Alaska LNG project GHGs seen comparing favorably to Asia fuel alternatives

A report released Oct. 7 by Alaska's state-owned Alaska Gas Development Corp. shows that greenhouse gas life-cycle emissions for its proposed Alaska LNG Project compares well against competing LNG delivered to Asia from the US Gulf Coast and would be significantly lower than for coal-fired power generated in China.

LNG from Alaska would result in the release of about half the planet-warming GHGs compared with generating the same power in China with coal, or 541 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent per megawatt-hour of power produced compared with 1,085 kg CO2e per MWh of power with Chinese coal. The figure for China comes from a 2019 study by the US Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory, according to the report.

AGDC's report also compared Alaska LNG emissions to equivalent LNG projects in Louisiana and Australia that have undergone similar lifecycle analyses, and documents that the production and delivery of Alaska LNG provides 50% lower greenhouse gas intensity compared to these projects, AGDC said in a statement.

"This assessment uses transparent methodologies to quantify the value of replacing high-emissions energy sources in foreign markets with low-emissions Alaska LNG," said Frank Richards, CEO of the Alaska state gas corporation.

In June the DOE ordered a new GHG analysis of the big Alaska project to include downstream uses of the LNG in export markets.

A GHG analysis in a Final Environmental Impact Statement for Alaska LNG Project prepared by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission considered only GHG emissions from the project it-self, such as in gas production on the North Slope; pipeline transportation to a south Alaska port and operation of a large LNG plant at the port.

A new Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement being pre-pared for DOE by NETL will include downstream uses of the LNG such as in power generation. NETL is expected to publish its re-port in mid-2022.

Richards said AGDC hired consultants for its report who have worked with NETL on similar GHG lifecycle studies and relied on the model the lab will use in its report.

AGDC did the report to get its own assessment of the GHG downstream impact several months ahead of the NETL report, which is expected to show similar results because the same assumptions and procedures were used, Richards said.

Other US LNG developers like Cheniere Energy have commissioned lifecycle GHG studies, in Cheniere's case for its Sabine Pass LNG project.