The Interior Gas Utility (IGU) and its partners appear to be jumping the last few hurdles as they prepare to truck liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the North Slope. The Fairbanks-based utility is expecting to start operations within the next few weeks.
IGU signed what its board members called historic agreements with Hilcorp Alaska and Harvest Midstream in early 2023.
Under the set of 20-year deals, Hilcorp will provide gas from the North Slope, Harvest will process it at a newly-constructed plant and an IGU contractor will haul the gas down the Dalton highway on trailers the utility purchased.
The group had been projecting a start date of October 2024, but ran into delays, including supply chain and equipment issues. That originally pushed the expected start date back to this July, a timeline that also didn’t pan out.
But Clay Beethe, Harvest’s business development director, told the IGU board Tuesday that it’s almost time. He said, among other finishing touches at the plant, they’re running final checks on some equipment that had to be remade because it didn’t fit correctly the first time around.
“This is the same compressor where the coupling had to make the world tour back to France to be remachined and all those sorts of things,” he said. “So, this is a critical part of the commissioning process, making sure this is done. This is one of those slow is smooth, smooth is fast kind of moments for the project.”
Beethe says they’re on track for a commencement date of Sept. 1, and that they’re anticipating the first IGU trailers to arrive at the Harvest plant in mid-August.
“And so that’s a big milestone for getting everything ready for load up,” he said.
IGU serves about 3,000 customers in Fairbanks and North Pole and is owned by the Fairbanks North Star Borough.
It has been manufacturing LNG at its facility in Port Mackenzie, which produces about 50,000 gallons a day, according to IGU. But the utility sought out North Slope gas after Hilcorp raised concerns about dwindling natural gas reserves in the Cook Inlet.
The new Harvest facility is set to triple the Southcentral facility’s output, producing 150,000 gallons a day.