Marathon Petroleum’s unit Trans-Foreland Pipeline has won more time from US regulators to bring the closed Kenai LNG export plant in Alaska back online as an import facility.
The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said in a letter dated August 16 that it “granted an extension of time until and including December 17, 2025 to complete and place into service the project.”
Trans-Foreland asked FERC in July for the three-year extension.
FERC authorized Trans-Foreland on December 17, 2020 to launch the LNG import facility in two years.
Trans-Foreland plans to construct, modify, and operate new facilities for the import of LNG at its existing Kenai LNG export terminal in Nikiski, Kenai Peninsula Borough, and deliver the fuel to its Kenai refinery adjacent to the plant.
The Kenai LNG cool down project would allow the plant to provide up to 7 million standard cubic feet per day of gas.
The firm said that “the onset and duration of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have generated adverse economic and logistical conditions that slowed commercial progress and precluded Trans-Foreland from making its final investment decision (FID) for the project.”
TransForeland also said it had been actively seeking suitable suppliers and is monitoring markets for LNG.
Despite this delay, Trans-Foreland “is confident that the project continues to be commercially viable,” it said.
