Fairbanks task force to study gas line proposals
Originally published Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 12:00 a.m.
Updated Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 7:51 a.m.
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — Securing a steady supply of natural gas for Fairbanks will be critical for the Interior’s economic stability and would offset two needs that have become imperatives — the demand for lower-cost energy and the ability to meet stringent air quality standards.
Borough Mayor Jim Whitaker offered that as a starting point to a room of about 75 people interested in a new task force charged with studying various gas line proposals and building a body of knowledge about all things gas that could help locals make solid decisions.
The task force faces an aggressive timeline. Jim Dodson, CEO of Fairbanks Economic Development Corp., said he would like to see a final report before the community by Jan. 1, in advance of the next legislative session.
The task force falls under FEDC’s think-tank, the Interior Issues Council. About 20 people signed on after the meeting Wednesday, and they could get to work as soon as next week, Dodson said. He expects to work with a consultant for project management and, ideally, expertise in state gas issues.
At the meeting launching the task force, several key players weighed in with brief updates on their projects. Offering comments were Enstar Natural Gas Co. president Colleen Starring; Anadarko’s Alaska spokesman, Mark Hanley; several state lawmakers; and Fairbanks Natural Gas president Dan Britton.
Hanley said Fairbanks clearly has multiple delivery options, but that the examination should go a step further.
“One of the things your task force ought to look at are supply options,” he urged.
If the company’s exploration of gas reservoirs at the Gubik field are deemed commercial, the gas might not reach markets before 2016, he said.
While various pipelines have been proposed, none are guaranteed. Whitaker, Dodson and University of Alaska Fairbanks Chancellor Brian Rogers pushed Fairbanks to gather the information needed to decide which, if any, projects should enjoy the community’s full support — and, alternatively, what other gas line solutions haven’t been considered yet.
“We have an obligation to take care of ourselves,” Whitaker said. “There is the dramatic need to do something that is in our best interest as a community.”
Action, however, could be a little way off. The major pipeline proposals estimate flowing gas is several to 10 years away.
“I’ll pop the champagne cork for the one that gets here first,” Whitaker said.
He urged the task force to develop a matrix comparing the projects to a local energy plan adopted two years ago and evaluating those concepts on how well plans address the high costs of energy and air quality requirements. Another deliverable could be a report on market and political considerations and potential state benefits.
A report could come into play as early as the 2009 legislative session. If an entity tries to advance its project before lawmakers, the task force’s conclusions could serve as a platform from which Fairbanks’ leaders could offer support or alternatives, Dodson said.
Sen. Gene Therriault, a North Pole Republican, said lawmakers can help by clearing a path free of “official roadblocks” so Alaskans can benefit from Alaska’s resources.
Sen. Charlie Huggins, a Republican from Wasilla, chairs senate committees on resources and on energy. He said in-state gas is a top priority and urged the task force to broaden its circle and leverage another resource, state energy czar Steve Haagenson, who is working on an Alaska energy plan.
That could avoid regionalizing energy solutions.
“We’re interdependent,” Huggins said. “If we boilerplate this down to regional interests, once again, we will be the loser.”
Community Discussion
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Geeez!!! Why do you guys always wait until the last minute??
...this project could have been done in 1975 or earlier...(;-P)
This proposal is off the table because it's too good to be true..
...or is it???
http://s281.photobucket.com/albums/kk209...
A 24" HDPE/PEX 300psi CNG plastic-bullet line from N-Slope to Beluga can be built for under $50/foot..
... Total cost= LESS THAN $500mil.
Properly managed in phased construction this project can amortize in 3-7 years without complex financing.
This style of gasline construction is amazingly quick to deploy..
..once the pipe sections are pre-staged in 10 storage yards they can be deployed as fast as--->
100,000 feet of fully welded/fused gasline per day.
..How's that possible ??
100', 500', up to 2000' long sections can be towed thru the snow to final position by a light-tracked vehicle or dozer from the pipe-storage yard.
During mid-winter a scheduled batch of gas-condensate ETHANE C2H6 and propane C3H8 can be shipped through this gasline to underground storage in Beluga. Most of the propane can be stripped out of this batch in Fairbanks for distribution in the interior. Some of the propane can be shipped to places like Kodiak.
In warmer weather 300psi [1200psi burst] HDPE/PEX-pipe can be used to ship CNG, propane, syngas/towngas, GTL-syndiesel, even coal-slurry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPe2rXTte...
The ethane that gets stored underground in Beluga will become feedstock for manufacturing more HDPE/PEX-pellet for making more 24" polypipe.
This polypipe can be used to build a gas infrastructure backbone for the whole state.
[Fiberoptic everywhere too]
From Eagle to Emmonak a cluster of 24" gaslines can be easily deployed up and down the length of the Yukon River..
http://s281.photobucket.com/albums/kk209...
I can help now with getting this project rolling because I can help source the required equipment overseas and arrange for airfreight/ocean export [Licensed Exporter]
Reliability in Network Redundancy...
A robust multi-pipe statewide polypipe gasline network will ship gas cheaper per ton/mile than steel-pipelines can. Total network throughput can easily exceed the capacity of one big megapipeline at a fraction of the cost..with first gas to market 5years quicker.
Great
Another Task Force....maybe next we can have more committee hearings or yet another type of discussion!
Enough with the endless BS - just build the damn thing
DistantThunder - Where has a project using your method been done? How long has it been available? Looks good in concept, have the labor unions with their demands been factored in? How do they get their cut if this can all be done so quickly and easily?
Let the blind lead the blind, the Jim and Jim show, if this is our hope for the future we are in DEEP do do..... Study, Task Force, are we really PAYING these jokers?
crosswind ------
Q: Where has a project using your method been done?
A: Worldwide for the past 30years Poly-gasline dominated the market for smaller pipe-sizes.
Since 1995 design advances in polypipe have been occurring rapidly making it compete favorably with steel-pipe in larger sizes. Although it has yet to totally dominate steel in handling 2500psi pressures in sizes over 12" diameter, in many cases the installed cost savings of plastic-gaslines make shipping CNG thru polypipe amortize quicker than shipping dense-phase hi-pressure liquid-methane thru big expensive steel-pipelines.
There are now many different styles of polypipe-gasline.
RTP-gasline is often used over&over again in many field-ops worldwide... Soluforce is one of several RTP-gaspipe brands::
http://www.soluforce.net/
HDPE/PEX p-pipe is commonly used for many different gas-gathering operations. Coalbed-Methane, Landfill-Methane..
Lake-methane...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa3M4ou3k...
Landfill-methane...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dPrwKekR...
Petrobras in Brasil has deployed many thousands of kilometers of plastic gas-gathering pipe 2500'deep on the floor of the South Atlantic Ocean.
ASTM-D2513 NFPA-58 rated HDPE/PEX-polygasline can be made with PE2508 thermopolymer-pellet and other additives to make a robust arctic-grade pipe. Simple PE80&PE100 pipe-grades have seen rigorous arctic testing worldwide [Canada,Norway,Sweden,Russia]and after 50years some polypipe is still in service shipping gas.
Q: Labor Unions ??
Yeah, I was gonna unionize all the girls-athletic teams to do polypipe because it's so lightweight it takes intuitive-teamwork, agility, endurance, and fast-feet to keep the pace of poly-construction.
Fortunately I've factored in enough financial fudge factor to be able to pay all the porky-old-guys to stay at home, drive the kids nuts, drink beer, go 4-wheelin', prospect, hunt, man the militia, and "manage things"...with full medical bennies too...(;-P)
But if the old-farts wanna stay in shape by trying to keep up with the girls during a white-out they'll need to bring a note from their wife or mother.
OK task force members...please look into the Nenana Basin as a prospect for Fairbanks gas. It's about 35 miles SW of Fairbanks, so its way closer than Cook Inlet or North Slope gas. Prelimary work has been done by Andex resources who pulled out in 2006. (There was a big tax debate going on at the time aimed at North Slope gas, but the unintended consequence was that Andex felt there was a chance that if they had found gas that they would have to pay taxes on it until they raised enough capital to develop it, so they pulled out.) Doyon (and maybe Usibelli) were partners that could provide leads on the seismic work that's already done. It's not a slam dunk, but enough work has been done that one or two well placed exploration wells could tell us all a lot. Before spending millions to design a $5 billion coal gasification plant at Eilson (did somebody tell me it was going to cost $10 million to design the plant?), let's use a portion of that to see if we have gas outside of town...
I agree with AKGUY, Task forces are about as useful as udders on a boar pig. The Knik Arm Bridge was studied to death in the 1970s & 1980s, when the State was swimming in oil money and Enstar, ML&P and the Alaska Railroad were willing to help pay for the bridge so that it could be used to support electrical and gas services and a rail line.
In the end, after millions were spent on studies, the reports were shelved, and the oil money went by by. Most of the studies were done by out of state firms that are good at milking the system and not building anything.
Hi Mike s.
Glad you weighed in on the milking of the system. Anybody wanting to accomplish something better watch for the vultures circling and the wolves prowling. Glad you're on the job.
...more about Labor and Alaska-polypipe--->
Throwing around a few thousand miles of spaghetti-pipe is the fun and easy part of the total project. Building the plastics-industry that supports this Flying Spaghetti Monster is where Labor will find long-term sustainable (and often fun) employment all over the state, not just in the Railbelt.
I stand firm in my support for all of the Alaska construction Trades [being a former member myself].. Local-1547, Local 942, Local 1555, Local 1243, Local 1501, Local 1281, Local 367, Local 867, Local 959, Local 751 [did I miss anybody?.. probably did]
Starting now building the secondary statewide gas-&-fiberoptic infrastructure will help Alaskans avoid the boom/bust crunch. Small, but rapidly increasing amounts of gas can be pipelined into the interior without having to wait for the Mythical-Megapipe to show up.
First one, then two-dozen.. smaller-rapid plastic-gaslines passing gas over the Brooks Range to the YuKoy Basin, then on into the Railbelt will begin returning a profit within the first 6months. This positive cashflow will be the bootstrap-financing needed in these uncertain economic times...
I think it's much better to have Gas&Gold in the ground than Money in the Bank.
[ it's a longshot, but it might be possible to start this whole project with just $500k..(and a lotta flimflam) am I gonna have to sell my house??]
With even the first 30mile gasline extension over Atigun, the project will create a handful of sustainable and permanent job positions paying the prevailing wage. The new energy/power it provides will boost the profitability of the local mines and other industries[big & small], adding accelerating momentum to the Alaskan economy when the rest of the world is busy reworking decades of failed economic policy.
It doesn't matter how much money the Fed prints up out of thin air, it's more important to keep the fuel in the tank while working for greater mechanical-efficiency, otherwise we all go back to the old ways of our beloved ancestors.
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