What’s next on Alaska LNG?

Steve Butt of ExxonMobil, senior project manager for the Alaska LNG project, provided a project status to the Alaska Support Industry Alliance’s Meet Alaska conference Jan. 9.

The project is a joint venture of BP, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, the state of Alaska - through the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. - and pipeline company TransCanada.

2014 highlights included receipt of a U.S. Department of Energy authorization for LNG export to Free Trade Agreement countries; he said the project is working on non-FTA authorization.

More than 10,000 acres of environmental field surveys were completed, as well as geotechnical and geophysical work in Nikiski on viability of the lead LNG plant site.

The project also filed two of 12 required resource reports with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and completed more than 60 public meetings, including 11 joint open houses with FERC personnel.

Butt said the project also initiated preliminary front end engineering and design work.

Alaska LNG has awarded contracts for work on major segments of the project.

Work on the gas treatment plant included continued integration work with the Prudhoe Bay unit and refining the GTP design to three trains, matching the three trains at the LNG plant. Butt said that is a savings of $1 billion and balances the trains at the GTP with the trains at the LNG plant, allowing for balanced downtime.

The project also bought $2.5 million in pipe for material and welding testing, working with nine steel mills from all over the world.

There is a lot of regulatory work moving forward, he said, since no one has ever permitted anything like this.

Butt said 2015 is a pivotal year on the path to FEED, with a 2016 decision point targeted on moving forward.

Decisions on property taxes and royalty are coming up soon, Butt said, and encouraged Alliance members to engage in the process.

- KRISTEN NELSON