is the alaska pipeline still in use 2023is the alaska pipeline still in use 2023

Changes like these will make drilling in the Arctic, already one of the most expensive places in the world to extract oil, only costlier. If that demand is not there, weve taken that sole risk., Lisa Friedman reports on federal climate and environmental policy from Washington. Read his newsletter, Northern Journal, at natherz.substack.com. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton. Will there be demand for the oil in years to come, as renewable power like solar and wind becomes cheaper and more widespread? A pump station blew up in 1977, spilling 300 barrels of oil. Now is the time to ask whats being done about it, Weimer said, referring to the effect of global warming on pipeline safety. And as it has . The Biden administration modified the previous approval to prohibit venting of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide associated with the project into the atmosphere. Natural Resources Commissioner Corri Feige said she has full faith that ConocoPhillips and Oil Search will reach an agreement over road access, and adds that she does not expect the issue to be a significant factor in Pikkas development. In response, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources has approved the use of about 100 thermosyphonstubes that suck heat out of permafrostto keep the frozen slope in place and prevent further damage to the pipelines support structure. When oil began flowing south from . about four times as fast as the rest of the globe. ConocoPhillips Willow field awaits a contested permitting decision from the Biden administration before construction can begin. Executives at ConocoPhillips are building an operation to last generations with, perhaps, an eye toward even further expansion inside the reserve at a later date. "The Alaska Permanent Fund [dividend] is the closest thing we have to a real-world UBI," says Jesse Rothstein, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley. Alaska ranks fourth in the nation in natural gas gross withdrawals, most of . Permafrost changes were anticipated during the original design, she said. Eli Saslow, who writes narrative features, relied on court records, police reports and dozens of in-person interviews to report this story in Oklahoma City. It appears officials in Alaskas gas line agency are starting from scratch in their effort to secure more than $4 billion in federal money to jumpstart the Alaska LNG Project. FERC approved construction in 2020. Alaska government officials have launched their own lobbying effort to push back against the anti-Arctic campaign, with Senate President Peter Micciche and Revenue Commissioner Lucinda Mahoney discussing the issue with financial institutions in New York City last week. So its the responsibility of the operator to be ahead of the threats, Kuprewicz said. Prior to joining ICN, Hasemyer had an award-wining tenure at The San Diego Union-Tribune as an investigative reporter. (Mark Thiessen / AP). But the Australian Financial Review reported last month that Santos has partnered with investment bankers to pitch its entire 51% stake in the project to rival oil and gas companies and private equity firms, including major North Slope players like Hilcorp and ConocoPhillips. The design philosophy is, If its frozen, keep it frozen, he said. But, in the last few decades, permafrost temperatures in Alaska have warmed as much as 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit, and the states average temperature isprojected to increase by 2 to 4 degrees more by the middle of the century. The celebration was a major step in the ongoing development of the Evermore Orlando Resort, which broke ground in 2021. The company said in a statement its committed to operating in Alaska for decades to come., At Milne Point, production has more than doubled since Hilcorp became operator in 2015, primarily due to increased Schrader Bluff viscous oil production, said a statement from Luke Saugier, senior vice president for Hilcorp Alaska. That decision the green light on whether to actually build the development is currently scheduled for the middle of this year. Driving a ConocoPhillips road that leads to drilling sites. By. TAPS is one of the world's largest pipeline systems. ConocoPhillips is the only company that is drilling inside the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, 23 million acres set aside in 1923 by the federal government as an emergency oil supply for the Navy. More about Erin Schaff, A version of this article appears in print on, In Pristine Alaska, an Oil Giant Prepares to Drill for Decades, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/06/climate/willow-alaska-oil-biden.html. A ConocoPhillips oil drilling pad on Alaskas North Slope. Russia has been flooding Asian markets with cheap Urals and ESPO crudes. If the support structures begin to sink or lean; thats the big concern, Strupulis said. Oil money pays for a range of things, including a new basketball floor at the recreation center in Utqiagvik and heating bills for Nuiqsut residents. Combined, the fields have the estimated potential during their peak production to add more than 250,000 barrels daily to Alaska production. Scientists say nations must stop new oil and gas projects to avoid climate catastrophe. But the North Slope Borough job postings in the villages post office advertise nearly $30 an hour for waste collectors, well-paying jobs that indirectly result from oil and gas operations. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. AGDC has not yet reached a final investment decision on the project. Knowledge awaits. Even if leadership in Alaska and Washington, D.C., can reach a philosophical compromise over what energy is clean enough to warrant federal support, there currently is no legislative avenue to fund the Alaska LNG pipeline absent an earmark newly revived by Congress last month because there is no existing federal pipeline development program, according to delegation staff. Alyeska is installing approximately 100 free-standing thermosyphons 40 to 60 feet into the ground. Neither ConocoPhillips nor Santos would comment on the developments surrounding Pikka. Russia plans to start at end-2023 the first of three lines at its Arctic LNG-2 project, which is among the world's largest LNG facilities. For a few years, until the oil starts flowing, Willow could even have a small negative impact on state revenues. Global warming presents other economic challenges as well. Willow is on federal land, which means that Washington will receive royalties but that Alaska will be able to directly collect only oil-production taxes, which would be offset by company tax deductions for expenses. Thats in part because it ties into existing pipelines and other infrastructure that doesnt have to be built new, and it would also create its electricity with cleaner-burning natural gas generators. Mike Dunleavys proposal to seek a federal subsidy to support private investment in the project, at least not under President Joe Bidens $2 trillion infrastructure plan. He is co-author of the Dilbit Disaster: Inside the Biggest Oil Spill You've Never Heard Of, which won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and co-authored the 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist series "Exxon: The Road Not Taken." Create your free account or Sign in to continue. In comments submitted to the state, Conoco argued that Oil Searchs plant, combined with emissions from Conocos own infrastructure in the area, would cause air pollution to exceed allowable levels and potentially interfere with Conocos operations in the same area. Leak is latest of Alaska's pipeline woes. Explore our digital archive back to 1845, including articles by more than 150 Nobel Prize winners. Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. Oil Search, which was based in Papua New Guinea, bought Armstrongs stake in an $850 million deal announced in late 2017. Western sanctions on Russian crude following its invasion of Ukraine have upended those plans. In its application to the state, Alyeska confirmed thawing permafrost posed a threat. Assessing an access fee for access and use of gravel roads on state lands does not promote exploration or development.. Now, the focus of the dispute has turned to the issue of road access, and under what terms Oil Search can access Pikka by using the gravel roads that Conoco has built on land it has leased from the state for its own existing oil developments. The implications of this speak to the pipelines integrity and the effect climate change is having on pipeline safety in general.. A ConocoPhillips oil drilling site glowing at dusk, seen from Nuiqsut. Its been just days since the Biden administration approved an $8 billion project to drill for oil in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, the nations single largest expanse of untouched wilderness. Versions of the Alaska LNG project have been discussed for decades, but the project has mostly failed to get traction because of its high cost. This marks only the fifth yearly increase since 1988, when Alaska oil production peaked at more than 2 million barrels daily, four times more than today, according to Alyeska pipeline data. The pipeline was built to flex and absorb some movement, especially from seismic activity, without failing. Customers within the impacted areas are instructed to bring tap water to a rolling boil for one minute and allow cooling before using or use bottled water . Generally, Egan said, planning for and responding to changing permafrost conditions has been important to Alyeska since before construction of the pipeline in the mid-1970s. Eventually oil is going to go away, even if theres still some to produce.. Alaska's oil production in 2020 was over 75 percent less than the state's peak production of over 2 million barrels per day in 1988. 6/28/2023 Evening Report. 1 oil customer, the United States. Operators need to understand this new world being brought about by climate change, he said. Deluxe Dome Railcar journey between Talkeetna and Denali. [Protesters rally at White House calling administration to block Willow oil project in Alaska]. Alaska LNG includes a liquefaction facility on the Kenai Peninsula in southern Alaska and a proposed 807-mile (1,300-km) pipeline to move gas stranded in northern Alaska across the state. Demand is a huge part of it, and we take that sole risk. According to the staffers, Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Act passed in 2004 still contains $18 billion in federal loan authority for an Alaska gas pipeline, but it is only for a project. On Monday, a federal judge denied their request to block work while they pursue the legal challenge. Thermal erosion can occur at any time during a discharge, containment, recovery, and final cleanup period, according to the companys plan. The LNG would be exported mainly to countries in Asia. The pipeline's main arm from Prudhoe Bay on Alaska's northern shore to the ice-free port of Valdez in the south of the peninsula would cut through this land between two national reserves, the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR) east of Prudhoe Bay, and the US Navy Petroleum Reserve in the west, which had been federal land since the 1920s. [1/2]A pipe yard servicing government-owned oil pipeline operator Trans Mountain is seen in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada June 7, 2021. (Bill Roth / ADN), State oil and gas leases do not entitle the holder to exclusive use of associated lands, Oil Search Senior Vice President Joe Balash, a former state natural resources commissioner, wrote in his permit application letter. Another Canadian trader said regulatory delays and environmental opposition have also made TMX less lucrative for producers than it could have been a few years ago. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. Although the Biden administration reduced the size of ConocoPhillipss original plan, Willow will have a footprint of almost 500 acres and at its peak could generate about 180,000 barrels of oil a day. You cant see it day-by-day, but year-by-year you notice these pipelines arent straight anymore, he said. Assessing pipelines to determine if years-old structural designs can withstand the changing conditions and accelerated rate of permafrost thaw is prudent, he said. The Biden administration is trying to approve more U.S. LNG exports as it competes with Russia, traditionally one of the world's largest energy exporters. The Grassley/Comer Claim. The giant oil patch has seen dwindling production for decades, with its primary field at Prudhoe Bay aging. To safeguard the pipeline from possible collapse, the pipeline operator, Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, was granted permission earlier this year by the natural resources department to construct the passive cooling system to arrest the thaw of permafrost that is essential to locking the supports in the ground and keeping the slope from slumping or sliding. Pikka would produce 80,000 barrels a day from its first phase, with the possibility of expansion. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. Ross said it was the second U.S. approval of a "fossil fuel mega-project" in as many months. Like. I believe in the promise of what Alaska has to offer as a strategic tool for the United States to win the future of the most important region in the world, the Indo-Pacific, Emanuel said. About April 26, 2021 Oil production in Alaska reaches lowest level in more than 40 years Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Petroleum Supply Monthly Crude oil production in Alaska averaged 448,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2020, the lowest level of production since 1976. The frames that hold the pipeline, called vertical support members, look like a capital H with the pipeline resting on the cross stroke. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. The construction mode and method of pipe support are designed to maintain the integrity of the pipeline and minimize impacts to the environment.. Alyeska recognizes permafrost can act as a barrier to the spread of spilled oil just as it has acted for decades to prevent the release of toxic substances from Alaskan landfills, former military installations and a Superfund site. Mike Dunleavys administration nonetheless approved an easement for the seawater plant in December. The Biden administration undertook an environmental review of Alaska LNG, concluding it has economic and international security benefits and that opponents had failed to show the exports were not in the "public interest.". While permitting on the project has moved forward, critics like Larry Persily, former federal coordinator of Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects, say the cost and time required to build the pipeline are still prohibitive, and existing sources elsewhere in the world remain more competitive. Theres higher principles at play here than two companies, neither of which is based in Alaska, disagreeing about commercial aspects of their various projects, Mack said. But supporters argue that Russias invasion of Ukraine last year has added new uncertainty to world natural gas markets and Alaskas project could provide stability. to data kept by the Alaska Climate Research Center, projected to increase by 2 to 4 degrees more by the middle of the century, study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, Fracking Sludge in Open Pits Goes Unmonitored as Health Worries Mount [Video], How Climate Change May Influence Deadly Avalanches. It has been Alaskas most promising project lately, as the other major development on the North Slopes horizon, Conocos Willow prospect, has been delayed by litigation and a new Biden administration environmental review. The Biden administration last month approved the ConocoPhillips (COP.N) $7 billion Willow oil and gas drilling project on Alaska's North Slope. Pikkas prospects were announced several years ago by a renowned wildcatter, Bill Armstrong. The thaw is coming. The effects can be seen throughout the region that surrounds the reserve: in flooded ice cellars that can no longer preserve caribou and whale meat. More about Clifford Krauss, Erin Schaff is a staff photographer for The Times, based in Washington. The fallout from a merger deal and a multimillion-dollar dispute with ConocoPhillips over road access are threatening to snag one of Alaska's biggest new North Slope oil developments. About three quarters of the 800-mile pipeline, which opened in 1977 and runs from Prudhoe Bay in the north to Valdez on Prince William Sound in the south, passes through terrain with permafrost. Alaska LNG includes a liquefaction facility on the Kenai Peninsula in southern Alaska and a proposed 807-mile (1,300-km) pipeline to move gas stranded in northern Alaska across the state. A drill rig works for Repsol at its Colville Delta operations in 2014. (Business Wire). Source: Energy Information Administration. The state is heating uptwice as fast as the global average, which is driving the thawing of permafrost that the oil industry must keep frozen to maintain the infrastructure that allows it to extract more of the fossil fuels that cause the warming. For fun, teenagers on snowmobiles drove along empty streets, towing younger kids tethered to sleds behind them. Experts say that Conoco would be an obvious possible buyer, as Pikka is between two of the companys existing fields, Alpine and Kuparuk. A ConocoPhillips oil drilling pad on Alaskas North Slope.Credit Lisa Friedman and Erin Schaff traveled to the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska to examine the controversial Willow project. Permafrost is ground that has remained completely frozen for at least two years straight and is found beneath nearly 85 percent of Alaska. Contact: +1 202-380-8348. Estimates place the price tag for construction at around $40 billion. Sitting in his living room while his girlfriend cut fresh caribou into strips for jerky, Mr. Kunaknana said the oil industry had hurt fishing, changed caribou migration patterns, made it harder to hunt and harmed the air quality in the village. Synergies between Pikka and the Kuparuk field would likely lower Conocos construction costs compared to Oil Search, said Janet Weiss, a former top BP executive in Alaska. Elwood Brehmer is a reporter for the Alaska Journal of Commerce. Deet'laa', Swanson, Blind, Basco, Sword, Leonard, Still, Tanana, and Mission; (2) Subdistrict 5-B consists of the Yukon River drainage from the . Industry observers said the annual increase is a positive sign, though it doesnt meaningfully change the long-term slide in Alaska oil production. Russia is under pressure from Western sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine, and the U.S. has boosted LNG exports to Europe after Moscow cut gas pipeline shipments to the continent. "We think a disproportionate amount of those volumes are going actually to PADD 5 (the U.S. West Coast), staying within North America instead of Asia," said John Coleman, principal analyst of North American crude markets at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. Riding in a van across the blindingly white territory, Mr. Dunn and five other ConocoPhillips employees said that they understood that fossil fuels are heating the planet and that they wanted to be part of the transition to clean energy. A segment of the trans-Alaska pipeline photographed along the Richardson Highway between Glennallen and Delta Junction on May 13, 2020. You see it pretty much on all of the pipelines, he said. Alex DeMarban is a longtime Alaska journalist who covers business, the oil and gas industries and general assignments. A new backbone is on the way to Fuhs' home turf, with GCI installing the $58 million AU-Aleutians Fiber Project, connecting Unalaska to the high-speed data network. Conoco, in previous correspondence with the department, said the state cannot order the company to make its roads through the Kuparuk River Unit, or KRU, available to Oil Search without compensation. While the thawing and subsidence are usually too gradual and incremental to draw attention, the result is increasingly obvious, he said. [ConocoPhillips Alaska employees evacuated due to prolonged natural gas leak on the North Slope]. President Biden on Wednesday signed a sweeping executive order that revokes a key permit for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, halts oil and gas leasing at a wildlife refuge in Alaska and. Russia has consistently insisted it would not extend the deal for a fourth time . Timothy reports on energy and environment policy and is based in Washington, D.C. His coverage ranges from the latest in nuclear power, to environment regulations, to U.S. sanctions and geopolitics. In Nuiqsut, a village of about 500 people and the closest town to the site of the drilling project, the only hotel is booked solid. Maybe it's the lack of windows. State level lawmakers consumed by navigating the pandemic and the states structural budget problems have spent little time evaluating the most recent Alaska LNG funding scheme since it was first publicized but the federal subsidy request was met with skepticism in the one Senate hearing that covered the topic. What does that mean for Alaska?]. But others are more optimistic about its fate, and the future of Alaskas fossil fuels. Temperatures that can thaw permafrost are more common in the region where the stabilization work is being done than in the Arctic, hundreds of miles to the north, he said. Conoco added that if Oil Search uses KRU roads without an agreement, Conoco has practical physical measures and legal remedies that it could use as necessary. Oil Search and Repsol, a minority owner in the project, have both touted the fact that the greenhouse gas emissions tied to Pikkas construction and operations would be lower than that of most other projects around the world. On the snowy tundra at the northernmost tip of the United States, more than two dozen yellow dump trucks wait on a glistening ice pad. The pipeline is 800 miles long and four feet in diameter. Publicly, Santos officials have said theyre focused on advancing Pikka toward a final investment decision, which they describe as the best way to maximize the projects value whether its ultimately sold off to another company or advanced to construction as a Santos project. 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AGDC President Frank Richards said when the idea was formally pitched to the corporation board of directors in early February that leaders of the state-owned corporation were in confidential negotiations with a world-class pipeline operator to potentially lead the pipeline portion of the integrated North Slope gas-to-pipeline-to-LNG effort and also contribute the remaining roughly $1.5 billion for construction of the first pipeline phase. With negotiations between the two companies stalled, Oil Search is now trying another tactic: It applied last month for a miscellaneous land use permit from the Department of Natural Resources that would authorize the company to travel on Conocos roads. Russian environmental authorities estimated it will take 10 years to clean up the spill. The installation of the heat pipes builds on an obvious irony. Alaska Oil and Gas Association (AOGA) President and CEO Kara Moriarty explains that a variety of products are made from Alaska oil at in-state refineries. Mike Dunleavys administration hinges, at least initially, on a federal subsidy to cover 75 percent of the nearly $6 billion Alaska Gasline Development Corp. officials believe it would cost to construct a large-diameter gas line from Prudhoe Bay to Fairbanks. On March 13, the Biden administration approved the controversial Willow Project in Alaska . Few of Willows projected 2,500 construction jobs or 300 permanent jobs will go to Nuiqsut residents, in part because the work schedule interferes with the subsistence hunting and fishing that is central to the Inupiaq community here, several residents said. ConocoPhillips has years of expertise at drilling in the Arctic, one of the most hostile environments for nearly any activity imaginable. Energy & Environment Another big Alaska fossil fuel project gets Biden team's blessing The $40 billion export project would be the second major fossil fuel initiative in the state to have stalled. While still in concept only, the $2 trillion-plus infrastructure plan unveiled by President Joe Biden at the end of March makes no mention of pipelines and discussion about natural gas infrastructure is limited to $16 billion for plugging and abandoning orphaned oil and gas wells and mines. The fact is there is a problem with subsidence, said DeRuyter, who retired last year after 24 years with the state agency. It would make a lot of sense if theyre talking to Conoco, Weiss said. Sam Kunaknana, right, in Nuiqsut with his girlfriend, Ren Opie, who was preparing caribou meat to make jerky. Alaska's proved crude oil reserves of 3.2 billion barrels are the fourth largest of any state. "A lot of our lunch has been eaten by the Russians and Middle Eastern countries like Iraq," he said. 7-Day Alaska Cruise + 7 Day Pre or Post-Cruise Land Tour including overnights in Homer, Anchorage, Denali and Fairbanks. An above-ground section of the trans-Alaska pipeline in the North Slope Borough. The mayor headed to the small airport to pick up the medicine and supplies that arrive once a day on a six-seater from Deadhorse. An ice road leading to the village of Nuiqsut. Natural gas from the Point Thomson field wont be heading to Fairbanks under Gov. You have pipelines that were built level and are now starting to wobble.. A community gym in Utqiagvik paid for by BP and ConocoPhillips. Conoco responded with its own proposal that could have required Oil Search to pay more than $600 million over a 30-year period, or more than $20 million a year, Oil Search said. Alaska Public Media 2023. But continuing to educate them to that fact will make a difference. Brad Keithley, a former oil and gas attorney, said Alaska oil flow could increase sharply if two giant new discoveries begin production. Caribou near ConocoPhillips oil pipelines, which are elevated to allow herds to pass beneath. Conoco deferred to Alyeska for comment; Hilcorp and Exxon did not respond to questions about the pipeline. The fields would improve the states fiscal position by injecting new revenues into the budget, Persily said. Alaska's coffers become richer by $900 million . The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. Clean-up of a spill along the pipeline would also threaten to accelerate more permafrost thawing, Alyeska said in itsemergency response plansfiled with federal and state regulators. Reach her atkgeorge@alaskapublic.org. Aboard a plane carrying oil workers to Alpine. And though AGDC leaders have pitched the project as a cleaner source of energy to displace coal, particularly in Asian markets, Dunleavy has taken a highly adversarial approach to addressing his dislike of the Biden administrations energy policies while at the same time seeking billions of dollars in construction funding for the pipeline. This is a wake-up call, said Carl Weimer, a special projects advisor forPipeline Safety Trust, a nonprofit watchdog organization based in Bellingham, Washington.