Harvest Alaska, an affiliate of Hilcorp Alaska, announced Thursday that it is proposing to acquire and convert a shuttered natural gas export facility in Nikiski to start receiving imported gas.
The imported gas could start being received at the Kenai Peninsula facility as early as 2026, according to Harvest Alaska.
Chugach Electric Association — the state’s largest electric utility — said it is in talks for the potential purchase of imported gas from the Nikiski plant.
Southcentral Alaska utilities and cities are scrambling to plan for an anticipated shortfall of gas from Cook Inlet, which has supplied the region for decades. Railbelt utilities have gas contracts with Hilcorp expiring over the next few years, and Hilcorp, the region’s largest gas producer, has warned it cannot meet upcoming demand beyond those contracts based on production from the Inlet.
Last year, Chugach Electric warned that imported gas could see power prices rise by roughly 10%.
Under the proposal announced Thursday, the other four Railbelt utilities could secure gas supplies from the Nikiski plant.
The Nikiski LNG plant operated for over 40 years and was mothballed in 2011.
Marathon Petroleum acquired the plant from ConocoPhillips Alaska in 2018, and then announced plans to convert the facility for exports.
Enstar — Southcentral Alaska’s natural gas utility — last month announced its own plans to construct an imported gas facility. The utility told state regulators earlier in the week that it had signed an exclusivity agreement with Glenfarne — a New-York based company — to advance those plans.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said Chugach Electric Association had already agreed to purchase gas from the import facility.