DOE authorizes Alaska LNG to export LNG to non-FTA countries

May 28, 2015
The US Department of Energy has issued a conditional authorization for Alaska LNG Project LLC to export as much as 2.55 bscfd of US-produced natural gas for a 30-year period to countries with no free-trade agreement with the US.

The US Department of Energy has issued a conditional authorization for Alaska LNG Project LLC to export as much as 2.55 bscfd of US-produced natural gas for a 30-year period to countries with no free-trade agreement with the US.

Earlier this year, Alaska LNG project partners filed resource reports with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (OGJ Online, Feb. 12, 2015) for the project.

Alaska LNG is in the Nikiski area of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.

Federal law generally requires approval of gas exports to countries that have an FTA with the US. For countries that do not have an FTA with the US, the Natural Gas Act directs DOE to grant export authorizations unless it finds that the proposed exports “will not be consistent with the public interest,” DOE said.

DOE considered the Alaska application separately from other currently pending LNG export applications in the Lower 48 due to the relative geographic isolation of the gas resources on Alaska’s North Slope.

ANS gas has been a stranded resource unavailable to commercial markets. The project proposed by Alaska LNG includes a pipeline intended to make ANS gas accessible.