Governor feuds with ExxonMobil as state moves to take over LNG project

An October letter from Gov. Bill Walker to an ExxonMobil executive suggests the governor deeply distrusts the company when it says it will continue to support the $55 billion Alaska liquefied natural gas project as the state takes it over.

"Please do not take steps to thwart Alaska's ability to monetize our gas," the governor says in the Oct. 14 letter to Jim Flood, an ExxonMobil vice president.

The governor also asks the Houston oil giant to be complimentary of the project when speaking with potential buyers of North Slope natural gas, as Walker says he has done with ExxonMobil.

The letter, obtained by Alaska Dispatch News under a public records request, was written amid negotiations among ExxonMobil, BP, ConocoPhillips and the state over Alaska's takeover of the project. The proposed deadline to have agreements signed, the end of October, still has not been met.

Read more: https://www.adn.com/business-economy/energy/2016/12/04/governor-feuds-with-exxonmobil-as-state-moves-to-take-over-alaska-lng-project/