Fairbanks firm seeks North Slope LNG supply -
COOK INLET: Dwindling ability to deliver gas prompts effort to secure new sources.
adn.com
By ALAN BAILEY
Petroleum News
Published: December 27, 2006
Last Modified: December 27, 2006 at 02:08 AM
Faced with problems with gas supplies from Cook Inlet, Fairbanks Natural Gas is moving ahead with plans to build its own liquefied natural gas plant on the North Slope, said Dan Britton, the company's president.
The company has a land-use permit from the North Slope Borough and is working to lease land from the state, Britton said.
The company also is working on gas supply agreements with the North Slope producers, he said.
The plan is to truck liquefied natural gas -- or LNG -- to Fairbanks. The company now trucks LNG north to Fairbanks from a plant at Point Mackenzie in Mat-Su.
Fairbanks Natural Gas has not yet finalized a site for the North Slope plant. However, the company has a preliminary plant design and ultimately expects the plant to process about 10 million cubic feet of gas per day. Britton said that some permitting issues for the plant have been resolved.
Britton said he hopes production can start next fall. "That's a fairly aggressive time schedule," he said.
The dwindling deliverability of natural gas from the Cook Inlet area to the Point Mackenzie plant caused the company to look elsewhere for supply.
Fairbanks Natural Gas had been supplied by Aurora Gas, which left several Anchorage-region customers without gas this fall. They scrambled to make deals with Enstar Natural Gas Co., which supplies most homes and businesses in the region.
Fairbanks Natural Gas has about 800 home, commercial and institutional customers in Fairbanks.
There has been speculation that the company would move the Point Mackenzie plant to the North Slope, but Britton said that moving the plant is impractical. Instead, the company will keep superchilling Cook Inlet gas into a liquid at Point Mackenzie until a North Slope plant is running smoothly. After that point the company expects to get all of its gas from the North Slope. |
