ConocoPhillips May Halt Export from Kenai LNG in Alaska

ConocoPhillips said it may halt LNG shipments from the company’s Kenai facility in Alaska after March 31 when the company’s export license expires.

According to Amy Burnett, a company spokeswoman, ConocoPhillips will seek a license extension and resume operations only if more gas becomes available, after meeting local demand, she said in an interview with Bloomberg

The Kenai LNG terminal is located in Nikiski, on the Kenai Peninsula, approximately 60 air miles from Anchorage, and it is the sole U.S. plant in operation that has authorization to sell domestically produced LNG to non-FTA countries.

The Kenai terminal began operating in 1969, after the nearby North Cook Inlet Gas Field was discovered in 1962. Nearly all LNG produced at the plant has been sold via contracts with two Japanese utilities. While new export projects are underway, the Kenai LNG facility has for more than 40 years been the only LNG export plant of domestic production in the United States.

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LNG World News Staff, March 06, 2013; Image: ConocoPhillips