Southcentral Alaska’s natural gas utility and a sister company are taking a cautionary but concrete step to potentially import natural gas into Alaska, as future supplies of the resource wane in the Cook Inlet basin.The expansion would give it the potential to extend a 16-mile pipeline to Port MacKenzie to receive imported gas, if that option is needed to deal with the state’s energy crisis. Port MacKenzie is located about 5 miles north of Anchorage, across Knik Arm.
The filing is essentially a precautionary move to expand the service territory in the event a pipeline needs to be built, said Lindsay Hobson, Enstar’s spokesperson. “But at the same time, we have to be proactively looking at the import opportunities as well,” she said. “Because our No. 1 mission is to secure reliable, affordable gas for our customers. To do that effectively, we have to use absolutely every avenue.”Enstar and other utilities in 2022 that it did not have enough natural gas reserves in the basin to provide for new gas supply contracts after existing ones expire in the coming years.
The application says Cook Inlet producers are struggling to keep up with high production costs as gas reserves decline.“ENSTAR has engaged in continuous negotiations with Cook Inlet producers Hilcorp, Furie, BlueCrest, and Vision Resources to secure new gas contracts, but with limited success,” the application says.