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Four years in making
Bob Gardes was the driver behind the Cook Inlet LNG bridging project
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
The Cook Inlet LNG project featured in the Feb. 1 issue of Petroleum News was roughly four years in the making. It began with the efforts of Bob Gardes who predicted that Cook Inlet producers were never going to drill their way out of an upcoming shortage of natural gas to meet the needs of the large Southcentral Alaska market.
Cook Inlet LNG LLC, a subsidiary of Gardes Holdings, is advancing an offshore liquefied natural gas import project utilizing a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit, or FSRU, and existing platform and pipeline infrastructure to cover unmet gas demand and storage needs for the region in the coming years. It is being developed as a bridge project to provide energy security for the most populous region of Alaska while longer-term solutions are advanced and realized.
"FSRU's have proven effective as a simple, safe solution to fill energy gaps across the world. We are proud that this project will do the same for Alaskans," Gardes said.
"Bob began pulling together individuals with the key skillsets he wanted to see in the project," one of those individuals, Corri Feige, former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, told Petroleum News in a recent interview with key members of the team.
It's important to note that there will only be vaporous gas moving off the FSRU. Not LNG. All LNG will be regasified on the FSRU.
Gardes Holdings Inc., an independent oil and gas company that has operated in the Cook Inlet basin for several years will be working in partnership with Glacier Oil & Gas Corp., a long-time Cook Inlet producer.
"With proven, existing infrastructure, facilities, and pipelines in the southernmost area of the Cook Inlet, we are excited to embark on the next phase of delivering energy solutions for Alaskans, by Alaskans," Stephen Ratcliff, CEO of Glacier Oil & Gas Corp. said when the project was first announced. "Our ability to utilize our infrastructure allows a timely solution for meeting a gas supply demand in real time, while upholding our standard for health and safety of our employees and the environment we operate in."
"It's no secret that Southcentral Alaska faces a critical energy gap in just a few short years that many players in our industry are working hard to overcome. With our FSRU project, Cook Inlet LNG aims to meet an immediate gas supply need, not impede longer-term gas supply projects currently being discussed in the public sphere," said Cook Inlet LNG Project Lead Rob Bryngelson when the project was first announced. He has brought more than a dozen FSRU projects to market worldwide.
In PN's most recent interview with key players in the project Bryngelson said Cook Inlet LNG has "completed an extensive amount of work related to the design of the project. Most recently, we wrapped up our metocean analysis looking at the wind, waves, currents, and extreme conditions to ensure that the project can operate as anticipated in the local environment, even under extreme conditions. In parallel, we are advancing the design of the mooring system and gas interconnection from the FSRU to the platform, while confirming gas flow dynamics into the regional gas system."
The project will maximize the use of existing oil and gas infrastructure in the Cook Inlet basin with the initial project structured to supply 22 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year to the region.
The FSRU will be moored alongside the existing Osprey platform on the west side of Cook Inlet. Gas will be fed into the pipeline system through the platform's existing infrastructure.
Perfect timing The developers said the timing is ideal for converting the Osprey platform because oil production from it is waning, which means it is nearing the end of its economic life; it will be shut-in in about two years.
Cook Inlet LNG's project will be coming online in mid-2029.
Osprey best choice There are other platforms in Cook Inlet that have already been shut-in but the benefit to using the Osprey is that it is currently being fully maintained. Once a platform is shut-in putting it back online involves additional cost and risk, Gardes said.
Keeping costs as low as possible is a goal of the FSRU project developers.
The mooring anchors that will be placed on the floor of Cook Inlet for the mooring of the FSRU are the only new infrastructure that will be required for Cook Inlet LNG's project.
Mines, other customers The developers of the FSRU project said it can be expanded, depending on demand, although there are no plans to do that at this time.
But they want to be sure there is sufficient energy to meet the possibility of new mining projects and other developments during the gap before longer-terms LNG projects come online.
"It's a very exciting project, based on proven technology," Bryngelson said. "We're offering a bridging solution, an insurance policy for natural gas supply but it can also be a permanent solution."
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