Alaska Approves Plan to Export LNG
Thursday, May 03, 2012
Alaska has agreed to allow North Slope natural gas to be exported as liquefied natural gas (LNG), rather than require an all-land pipeline to the Lower 48 States.
Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan and Revenue Commissioner Bryan Butcher approved TransCanada Alaska’s proposal to begin planning for a large diameter line from Prudhoe Bay field to a yet-to-be-determined LNG export terminal in southern Alaska. A preliminary plan is due in September and a comprehensive study next year.
Prudhoe Bay area fields hold 35 Tcf (1 x 1012 m3) of proven gas reserves that have never been economic to move to Lower 48 markets via pipeline.
The major Prudhoe Bay producers - ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and BP – said on March 30 that they favored LNG exports. A boom in Lower 48 shale gas production has depressed prices to $2/Mcf, a seventh of what LNG imports are expected to get in Japan following the post-tsunami closure of nuclear power generation plants.
For more information: www.gasline.Alaska.gov
