Ambitious LNG Project Could Revive Alaska's Fortunes

Forbes ^ | SEP 22, 2015 | Brigham A. McCown

[thackney]

Alaska was long at the vanguard of America’s energy industry. At one time the State of Alaska accounted for as much as one-quarter of the entire country’s domestic oil production. Alaska’s vast fields also served as a source of pride – and the backbone of the state’s economy. As production surged, it was common to hear industry men revel in the United States’ diminishing reliance on foreign supplies as they worked rigs up and down regional reserves.

Yet, as energy development in the lower 48 has burgeoned over the past decade, those refrains have waned – as has production. Fed by output from the emerging shale reserves in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, state policymakers have watched demand plummet, alongside the price of a barrel of oil. Since its peak in the 1980s, Alaskan oil production has dropped nearly 75 percent. As a result, in 2013, gross domestic product fell by 2.5 percent. By comparison, all other states posted gains.

However, all is not lost for the Last Frontier. Alaska’s energy reserves still possess huge potential, especially with the prospect of increased natural gas production along the North Slope. But lawmakers would be wise to make hay while the sun shines; while the country remains on the sidelines debating liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports – the shippable form of natural gas – global demand is quickly being met elsewhere.

A recent study by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, concluded that as foreign suppliers begin to flood global markets, projects planned for in the States face tougher odds of reaching fruition – including the proposed AlaskaLNG project, which would be the largest capital investment in the history of Alaska.

...$45 billion and $65 billion... 15,000 jobs during the design and construction phases and another 1,000 permanent positions for long-term operations....

[bestintxas]

Maybe it will take off.

Key is the attractiveness of this country in making these huge capital investments(compared to say Myanmar), the environmental attraction of methane over other hydrocarbons, and the long-term LNG markets close by in Asia.

What is not highlighted is the beneficial aspect of natural gas to continued oil production. A lot, but not all, of the gas is presently used for pressure maintenance, thereby keep oil production decline from being worse in a secondary recovery effort.

There will undoubtedly be some increase in that oil decline at some point when gas is produced, but perhaps by then it may not be considerable.