Alaska does not even have useable fiscal terms for heavy oil, shale oil and natural gas that can be published in a simple investor brochure. How can Alaska attract investors in this way when other nations (Canada, Lower 48, Australia, Brazil, et al.) offer attractive well defined terms?

And

Unless substantial policy and fiscal changes are introduced that encourage large scale investment in heavy oil, shale oil and natural gas in Alaska, as is being done in competing jurisdictions, the future of oil and gas production in Alaska is bleak.

Sadly I agree fully with the last paragraph.  At today's gas prices I can't understand why Alaska doesn't take bold action to get things rolling. I know the Alaska constitution says "The legislature shall provide for the utilization, development, and conservation of all natural resources belonging to the State, including land and waters, for the maximum benefit of its people" but too many Alaskans focus on the "maximum benefit" rather than the whole sentence including  "utilization, development".  No gas will ever be utilized or developed unless Alaskans accept what Pedro is telling them.

My idea of a good incentive program is a combination of tax holidays and flat taxes. Pick a flat tax rate for new oil and gas and declare a tax holiday for new oil and gas sales.  Imagine the effort that would go into a gas  pipeline if there was a potential payoff for early completion, otherwise sit back and watch the rest the world trade LNG, develop shale gas resources and build the big pipelines.  Alaskans can cling "maximum benefit"but its really about competing. Pedro tried to warn you.