Despite Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s warnings against Russia’s resurgence while campaigning to become vice president, Russian gas giant Gazprom said on October 15 that it offered to help Alaska increase gas supplies to the US mainland. The company sent eight senior executives to Anchorage for talks on October 13 with Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources and ConocoPhillips chief executive Jim Mulva, state and company officials said.

The courtship of Alaska comes less than a month after Palin criticised Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for “rearing his head” over Russia’s maritime border with her home state. However, CNN reported that Palin was unware about representatives from Gazprom who visited Anchorage to meet with Mulva and one of her department heads. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller was accompanied by deputies Valery Golubev and Alexander Medvedev, who oversees the country’s gas exports. A working breakfast was held with Palin supporter and former Alaska Governor Walter Hickel, Gazprom said.
Gazprom could share its expertise in Alaska as climatic conditions at its traditional gas production regions in northern Russia are similar to those in Alaska, it said in a statement. “Gazprom is ready to provide its abilities and experience. I think in the future we could conduct joint scientific research,” Miller said in televised comments broadcast by Russian Vesti news channel from Anchorage, Alaska. Miller in June 2008 disclosed his company’s interest in joining a planned project to build a gas pipeline from Alaska to the Lower 48 US states. “Our interests are not limited to the European continent only…
Gazprom has unique experience, knowledge and modern technology and is the leading company in transporting gas by pipeline. That is why we are interested in such a largescale project as construction of the gas pipeline from Alaska,” he said in a speech at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. Mulva said at the time that ConocoPhillips would study Gazprom’s proposal. There are two rival planned pipeline projects in Alaska, one led by TransCanada and the other by two North Slope producers, BP and ConocoPhillips. Miller said on October 14 timeframes for both projects envisage implementation by around 2018, news agencies reported. Gazprom said in a statement that besides the two planned pipeline projects in Alaska there should be opportunities considered for the construction of an LNG plant in Alaska. Gazprom also suggested that a complex plan for gas production, transportation and supply system in Alaska would be “rational” for the development of the state’s hydrocarbons.