Britain's BP and Houston-based ConocoPhillips plan to build a pipeline to pump gas from vast reserves in Alaska's North Slope to feed energy-hungry markets in the United States and Canada, in what would be North America's largest private energy project with an estimated cost of $26-$30 billion.
"Participation in such a huge project is of interest for us," Alexei Miller said, speaking at an annual economic forum in St. Petersburg. "We have approached ConocoPhillips and BP with a proposal for cooperation."
The world's largest oil companies hold production licenses for the Arctic deposits in Alaska, but the state's governor was reported to be in favor of a competing project proposed by local TransCanada Corp.
The local legislature, which gathered for a special session on June 3, has 60 days to review the license proposals and allocate $500 million as a cash inducement in the project.
The pipeline will run 2,744 km (1,715 miles) from a gas treatment plant at Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope to the Alberta hub in Canada, from where gas will be supplied onto the U.S. The pipeline's capacity is planned at 4.5 billion cu m of gas a day.
