Alaska LNG gets non-FTA export authorization

The Alaska LNG Project LLC (Alaska LNG) has received US Department of Energy (DOE) authorization to export domestically produced LNG from its proposed liquefaction terminal in Nikiski, Alas. Alaska LNG plans to build an 800-mile pipeline connecting the 20-million tonne/year liquefaction plant to natural gas reserves on the North Slope. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized the siting, construction, and operation of Alaska LNG and the 42-in. OD pipeline earlier this year (OGJ Online, May 21, 2020).

Under terms of the DOE authorization, as much as 2.55 bcfd of natural gas can be exported as LNG from the plant and export terminal on the Kenai Peninsula over a 30-year term to any country with which the US does not have a free trade agreement (non-FTA countries), and with which trade is not prohibited by US law or policy. At full capacity the plant is expected to liquefy about 3.5 bcfd. 

Alaska LNG is the twentieth large-scale export project to have final long-term DOE authorization to export LNG to non-FTA countries, and the second on the West Coast after the July approval of Pembina Pipeline Corp.’s Jordan Cove project in Oregon (OGJ Online, July 6, 2020). 

State-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corp. has led the project since 2016. DOE conditionally approved exports from Alaska LNG to non-FTA countries in 2015 and to FTA countries in 2014. 

If built to its authorized capacity, Alaska LNG, including the pipeline, is expected to cost more than $38 billion. Find DOE’s order here.