Federal regulators have approved an Alaska company’s request for three more years to change an existing LNG export terminal into one that instead receives gas imported for use within the state.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week approved Trans-Foreland Pipeline Company LLC’s request for an extension to convert a dormant LNG export terminal in Nikiski on the Kenai Peninsula to an import facility, a regulatory filing shows. The facility would supply gas to electric utilities in the south central part of Alaska, according to the filing.
The Kenai plant, the first-ever LNG export terminal in North America, entered service in 1969 and was operational until 2015. Before it was idled, the facility exported liquified natural gas produced at gas fields in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, which are becoming depleted.
“In January 2023, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources published a study demonstrating that natural gas demand is projected to exceed supply beginning in 2027, with the gap widening significantly over time,” the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said in the filing.
The Commission initially authorized a plan to convert the LNG facility from export to import in December 2020. The regulator required that the conversion work be completed by December 2022, but then-owner Marathon Petroleum obtained a three-year extension shortly before the deadline.
