CORRECTED - Palin successor seen keeping oil, gas policies

(Corrects Parnell role in legislature's rejecting money for pipeline oversight, which Gara later said he mischaracterized; those paragraphs 17-18 of previous have been dropped)

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, July 7 (Reuters) - The man who will replace Sarah Palin as governor of Alaska is expected to carry on her oil and gas policies, but perhaps with some more pro-industry nuances, experts said this week.

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell said securing a massive North Slope natural gas pipeline will be his "top priority," as it was for the outgoing governor, who announced her resignation last Friday.

"I will continue the course set by the governor that has produced such forward progress these past two years. I will continue to support and promote responsible resource development and energy development of all kinds for Alaska," he said in his statement, issued Friday.

But some expect a change in style, at least, from the Republican governor who, prior to being named as John McCain's vice presidential running mate, staked much of her political reputation on her fights with Big Oil.

"We can only hope that there will be a less adversarial approach toward oil and gas investment in the state. The next few months will tell," said Paul Laird, executive director of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, a trade association of oil service companies.

John Shively, a former state natural resources commissioner and past president of the pro-industry Resource Development Council for Alaska, said one of Parnell's first tasks will be to try to address the oil producers' calls for some kind of long-term, unchangeable tax system for natural-gas production.

Such a lock-in, referred to as "fiscal certainty," is seen by many experts as necessary to secure a natural gas pipeline, he said.

Even if Parnell wants to reverse some of the Palin positions on the oil industry, he may be reluctant to do so in the legislative session prior to a statewide election, Shively said.

"My personal view is the oil taxes that were passed a couple of years ago were punitive," Shively said. "Whether he wants to go back and take another look, I don't know. The tradition has been to not take on new initiatives during an election year."

Meanwhile, Democratic legislators who allied with Palin to increase taxes on the oil producers said they had some concerns that Parnell would be too easy on the industry.

House Minority Leader Beth Kerttula of Juneau said Parnell, who was in the legislature from 1992 to 2000, is bound to have smoother relations with lawmakers than Palin did.

"I've worked with Sean in the past. He's a thoughtful, nice person," she said.

But she worries that Parnell, who worked as an oil-industry attorney after serving in the legislature, will be biased toward the oil producers.

"That's one of my questions, actually, one of my concerns," Kerttula said.