North America’s largest construction project on horizon
Alaskans are gearing up for what is being called the continent’s largest construction project ever. The project, dubbed “Denali – The Alaska Gas Pipeline Project” after the state’s iconic mountain and national park, will connect Alaska’s North Slope natural gas resources to Canadian and U.S. markets. The intention to construct a natural gas pipeline was recently announced by BP Alaska and ConocoPhillips. The plan consists of a gas treatment plant on Alaska’s North Slope and a large-diameter pipeline that travels more than 700 miles through Alaska, and then into Canada through Yukon, British Columbia and Alberta. The two companies expect to spend $600 million on the first phase of the project over the next two years. A new project headquarters in Anchorage will be identified and a new company formed to manage the project. The pipeline would eventually move about 4 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day, which is about 6 to 8 percent of daily U.S. consumption. The Anchorage Economic Development Corporation forecasts that the pipeline project will provide 9,300 direct and induced jobs and will provide more than $280 million in funding for infrastructure improvements of highways and bridges.
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