Alaska LNG Seeks Funding on Path to Final Investment Decision in 2025

Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC) said on Monday it was working to secure funding for Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) for its proposed Alaska LNG project in 2024, which would lead to a final investment decision (FID) in 2025.
FEED focuses on technical requirements and identifying main costs for a proposed project.Alaska LNG, which is expected to cost roughly $44 billion, is one of several North American liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects that have been under development for years and could make a decision to start construction in 2024 or 2025.

AGDC told Reuters about the timing of the possible FID in response to questions, after the state-owned firm issued a press release that said U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration “forcefully supported the export authorization for the Alaska LNG Project.”

That Biden administration support was in a March 15 U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) brief on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that AGDC said “highlights key energy security, climate, and economic benefits of Alaska LNG.”

AGDC also noted that Alaska LNG “is unaffected by the Biden Administration’s LNG export authorization freeze announced on January 26.”

The Biden administration paused approvals for pending and future applications to export LNG from new projects.

AGDC, which told Reuters Alaska LNG has interest and preliminary agreements for 125% of its offtake, projected the project could produce first gas in-state as early as 2029 and first LNG for export in 2031.

The LNG project includes a liquefaction facility on the Kenai Peninsula in southern Alaska and a proposed 807-mile (1,299-kilometer) pipeline that would move gas currently stranded in northern Alaska across the state.

AGDC has said it is not looking to build Alaska LNG itself but work with other parties that can build the project.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Sharon Singleton)