Linking Alaska’s Resources to Alaska’s People 20 2024 Meet Alaska Conference & Trade Show Coordination by utilities, Hilcorp aided in efforts Close coordination between utilities and Hilcorp Energy averted what could have been a natural gas emergency in the state’s largest communities in Southcentral Alaska during the winter cold snap. Temperatures dropped to negative-25 degrees Fahrenheit or below in some locations. “In the years I’ve been here I’ve never seen the system under such strain,” said John Sims, CEO of Enstar Natural Gas Co., the state’s largest gas utility, in a briefing to state legislators in early February. The situation was compounded by technical difficulties in wells that produce gas from a large storage facility near Kenai, south of Anchorage. This was of grave concern because Anchorage and other communities in the region depend on natural gas for space heating and gas also fuels a majority of electric generation. About half of Alaska’s population live in communities served by Enstar. Sims said two of five wells at the Cook Inlet Natural Gas Storage Alaska, or CINGSA, facility experienced problems that reduced the ability to withdraw gas by 30 percent. Enstar was unable to find a repair crew during the cold weather, although a contractor has now been located to do the work, Sims said. It was a close call, although Enstar’s main gas transmission lines never lost pressure. Hilcorp Energy, the major gas producer in Cook Inlet, stepped in to make more gas available from its storage. Gov. Mike Dunleavy called Southcentral natural gas supply emergency averted
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