Sep. 6--Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin boasted this week that she stood up to Big Oil in advancing a decades-old ambition to bring natural gas to the Lower 48. But experts say she'll eventually have to sit down with the oil giants if she wants her pipeline dream to become a reality.

"I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history," Ms. Palin told delegates to the Republican National Convention. "And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence."

Doug Reynolds, an oil and gas economist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said the governor has given the natural gas pipeline project new momentum. But her deal with TransCanada Alaska Co. to build the pipeline is useless unless there is also a deal with gas-producing companies to fill it, he said.

"We don't have an agreement. We don't have anything," Dr. Reynolds said.

Irving-based ExxonMobil, Houston-based ConocoPhillips and Britain's BP, the main Alaska energy producers, have huge stakes in any natural gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope, as do American consumers who face ever-increasing energy prices.

Michelle Foss, an energy economist with the University of Texas at Austin, says a completed gas pipeline would "change the face of energy in North America."

But, until then, there's hardball to be played in a state where oil and gas account for most of the tax revenue.

Ms. Palin has refused to commit to limits on oil and gas production tax rates. And ConocoPhillips and BP have launched a competing pipeline company, called Denali, the native name for Alaska's Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America.

Last month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission told Congress there had been "substantial progress" toward development of an Alaska natural gas pipeline. But it was "very unlikely" that more than one would be built, the report said, and the FERC suggested the commission might be the best forum for all parties to work together.

"We are ready to work with the State of Alaska, TransCanada, ConocoPhillips and BP to advance a successful gas pipeline project that provides maximum benefits to the people of Alaska, the producers, and energy consumers," ExxonMobil said in a prepared statement to The Dallas Morning News.

Ms. Palin's aides did not respond to e-mailed questions about the pipeline project.

Initial plans by TransCanada and Denali call for gas to begin flowing in about 10 years, but some experts expect it to take longer. The TransCanada proposal could handle 5 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day.