Update: ConocoPhillips plans long-term shutdown of Kenai LNG plant

(Article updated on July 18. to add a comment by a ConocoPhillips spokesperson.)

Houston-based energy giant and LNG player ConocoPhillips is ready to shelve the Kenai LNG export facility on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. 

The company put the facility up for sale in November as part of its efforts to regularly review its assets to ensure it is optimizing its portfolio last year and was evaluating bids in April this year.

The company’s spokesperson told LNG World News in an emailed statement that, “while marketing efforts have been underway since mid-January, 2017, and conversations with interested buyers are ongoing, to date ConocoPhillips has not come to terms with a buyer for the facility.”

The export plant last operated for six months during 2015, liquefying 20 Bcf of natural gas and delivering six LNG cargoes, while, due to the market conditions, ConocoPhillips did not conduct an export program in 2016.

During the fall, ConocoPhillips plans to further scale-back operation at the plant, the spokesperson said.

“The reduced operations will focus on continued preservation of the facilities for future LNG exports,” the statement reads.

The company said it is the right time to begin planning to transition the facility to a long-term shutdown, however, the period for the plant being in this mode will depend on the market conditions.

The Kenai LNG plant complex, that is operational and ready to resume exports, includes docking and loading facilities to transport LNG, and has shipped over 1,300 cargoes primarily to Japan.

By Adnan Bajic