ConocoPhillips selling Kenai LNG export plant

Houston-based energy giant and LNG player ConocoPhillips said it is in the initial stages of marketing the liquefied natural gas export facility on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. 

According to the company’s statement, the efforts to market the plant are consistent with the company’s efforts to regularly review its assets to ensure it is optimizing its portfolio.

“Our current focus is on our North Slope operations,” the company said in a statement.

ConocoPhillips believes the facility is a strategic asset offering “good opportunities for the right buyer.”

The export plant operated for six months during 2015, liquefying 20 Bcf of natural gas and delivering six LNG cargoes.

“Due to market conditions, ConocoPhillips did not conduct an export program in 2016,” the company’s statement reads, adding that the plant is operational and ready to resume exports.

The facility was the world’s largest plant when it started operations in 1969, and for 47 years has been the only export plant in North America.

Since February, the Sabine Pass LNG plant in Louisana, operated by Cheniere, began exporting liquefied natural gas produced from U.S. shale gas from its Train 1.

The Kenai LNG plant complex includes docking and loading facilities to transport LNG, and has shipped over 1,300 cargoes primarily to Japan.