Alaska LNG project moves ahead with FERC filing

The Alaska LNG project has marked a major milestone with the recent submission of a formal request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to start the pre-file process for the major natural gas project.

The FERC pre-file milestone sets the stage for the activity associated with the environmental review required for the siting, design, and permitting for construction of the proposed project. This is another important step in the progression of the Alaska LNG project.

“We look forward to leveraging the extensive strengths of all the parties involved in the FERC pre-file process,” said Steve Butt, Alaska LNG senior project manager.

This process is supported by a second season of summer field work, which is part of the project’s $500 million pre-front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) phase. The 2014 summer field work, which is almost complete, employed approximately 250 people. 

The primary objective of the summer field work was to collect the data necessary to support requisite environmental permitting for the project and to support the routing and siting of project facilities. The majority of the work was focused along the pipeline route from Livengood to the proposed LNG liquefaction facility site in Nikiski.

The Alaska LNG project would provide significant economic benefits to Alaskans including state revenues, new job opportunities and access to decades of in-state natural gas for homes and businesses in Alaska. The Alaska LNG project is anticipated to create up to 15,000 jobs during construction and approximately 1,000 jobs for operation of the project.

The proposed project facilities include a liquefaction facility in the Nikiski area on the Kenai Peninsula, an 800-mile, large diameter pipeline, up to eight compression stations, at least five take-off points for in-state gas delivery, a gas treatment plant located on the North Slope and transmission lines to transport gas from Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson to the gas treatment plant.

The Alaska LNG project participants are the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) and affiliates of ExxonMobil, TransCanada, BP and ConocoPhillips. An application for an LNG export license to the US Department of Energy was submitted in July for the project.