Alaska governor wants state to buy pipeline stake
Fri Jan 13, 2006 3:07 AM ET
By Yereth Rosen
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Alaska should buy a share of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, the 800-mile energy artery that has been shipping North Slope crude for the past three decades, Gov. Frank Murkowski said on Thursday.
Buying into the oil pipeline will complement plans for negotiating a 20 percent share of a yet-to-be-built, $20 billion pipeline that would transport the North Slope's vast bounty of natural gas to markets in the lower 48 states, the Republican governor told a joint session of the legislature.
"Because the gas pipeline will transform the North Slope and our incentives will increase oil production, owning a portion of the oil pipeline, in my opinion, is critical for Alaskans," Murkowski said in his state-of-the-budget address, delivered at the state capitol in Juneau.
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Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski