ConocoPhillips has sold its Kenai LNG plant in Alaska to refining company Andeavor after scaling back operations at the 1.6 million-tonne-per-annum facility, which has not exported LNG since fall 2015.
ConocoPhillips said the sale and transfer of the plant to the new operator took place on Jan. 31.
Andeavor spokesman Scott LaBelle confirmed the deal in an email. He said the purchase allows the company to provide "low-cost fuel for our refinery to produce the fuels that consumers in Alaska need to keep their lives moving." He declined to disclose the value of the deal.
ConocoPhillips had shipped LNG from the Kenai plant to overseas buyers since 1969, exporting the bulk of its more than 1,300 cargoes to Japanese utilities. The facility, located on the Kenai Peninsula near Nikiski, Alaska, consists of two liquefaction trains. The trains can produce just a fraction of what is produced by the trains at Cheniere Energy Inc.'s Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana, the only major U.S. LNG export facility in commercial service in the Lower 48.
The Kenai plant was granted a new LNG export license in April 2014 after the previous license expired in March 2013. The most recent authorization allows the facility to export the equivalent of 40 Bcf of LNG over two years.
ConocoPhillips will now focus on its North Slope operations, according to company spokeswoman Christina Kuhl. The oil and gas major is involved in the $43 billion Alaska LNG project spearheaded by the state's Alaska Gasline Development Corp. While ConocoPhillips joined Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP Plc in stepping down as that project's main developers, the company has said it supports the proposed LNG export terminal and associated 800-mile pipeline as a way to monetize North Slope natural gas and it will make gas available through wellhead sales.
