Alaskans should have some idea Friday afternoon of the success or failure of the first open season bidding process for a proposed natural gas pipeline, the head of the project says.

Tony Palmer, vice president of Alaska development for TransCanada Corp., said in an interview Thursday morning that his company intends to release some "generic information" about the bids once the open season closes and the bids are opened, at about 2 p.m Friday.

"If we have no bids, we'll be able to say so immediately," Palmer said.

If bids are received, he said the company will be able to say whether or not there were significant bids accounting for substantial volume of the proposed large diameter pipeline.

But Calgary-based TransCanada does not intend to reveal individual bids or bidders or total volume until all contractual agreements are in place, which Palmer hopes would be by the end of the year. Ultimately, the federal regulatory process requires that contracts be revealed 10 days after they are executed, and the company must disclose names, volumes and terms of the agreements, he said.

Palmer heads the Alaska Pipeline Project, a joint venture of TransCanada and Exxon Mobil Corp.. The proposal was first championed by former Gov. Sarah Palin and is now backed by Gov. Sean Parnell. Alaska has already committed up to $500 million in subsidies to the TransCanada project through the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, which was approved by the Alaska Legislature when Palin was governor. That proposal has two options -- a line running from the North Slope into Canada or, under certain circumstances, one from the Slope to a plant in Valdez, where natural gas would be liquefied and shipped out on tankers, perhaps overseas.

A second open season is also underway, this one for the Denali project, a joint venture of BP and ConocoPhillips that envisions a pipeline from the North Slope into Canada. That open season closes Oct. 4.

'Most sophisticated players in the industry'

Palmer emphasized that no bids have been opened and won't be until the close of the open season, at 2 p.m. Friday. He said he did not even know at this point whether any bids had been received.

He said TransCanada intends to protect the confidentiality of the bidding process, which he described as a highly competitive one that involves some of "the most sophisticated players in the industry." Those potential customers need to keep their business plans confidential because they regularly compete to buy gas from the same producers and also to sell gas in the same markets. The TransCanada project is also competing in the North American and international marketplaces and against the Denali project as well.

"We wouldn't want to disadvantage our project against that," he said.

Palmer said TransCanada also will not reveal details of the bids to state officials, even if they ask, which he says no one from the state has done so far.

"I don't have a request from the state at this point," he said, adding that TransCanada could share general information with the state but will continue to hold the bids close. "We have strict confidentiality agreements with the customer," Palmer said. "The state has the right in certain circumstances to see certain generic information but we will respect the confidentiality agreements."

Bids could come with conditions and many Alaska observers think gas shippers -- including BP, ConocoPhillips and Exxon themselves -- will want promises of low tax rates and other concessions. Palmer said it may take awhile to sort out conditioned bids but that he will nonetheless make a generic statement about what's come in.

If very few or no bids are received, Palmer said the company is still required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to continue trying to put it together until fall of 2012.

"If we are successful and get bids tomorrow that's a very positive signal for the project," Palmer said. "If there are no bids that will be disappointing, clearly."