During U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan’s annual address to the Alaska State Legislature, he shared some updates on the proposed Alaska LNG project.
The project is intended to be led by the Alaska Gasline Development Corp.
The hope is that this project will have the ability to supply the state with natural gas for years to come.
“My team and I have been working hard to minimize federal risks and maximize international opportunities for a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to Tidewater that would provide affordable, abundant, clean-burning Alaska natural gas for generations to come. And transform our state,” said Sullivan.
If the project were to undergo construction, it would take natural gas and transport it 800 miles through a pipeline from the North Slope to Nikiski to be liquified and exported.
The proposed cost of the pipeline would be upwards of $40 billion. However, the estimate has not been revaluated for several years. The project was taken over by the state back in 2016, following the North Slope Oil Companies refusing to spend any additional money on the project.
Sullivan expresses how a project like this would benefit Alaskan for the future, just as it has in the past. He reminds the legislature of the “looming natural gas shortage in Cook Inlet” back in 2011.
The situation seemed to be so dire that the city of Anchorage began practicing brownout situations.
“Some doomsayer said that the only solution back then was import natural gas from Canada. In Mexico. But we didn’t allow that to happen. We united together as a state, the legislature with the Cook Inlet Recovery Act. By the way, that was 60 to 0. The executive branch and the private sector. And we came up with a bold plan to incentivize Cook Inlet export, exploration and production. And it worked,” said Sullivan.
Sullivan mentions that he has made over the past two years, he has made trips to Japan and Korea, and says that there is a huge demand in Asia for Alaskan gas. Due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, various countries, particularly our European and Asian allies, are doing their best to get off of Russian resources.
According to the Peninsula Clarion; “In 1973, America was like, ‘We need energy,’” Sullivan said. “We have a very similar dynamic right now in Asia, Korea, Japan, Taiwan — particularly Korea [and] Japan. They still rely on Russian oil and gas and right now every one of our allies is desperately trying to get off Russian oil and gas because they don’t want to fund the Putin war machine and they see how dangerous the world is.”
Audio and Photo curtsey of Alaska Gavel and KTOO.