A Chevron subsidiary currently owns a small share of the pipeline that connects the Kuparuk oil field, pictured here, to the trans-Alaska pipeline. Chevron is proposing to sell its stake to a new Texas oil and gas company, Pontem Alaska Midstream. (ConocoPhillips photo)
A little-known Texas company is proposing to buy a share of a key North Slope pipeline from Chevron — a bid that’s reviving questions about the Alaska oil industry’s capacity to decommission aging infrastructure and pay damages in the event of a spill.
The executives behind Pontem Alaska Midstream, the firm that wants to make the acquisition, have a long track record in finance, and parent company Pontem Energy Capital has access to cash through “institutional pools of capital” and “ultra-high net worth” families, Pontem and Chevron have told regulators .
But they’ve revealed few details about the assets currently owned by Pontem, which wants to buy a stake in the North Slope pipeline that connects the Kuparuk and Alpine oil fields with the Trans Alaska Pipeline System.