Fairbanks Economic Develpment Corporation

Gas Line Options

There are three main options to the Natural Gas Pipeline (NGP) currently actively or passively discussed: the Northern Route, the Southern Route and All Alaska Route.

To help you understand the difference, we simplified the exisiting information about the options in the table below.

OPTION	ROUTE	SPONSORS	ADVANTAGES	DISADVANTAGES
Northern Route	Originates in Prudoe Bay, goes offshore to the Mackenzie River Delta, ends in Alberta	Oil producers	Producers: Cheaper construction, 343 miles shorter than the Southern Route. Can potentially connect to Canadian pipeline. Alaska: Not many	Producers: Not a leagal option currently since it goes through the state land that prohibits the right-of-way. Alaska: Does not provide gas to Alaska's commuinities. Potentially decreases the input of the Prudoe bay branch because of the competiting gas from Mackinzie fields.
Southern Route	Originates in Prudoe Bay, parallels Dalton Highway south to Fairbanks, parallels Alaska highway, terminates in Chicago	Oil producers, Governor's office	Producers: Can potentially connect to existing Canadian pipelines. Reaches the final market in Canada and Lower 48. Alaska: More significant construction activity in Alaska. Easier access of Alaska's communities to gas. More gas revenues to the state if the pipeline goes all the way to Chicago without picking up Canadian gas.	Producers: Longer than the Northern route, thus more expensive to build. Alaska: If built by producers, keeps the cost/revenue control within producer's hands. If connected with Canadian gas lines, has a chance to negatively impact Alaska's gas revenues.
All Alaska Route and Spur Lines	All Alaska goes along the existing oil pipeline (North Slope - Valdez). Spur lines are variations of All Alaska. For instance, one of the spur lines is proposed to split All Alaska from Glennallen and lead to Matanuska Valley.	Alaska Gasline Port Authority	Producers: If built by Port Authority, not many, except for lower development cost (pipeline construction). Alaska: Goes through Alaska and provides access to gas for Alaskans through spur lines. Has a revenue sharing mechnism that benefits Alaska's communities directly. Involves Alaska the most in the development of the line.	Producers: Picks up significant costs as natural gas has to be liquified to be transported. Liquification plant, special tankers and accepting infrastructure will have to be built to support this option. Alaska: The same costs above will have to be picked up by Port Authority.

Information collected from various sources, mainly Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Natural Gas Prospectus www.anchoragechamber.com.