The Alaska Gasline Development Corporation projects that the current political climate in the White House, the abundance of available oil and gas product on the North Slope, with the addition of the approved Willow Project, and the potential foreign and domestic markets for Alaska’s oil and natural gas; all point toward a ground-breaking of the Alaska LNG project and an economic resurgence for Alaska and the Kenai Peninsula.
Frank Richards, President of the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, oversees development and execution of all AGDC projects. With a daily capacity of 3.3 billion cubic feet, multiple compressor stations along the pipeline will help carry natural gas from the North Slope to Southcentral Alaska. It is Alaska’s priority project and has been widely studied by stakeholders, federal agencies, and state regulators.
Richards is encouraged by Biden administration decision.
“A reanalysis by the Biden administration of the Department of Energy ‘s authorization granted to the project under the Trump administration. They undertook about a two-year process to be able to look to see whether or not there was enough gas in Alaska to support the Alaska LNG project and whether or not we would be impacting through greenhouse gas emissions, negatively impacting the environment. The outcome of that analysis was no, there’s certainly enough gas. They actually indicated there was more than enough gas representing about 40 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in Prudhoe Bay and Point Thompson that will feed into this 30-year project. And that the environmental impact of this project were essentially negligible or less than harmful in there and then words.”
Richards is currently involved in discussions with investors and developers, including South Korea.
“We are using those in our discussions with investors and potential developers. Part of last week was a journey to Washington D.C. ,for myself, because the President of the Republic of Korea was in Washington for a state visit with the Biden administration and I was asked to join in the discussions with the Korean government and Korean business opportunity, and Korean conglomerates that were in town accompanying the president. So it was really a great time for me to be able to represent Alaska and identify again the great opportunity that we call the Alaska LNG to investors and potentially a country that is critically in need of energy from a long term, stable ally such as the United States and Alaska.”
Richards explained the Alaska LNG plan for Alaska.
“The Alaska LNG Project is that large scale project that will utilize North Slope resources, be able to provide it to Alaskans along the pipeline route, but then, also feed it into a liquefaction facility that will construct in Nikiski. The off-take of gas for Alaskans, we have made sure that we have reserved over twice, almost 2 1/2 times, what we are currently consuming in the state. So it would allow for in-state consumption, other developers such as Agrium to be able to restart their plant or even do construction of ammonia or hydrogen facilities on the Kenai. That is a keen interest to us because again it will provide not only energy for Alaskans, but also additional jobs and economic prospects.”
The Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson fields anchor the project on the North Slope. These fields will produce, on average, about 3.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day with approximately 75 percent from the Prudhoe Bay field and 25 percent from the Point Thomson field.
The gas pipeline construction plan differs from the Trans Alaska Pipeline.
“The project will be a new pipeline. It’ll be a buried pipeline. So, TAPS is partially underground part, partly above-ground in permafrost areas. But this is a natural gas pipeline. We’ll be temperature controlling it so that it will not be imparting any of the energy and degrading the permafrost. The only place that it’s going to be coming above ground is really at known earthquake faults such as south of Denali National Park and we will be going underneath the rivers using horizontal directional drilling to be able to construct the project.”
Richards also confirmed the jobs and gas availability for potential Alaska users.
“The construction would be approximately 10,000 jobs and then 1000 operational jobs just on the Alaska LNG aspect of the project. But the biggest benefit to Alaskans I think will be that we’ll be able to supply lower cost energy along the pipeline route into Fairbanks, into other communities, into other resource development opportunities and our projections are that we’ll be able to deliver that gas to South Central interior Alaska at between four and $5 per million BTU.”
Alaska Gasline Development Corporation: Description of three main components of Alaska LNG
Gas Pipeline
The backbone of the Alaska LNG Project is an 807-mile, 42-inch diameter mainline pipeline, including an offshore pipeline section crossing Cook Inlet. With a daily capacity of 3.3 billion cubic feet, multiple compressor stations along the pipeline will help carry natural gas from the North Slope to Southcentral Alaska. The pipeline would be a buried pipeline with the exception of two planned aerial water crossings, aboveground crossings of active faults, and the offshore pipeline. Multiple interconnection points along the pipeline will provide for in-state gas distribution to Alaskans.
Details include:
- 807-mile, 42-inch diameter natural gas pipeline
- Multiple interconnection points for in-state gas distribution
- Multiple compressor stations
- 2,075 psig (143 bar) operating pressure
- Average throughput of 3.1 billion cubic feet per day; maximum capacity of 3.3 billion cubic feet per day
Gas Treatment Plant
The gas treatment plant will be located in Prudhoe Bay near existing oil and gas infrastructure. The plant would be comprised of three process trains to remove impurities from the natural gas that could flow from the Point Thomson and Prudhoe Bay reservoirs. Carbon dioxide would be removed, captured, and compressed for reinjection into the Prudhoe Bay reservoirs. Highlights about the gas treatment plant include:
- An average daily capacity of 3.5 billion cubic feet; maximum capacity of 3.9 billion cubic feet per day.
- Located on 200+ acres near existing Prudhoe Bay production.
- Gas cleaned, dehydrated, and compressed.
Liquefaction Facility
The liquefaction facility, located in Nikiski, will process, store, and transport up to 20 million tons of LNG per year using the Propane Precooled Mixed Refrigerant (C3MR™) Process, an Air Products patented technology. The innovative and highly technical facility includes:
- Three LNG trains
- Two 240,000 cubic meter storage tanks
- Terminal facilities and marine services
- Two loading berths to accommodate LNG carriers up to 217,000 cubic meters (Q-Flex)
