Alaskan LNG import project granted FERC extension

Trans-Foreland Pipeline Co., a Marathon Petroleum Corp. subsidiary, has received a 3-year extension from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for converting its Kenai, Alas., LNG plant into an import terminal. FERC’s initial December 2020 order authorizing the project called for it to be available for service by Dec. 17, 2022 (OGJ Online, Dec. 23, 2020). It now must be ready by December 2025.

Trans-Foreland would import up to four cargoes of LNG per year and use its boil-off gas management system to deliver imported gas to the 68,000-b/d Kenai refinery. LNG has not been exported from Kenai since 2015. The plant has been maintained in a warm idle state since 2018.

The company stated that the “onset and duration” of the COVID-19 pandemic had created adverse economic and logistical conditions that slowed commercial progress and precluded Trans-Foreland from making its final investment decision (FID) for the terminal. Moreover, according to Trans-Foreland, the uncertainty and volatility in the LNG market have made it difficult to secure a supply arrangement providing the financial certainty necessary to make FID and move forward.

Trans-Foreland asserted that the project remains commercially viable and that it is actively seeking suitable supplies and monitoring LNG markets and that it will take FID once supplies have been secured. The company has not begun construction of the terminal.

Alaska Gasline Development Corp. (AGDC), meanwhile, is seeking feed gas suppliers for the 20-million tpy plant it is developing in Nikiski, Alas., while Gov. Mike Dunleavy talks with Japan-based potential customers regarding the plant’s output. AGDC expects FID by early 2024 to meet a targeted 2027 startup date (OGJ Online, Aug. 1, 2022).