Alaska LNG project secures approval for global exports of natural gas

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a final approval for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the Alaska LNG project.

The Alaska LNG project is a proposed LNG export project to be constructed in Nikiski, an industrial town located on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, south-west of Anchorage.

It will include the construction of an LNG plant, storage and shipping terminal, and an 800-mile (1,287km) long pipeline from the North Slope to the LNG facility.

The pipeline would be capable of moving 3.5 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas a day.

ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, BP, TransCanada, and the state of Alaska, which is represented by the Department of Natural Resources, Department of Revenue and the AGDC, are sponsoring the project.

United States Senator Lisa Murkowski said: “A final export license from DOE is an important asset for Alaska LNG. After the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the project earlier this year, all the pieces of the federal permitting puzzle are coming into place.

“The project should soon have all of the major federal authorisations it needs to ship LNG overseas. Even when markets are unstable and times are tough, permitting progress on what could be one of the largest projects in the world is encouraging.”

All the federal reviews, as well as project authorisations for Alaska LNG, are expected to be completed by the end of this year.

In June this year, the Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC) released an updated $38.7bn cost estimate for the Alaska LNG Project, which is $5.5bn lower than the earlier figure of $44.2bn. This move came as the development faced market uncertainty due to weak oil prices as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In May, AGDC received federal authorisation to construct and operate the Alaska LNG project.