China Petrochemical Corp is among companies including TransCanada Corp and ConocoPhillips competing to build a pipeline that would allow the first commercial production of natural gas from Alaska's North Slope.

Five companies have applied to build the pipeline, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said in a statement on Friday, without providing details of their plans.

ConocoPhillips said earlier it submitted a proposal for a US$30 billion conduit that would ship four billion cubic feet of gas a day to markets in the US and Canada.

Producers are reviving plans to tap gas deposits discovered in Alaska decades ago as gains in demand boosted prices for the heating and power-plant fuel and fields that are cheaper to develop become scarce.

North Slope gas reserves, estimated at 35 trillion cubic feet by the state, are currently inaccessible as there's no way to get the fuel to consumers.

"This progress demonstrates to the world that Alaska is well on our way to bringing this long sought-after necessary infrastructure to fruition," Palin said late yesterday at a briefing in Anchorage, which was broadcast over the Internet.

China Petrochemical is applying through a subsidiary called Sinopec ZPEB, Alaska Revenue Commissioner Pat Galvin said in an interview following the Friday briefing. China's second-biggest oil company, also known as Sinopec Group, is the parent of Hong Kong-listed China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.

The Alaska Gasline Port Authority, a venture of three municipalities, and the government-owned Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority (ANGDA), also submitted bids, Palin said.

The fifth applicant is a company called AEnergia LLC. Galvin had no information about the company except that it is registered in Alaska and has a mailing address in Sacramento.

(Shanghai Daily December 3, 2007)