Marathon Petroleum now says its mothballed LNG plant near Kenai ... - Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman
Marathon Petroleum now says its mothballed LNG plant near Kenai being considered for imports of liquefied natural gas | Local News Stories | frontiersman.com
Marathon Petroleum Co. says it is considering use of its mothballed liquefied natural gas export plant near Kenai as part of a project with regional utilities to import liquefied gas, or LNG, to supplement declining Cook Inlet natural gas production.
This is important because it is the first public acknowledgment by the company that it could use the plant for imports. For decades the plant, formerly owned by ConocoPhillips, had exported LNG, made from Cook Inlet gas, to markets in Asia.
Related Knowledge Center: Liquefied natural gas
Driven by plentiful natural gas produced from shale plays, the United States began exporting liquefied natural gas in 2016 when the Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana opened and shipped its first cargo. Since then, additional capacity, or trains, have been added to Sabine Pass, and terminals have become operational in Cameron Parish, La.; Hackberry, La.; Cove Point, Md.; and Corpus Christi, Texas. The Energy Information Administration projects that U.S. LNG export capacity will reach 8.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) by the end of 2019, making it the third largest in the world, behind Australia and Qatar. The tariff war with China has the potential to impact some final investment decisions for additional terminals in the coming months.