Project Profile

Value: Between US$45 and US$65 billion,
Location: Nikiski, Kenai Peninsula, South Central Alaska, USA
LNG production & export: 20 million metric tons of LNG per year
Pipeline capacity: 3 billion cubic feet per day (cf/d) of natural gas
Length: 1,200 kilometres
Construction Start-up Year: 2019

ExxonMobil, BP, ConocoPhillips and TransCanada have selected Nikiski on the Kenai Peninsula in South Central Alaska to locate the liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant for their giant Alaska South Central (SC) LNG Project. The huge discoveries of natural gas accumulated in Alaska North Slope could no longer be exported to USA after the glut of production generated by the domestic shale gas. From the last estimation the North Slope is containing more than 200 trillion cubic feet (tcf) probable reserves of natural gas out of which a first 35 tcf have already be qualified as proven reserves. With the evolution of the technology, there is no doubt that a significant share of these probable reserves should be converted into proven reserves. The partners share the work load so that:

- BP is in charge of the upstream side of the project to maximise gas production from the North Slope
- ConocoPhillips is focusing on the LNG plant
- ExxonMobil is performing the technical studies of the project

ConocoPhillips had established a first LNG plant in Kenai about 40 years ago. Even though the new Alaska SC LNG project should be erected in a different site, the currently running Kenai LNG plant and export terminal will provide the partners with reliable record of data about the region. With capital expenditure estimated to range between US$45 and US$65 billion, ExxonMobil, BP, ConocoPhillips, and TransCanada are working on the pre-front engineering and design (pre-FEED). From the team work performed by the partners at the conceptual level, the Alaska SC LNG Project should include:

- Gas central processing facility (CPF) located on the coast of the North Slope to proceed to a first treatment of the raw gas before transportation
- 1,200 kilometres and 42-inch export pipeline from the North Slope gas CPF to the South Central LNG plant
- Eight compression station along the export pipeline
- Five take-off points for local delivery
- Alaska Nikiski LNG Plant
- Ice-free sea water marine terminal

The pipeline will have a transportation capacity of 3 billion cubic feet per day (cf/d) of natural gas. From ConocoPhillips expertise with its proprietary Cascade LNG process, the Alaska SC LNG Plant should be designed around three LNG Train with a total capacity of 15 to 18 million tonnes per year (t/y).

The multi-billion dollar project is being developed by the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corporation and energy giants BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil. (June, 2016)

Alaska LNG export project has filed its second draft resource report with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. (June, 2016)

According to AGDC’s plans, FEED work could start in 2018 while the construction could begin in 2019. (September, 2016)

Operators:

ExxonMobil
BP
ConocoPhillips
Alaska Gasline Development Corporation


Contractors:

Fugro: Geotechnical and geophysical programme. The geotechnical scope of work includes drilling and sampling of borings for the onshore liquefaction facilities, marine terminal and offshore pipelines. It also includes installation of monitoring wells, seismograph and in situ measurement of soil properties. The geological and earthquake engineering scope will include assessment of geohazards, source characterization, probabilistic seismic hazard and site response analyses. Bathymetric, side scan sonar, reflection and refraction surveys and sub-bottom profiling will also be conducted to assist in developing an integrated site model. These studies will assist AKLNG and its contractors to proceed with the FEED level design of the LNG terminal and associated offshore pipelines.