Linking Alaska’s Resources to Alaska’s People 24 2024 Meet Alaska Conference & Trade Show There is a path contingent upon decisive action Recent cold weather has been a wakeup call for Alaska leaders regarding Cook Inlet’s natural gas supply. State legislators were startled at the seriousness of the strain on the natural gas system during cold weather in Southcentral Alaska as well as new information that an annual gas shortage will show up in 2025 rather than 2027, two years earlier than expected. Further, lawmakers were told in hearings this spring that imports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, likely can’t be done to bridge the gas supply gap until 2030. By then gas production from producing fields in Cook Inlet will be in sharp decline, the state Division of Oil and Gas told legislators in separate hearings. If there’s a silver lining to this it is that the Legislature is now really motivated to help producers in the Inlet drill and produce new gas, and fast. Fortunately, there is a path forward that could get some new gas in production quickly, if the Legislature can move fast enough to help HEX LLC, which owns the Kitchen Lights gas field in upper Cook Inlet. There is even more gas that could be developed if a mechanism can be found to help BlueCrest Energy finance development of a substantial proved gas deposit at the Cosmopolitan oil field offshore Anchor Point, near Homer. The gas deposit is estimated at 235 billion cubic feet that overlies, and is separate form, the oil at Legislature works to spur Cook Inlet gas output
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