Alaska natgas may be sold overseas: governor

[xchrom]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/alaska-natgas-may-be-sold-overseas-governor-2011-10-30

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell suggested Thursday that the state's oil and natural gas producers should ship Alaska's natural gas overseas rather than to the U.S.

Gov. Sean Parnell said that Japan and other Asian countries may be a "better market for Alaska gas" and that he has suggested to TransCanada Corp. /quotes/zigman/27155/quotes/nls/trp TRP +0.27% and the state's large oil producers that they focus on building a natural gas export terminal, rather than a long-distance pipeline to the contiguous U.S.

"If market demand for gas has truly shifted away from the Lower 48 to Pacific Rim markets, then the state of Alaska must also be willing to move with that, and we are," Parnell said, speaking at an event in Anchorage held by the Alaska Oil and Gas Association that was webcast.

In addition to TransCanada, Parnell said he has spoken about building a natural gas export terminal to representatives of Exxon Mobil Corp. /quotes/zigman/203975/quotes/nls/xom XOM -0.04% , BP PLC (BP.LN, BP) and ConocoPhillips /quotes/zigman/294662/quotes/nls/cop COP -0.17% .

[safeinOhio]

1. Drill Baby Drill

China needs our oil and gas.

[xchrom]

2. yeah -- news like this is always a real kick in the head.

:eyes:

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. So

Doesnt this just blow a mile-wide hole in their "argument" for why we need to be drilling more here in the US? :shrug: wasn't their whole point that oil drilled here would just stay here for our benefit? Guess not!

[Andy823]

4. Good point!

What they always fail to say is oil, or natural gas, it will go to the HIGHEST bider, not stay her to reduce prices at home! The oil companies don't give a damn about helping this economy, they are all about GREED, and whoever will pay the most will get the product!

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. Exactly

All those people (and astroturf organizations) pushing for more domestic drilling don't seem to grasp this particular concept (or maybe they do and just don't care). :shrug:

[FBaggins]

9. Note that this is natural gas that we're talking about, not oil

Natural gas production in the US has largely "stayed home" and gas prices in this country have fallen substantially (and are much lower than average global prices).

This is because we're not currently set up to export large amounts of the stuff. Just a few years ago many thought that we were already past "peak natural gas" in the US and would be importing it.

[xchrom]

7. They always make it sound like these resources will stay here.

Its part of how they sell it.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

8. Right

and they try real hard to make it sound convincing. Unfortunately, I suspect that a lot of people still fall for it. Keeping oil drilled domestically would practically require oil production in this country to be controlled by the government (i.e. nationalized) and there's no way in hell that any of the "drill baby drill" people (or the oil companies) would EVER approve of anything like THAT! :banghead:

[Arctic Dave]

5. Looks like Parnell is trying to steal Walker's campaign promises.

This is what Alaskans wanted from the beginning but all the sold out repugs and some of the producers said it wasn't feasible. The idea was to bring gas down from the NS, export it and try and create a munufacturing base around the line.

Maybe they are hoping the hydrates program works out? Not sure.