Harvest Alaska announced a potential agreement with Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) and Chugach Electric Association to bolster Southcentral Alaska’s energy supplies through Harvest’s acquisition and redevelopment of the existing Kenai LNG Terminal owned by a MPC subsidiary.
The project is designed to repurpose existing assets to enable the timely delivery of additional natural gas supplies to the Southcentral market as early as 2026, with full-scale operations beginning as early as 2028.
Under the proposal, Harvest would own, develop, and operate the LNG terminal and infrastructure, allowing Chugach, MPC, and any other Railbelt customers to secure additional natural gas supplies to help meet market demand.
The project leverages MPC’s legacy LNG export infrastructure to alleviate Southcentral Alaska’s short-term potential natural gas shortage. The facility includes existing dock infrastructure, which was historically capable of handling LNG vessels up to 138,000 cubic meters (approximately 2.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas) and onsite tankage with a storage capacity of 107,000 cubic meters (approximately 2.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas).
This infrastructure and existing FERC approvals position the facility to meet near-term energy needs while longer-term alternatives are developed.
Chugach Electic, which is in discussions with Harvest about utilizing the Kenai LNG facility, emphasized the importance of this partnership in addressing the energy needs of Southcentral families, businesses, and ratepayers.
Sr. Manager of Corporate Communications at Chugach Electric, Julie Hasquet says, they are an interested customer and this is the first project that’s been brought to them in the three years since they’ve been looking for gas that meets their needs. “And this one has come forward to Chugach as one that brings us gas when we need it.”
Chugach Electric’s contract with Hillcorp is expiring on Mar 31, 2028.
“The good news for Chugach and its members is that we have gas when we need it, which is at the end of the first quarter, 2028, and that’s really exciting, and we’re very optimistic about this project moving forward with Marathon and Harvest,” Hasquet says.
Harvest will conduct a feed study that should be done by mid-year. Once that is complete, Chugach will obtain the information it needs to pursue an agreement, such as the cost of the gas.