Developers submit draft resource reports for Alaska LNG project

Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC), BP, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and TransCanada have submitted a series of draft environmental and socioeconomic reports to the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the Alaska LNG project.

The reports open the pre-file public engagement process and offer preliminary baseline information on the project area along with potential impacts.

Alaska LNG Project executive Steve Butt said: "These draft documents, known as Resource Reports, allow Alaska stakeholders to engage early in the regulatory process, so potential environmental and socioeconomic issues and opportunities can be proactively identified and managed.

"They set the framework for the permitting process."

The project includes construction of a gas treatment plant at Prudhoe Bay to eliminate carbon dioxide and other impurities from produced gas.

The plant will process more than 3 billion cubic feet of gas per day.

Plans also include a 58-mile pipeline from Point Thomson gas field to Prudhoe Bay and 800-mile pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Nikiski. A LNG plant, storage and tanker terminal will also be built at Nikiski.

The project is presently in the pre-front-end engineering and design phase, which is anticipated to be completed in 2016.

In November 2014, the US Department of Energy issued a Free Trade Agreement export authorisation to the project, which will serve Asia Pacific LNG market.

The project is estimated to produce and export about 20 million tons of LNG per year using safe production methods and technologies.

About 15,000 jobs are expected to be created during construction of the project and around 1,000 jobs for operation.