Tap natural gas from Alaska's frozen areas

[futuregx]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Today's technology could extract enough untapped natural gas, frozen in Alaska's North Slope, to heat millions of homes for years, federal officials announced Wednesday.
A U.S. Geological Survey study says there is much natural gas to be tapped from frozen areas in Alaska.

A U.S. Geological Survey study says there is much natural gas to be tapped from frozen areas in Alaska.

An estimated 85.4 trillion cubic feet of "undiscovered, technically recoverable gas" is frozen in the state's North Slope region, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study released by the Interior Department. The deposits could heat more than 100 million homes for a decade, the study says.

"The assessment points to a truly significant potential for natural gas hydrates to contribute to the energy mix of the United States and the world," said Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. "This study also brings us closer to realizing the potential of this clean-burning natural gas resource."

However, the study warned that further research is needed to determine the long-term impacts of the natural gas hydrates -- essentially methane gas trapped in ice.

While natural gas is a fossil fuel that emits carbon dioxide, tapping into the gas hydrates assessed in the study is not expected to affect global warming, said Brenda Pierce, coordinator for the USGS Energy Resources Program.

"There is some near-surface gas hydrate," she said Wednesday. But, "these are fairly deeper and fairly well-buffered by the sediment and strata above."

The natural gas released from the depositing would go straight into a pipeline, not the atmosphere, she said.

While the existence of frozen natural gas deposits -- especially in the Arctic region -- has been known for years, the USGS study is the first estimate of recoverable natural gas hydrates with current technology.

The North Slope natural gas hydrates make up 11.5 percent of the volume of gas within all other undiscovered, technically recoverable gas resources in the United States -- frozen or not, the USGS estimated.

Separately, in August, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the former GOP vice presidential candidate, signed a bill allowing TransCanada Alaska to build a 1,715-mile natural gas pipeline from the North Slope's Prudhoe Bay to Alberta, Canada. During the McCain-Palin campaign, Palin's success in finalizing plans for a gas line was a benchmark that her supporters said represented her ability to work across party lines.

In the study released Wednesday, researchers suggest extracting the natural gas hydrates with "depressurization" -- a method that involves changing the ice into gas and water at the surface.

The study area extends from the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska on the west and through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the east. The latter is a 19 million-acre strip in northeastern Alaska, where oil exploration has long been prohibited by Congress.

USGS Director Mark Myers said the gas hydrates research has been going on for more than 25 years.

"This is especially important now that a growing body of evidence indicates that concentrated gas hydrate accumulations ... such as those in Northern Alaska, can be produced with existing technology," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/12/alaska.natural.gas/index.html

[rtry9a]

Re: Tap natural gas from Alaska's frozen areas

We don't really need Alaskan nat gas at this time, what the industry really needs are more pipelines to distribute existing domestic sources in the West to Eastern markets. There are huge known reserves waiting to be piped that the infrastructure cannot support- particularly in the Western states. Gas from Alaska would only add to that backlog, be sold to the Canadian tar sand industry, or be compressed into LNG and shipped to China, India, and perhaps California.

[Steve]

Re: Tap natural gas from Alaska's frozen areas

I agree, we don't need it at this time. But we should still start building the pipeline.

[cngacrossusa]

Re: Tap natural gas from Alaska's frozen areas

Have to disagree that we DO need it now. Alaska Governor Palin touted one of her accomplishments as getting natural gas pipeline built (ie underway), which I'll guarantee is being paid with big chunk of Federal government subsidy . . . so you and I as taxpayers are paying for it. Thus, need to flush the US with low cost natural gas to keep price down (thus NO price gouging by Clean Energy), and develop nation-wide infrastructure of public refueling for cng passenger vehicles and LNG/CNG tractor-trailer trucks - - - thus, "cng across USA" which is my montra!!

What we need is Federal mandate that the Alaska natural gas is used ONLY for domestic USA purposes (ie transportation or home heating or ng power plants) and NOT wasted in the ridiculous Canada tar sands oil extraction!! Reason also being that entire state of Alaska was paid for by US taxpayers, so we should reap the benefits of massive natural gas supplies there. Again, ABSOLUTELY do not let that natural gas be converted to LNG and sold dirt cheap to China or some other country!!!

We have all the ingredients to create USA Transportation Revolution - - lots of cheap natural gas, technology for cng cars & trucks, and especially now a massive recession in need of jumpstart with low cost transportion solution to get the USA going again. Think of it as building the first railroad across the USA . . . just now it's the nationwide infrastructure of public cng refueling with low cost cng/lng - - and I SCREAM . . . NOT with Clean Energy (aka GREED ENERGY).

I just read that Pres Bush Jr helped waste $1.2 Billion for hydrogen research in last 2 years with car makers and the handful of hydrogen refueling sites . . . come on, they're just wasting natural gas by converting it to hydrogen first, then using for vehicles. Instead, need to use ng directly for vehicles. Once again auto industry with false promise of someday producing the "perfect" vehicle, all the while they waste 30 years doing nothing for ng and electric vehicles. That $1.2 Billion could have built nationwide infrastructure of public cng refueling sites!! Time to quit dancing around the real solution and DO IT . . . build nationwide cng network . . . call it US-CNG !!

[Alaska GX]

Re: Tap natural gas from Alaska's frozen areas

We (Alaskans) have enough natural gas without the hydrates to supply all the US NG domestic needs for years, we need the tree huggers to get out of the way.

There are no federal subsidizes for the proposed pipeline project, just the 500 million the State of Alaska is contributing to help the project get going.

[Amfuel]

Re: Tap natural gas from Alaska's frozen areas

While natural gas is a fossil fuel that emits carbon dioxide

Natural gas is NOT a fossil fuel. It is created through the digestion of anerobic microbes called methanogens. The same bacteria in a cows gut. NG is Methane or CH4. Any part of NG that is fossil fuel is an aduldrant that has not been removed. NG is older than oil and newer than compost.

The rest of the thread I like.

I also think the new tech of converting carbon dioxide to plastic is fabulous. It is a polycarbonate that is created. A first step of getting rid of non-biodegradable plastics?

[300mileclub]

Alaska NG pipeline could bring $400B to Alaska over 30 years

Permits were approved in 2008 to pipe natural gas from Prudhoe Bay across Canada to the Great Lakes and Midwest.

http://www.arcticgas.gov/stakeholders/project-applicants/alaska-pipeline-project

That proposal seems to have been joined by a recent proposal to export the gas through Valdez.

http://www.frontiersman.com/opinions/columnists/can-you-hear-us-now/article_cfa9d69a-69b4-11e1-b7a6-0019bb2963f4.html

Can you hear us now?
Posted: Thursday, March 8, 2012
By Bill Walker
...Last November, the Alaska Municipal League, after reviewing all proposed gas line projects and hearing from their proponents, overwhelmingly passed a resolution supporting construction of the All Alaska Gas line from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez for LNG shipment to the Asian market. The Alaska Gas line Port Authority has recently released results of several studies. The “Alaskan LNG Exports Competitiveness Study,” conducted by world energy experts, Wood Mackenzie, concludes:

1. LNG from Alaska could be delivered into the Japanese market for $8.50 per thousand cubic feet (mcf) while other projects being developed elsewhere around the world and in the Lower 48, had much higher delivered cost to Japan, as high as $12.17/mcf.
2. Revenues to Alaska from the sale of LNG to the Asian market would be very significant and could generate between $220 billion and $419 billion for Alaska during a 30-year period. There also is enough gas in Alaska for this project to continue to operate for more than 100 years.
3. Given Alaska’s proximity to Asia, our LNG shipping costs are 80 percent cheaper than other LNG projects’ shipping costs.

...Unless Alaska steps forward and takes control of this project through ownership of the infrastructure, nothing will change and we will continue to expend precious money and time chasing inferior projects.

Bill Walker is the owner of an Anchorage law firm with an oil and gas and municipal law practice and serves as general counsel for the Alaska Gasline Port Authority.

[300mileclub]

AK Gov encourages large-scale LNG project

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/congressman-markey-aims-prevent-alaska-lng-export

Congressman Markey aims to prevent Alaska LNG export
Alaska Dispatch | Mar 22, 2012

...U.S. Congressman Edward Markey, D-Mass. -- long known as an opponent of Alaska oil and gas development -- told petroleum majors ConocoPhillips, BP, and Exxon Mobil Corp. that bills he is currently pursuing would prevent them from building a $40 billion LNG project to sell Alaska's natural gas to Asia.

Recently, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell encouraged Alaska's largest producers to consider a large-scale Alaska LNG project, and the three companies have said (most recently Conoco) they are in a joint discussion of the idea.

Markey's two bills would put an end to all that, he said in a press release Wednesday, the same day the subscripion-based Financial Times reported on the companies' ongoing discussions.

Markey's press release said his bills prohibit LNG exports in two ways. One bill, the "Keep American Natural Gas Here Act," requires natural gas produced on federal land to be sold only to U.S. consumers. The other bill, the "North America Natural Gas Security and Consumer Protection Act," prohibits the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from licensing LNG terminals used for export of domestic gas.

Alaska's entire D.C. delegation is opposed to Markey's attempt, naturally, but Sen. Mark Begich was quoted by the Juneau Empire trying to make lemonade while the sun shines:

“Yet again, Rep. Markey is trying to shut down any Alaska development. I find it laughable that after 30 years of blocking the development of Alaska’s oil and gas resource for American manufacturers, farmers and families he is now demanding we supply them. I eagerly await his sponsorship of bills to support development of ANWR and the Arctic OCS to address his newfound concern for American consumers.”

Larry Persily, Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects, told APRN he doesn't expect Markey's attempt to succeed.

[300mileclub]

CANADA to export LNG to Pacific Rim

http://www.cjfw.ca/News/Story.aspx?ID=1671709

Another Milestone for Kitimat LNG
3/16/2012

It's being called an important milestone in the development of the Kitimat LNG export terminal.
The governments of Canada and British Columbia, K-M L-N-G and the Haisla Nation have agreed to establish the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission as the regulator for the proposed liquefied natural gas facility, which will be located on the Haisla Nation reserve.

A news release says the deal will enable the commission to begin a regulatory and engineering review and allow the project to move forward while federal regulations are established under the First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act.Haisla Chief Councillor Ellis Ross says his First Nation initiated the process in 2009 and is pleased to see this interim agreement signed.

Ross also says the Haisla share Premier Christy Clark's interest in seeing approval processes move more quickly where projects are environmentally sound and where Aboriginal consultation and accommodation has been completed.

[300mileclub]

Alaska LNG exports to Japan mark 40th aniversary

http://www.conocophillips.com/EN/abo...nai_spirit.pdf Spirit Magazine (Southwest Airlines)

The Kenai LNG Plant celebrates 40 years by Amy Burnett, photography by Garth Hannum page 36-43

When the temperature of natural gas is reduced to -259 degrees Fahrenheit (-161 degrees Celsius) at atmospheric pressure, the gas condenses from a vapor to the liquid state. This shrinks the gas to a liquid that is 1/630th the volume of the original methane or natural gas. As Pete Micciche, superintendent, Kenai Alaska LNG Plant, is fond of saying, "The gas that once took up the space of a beach ball is now a liquid that takes the space of a golf ball. This favorably affects transportation costs simply because one can fit far more golf balls into a tanker than beach balls."

Liquefaction makes getting natural gas to Japan -- and other locations far from its origin -- feasible. Upon arrival via LNG tanker, it's heated back into its gaseous state. Natural gas is then transported, via pipeline, to homes and businesses. Natural gas, often found around the world in conjunction with oil reserves, was considered a waste product of oil production well into the 20th century.

[cripple_rooster]

Re: Tap natural gas from Alaska's frozen areas

I just read that Pres Bush Jr helped waste $1.2 Billion for hydrogen research in last 2 years with car makers and the handful of hydrogen refueling sites . . . come on, they're just wasting natural gas by converting it to hydrogen first, then using for vehicles. Instead, need to use ng directly for vehicles. Once again auto industry with false promise of someday producing the "perfect" vehicle, all the while they waste 30 years doing nothing for ng and electric vehicles. That $1.2 Billion could have built nationwide infrastructure of public cng refueling sites!! Time to quit dancing around the real solution and DO IT . . . build nationwide cng network . . . call it US-CNG !!

I must confess I used to believe in Hydrogen as a viable alternative fuel about 12 years ago when I was just 10, and that it could start to be commercially-viable until 2010. But it's not just cheaper to use CNG, it's also way safer than Hydrogen due to all the issues related to the storage of Hydrogen and the energy that might be spent to have it stored in a safe way.

[300mileclub]

Canadian gas may be exported at Oregon's Jordan Cove proposed LNG port

This is a current topic not only because new jobs would help correct the 11% unemployment rate in the area. But a liquefaction plant would provide a source of LNG for trucking in the state whose fueling stations, in turn, could also supply CNG for a highway network which currently is only served with CNG fueling in Medford.

http://theworldlink.com/news/local/ferc-heads-to-cb/article_b808b2d6-458c-5c95-9dff-7ca679ce203c.html

FERC heads to Coos Bay
By Jessie Higgins, The World | March 26, 2012

COOS BAY -- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will visit the South Coast on Tuesday to tour Jordan Cove Energy Partners' proposed liquefied natural gas export facility.

Jordan Cove Energy Project LP will host an open house Tuesday March 27 from 4 to 8:30 p.m. at The Mill Casino-Hotel in North Bend to answer questions about its proposed liquefied natural gas export facility. Representatives from companies working on the project will be available to answer questions, said Bob Braddock, Jordan Cove's project manager. There will be no formal presentation...

This is the second time Jordan Cove has undertaken the FERC permitting process to build an LNG terminal here. In 2009, Jordan Cove received a permit to import LNG to Coos Bay. After receiving that permit, Jordan Cove announced a plan to build a facility that could also export LNG, which required a separate permit.

'We are going through the whole thing again," Braddock said. 'This time, FERC is looking at the differences. A lot of things are unchanged."
An export facility would mean different on-site equipment and more vessel calls, Braddock said. The proposed facility would more than double in size and be more expensive to build. Importing LNG requires equipment to warm the liquid into a gas. Exporting the gas means Jordan Cove would have to cool it down...

'The most simplistic way to describe it is, it's the difference between buying a deep freezer and a range top," Braddock said. 'One warms up, the other cools down..."

[300mileclub]

LNG port would create liquefaction plant in Coos Bay OR

Pipeline, Terminal Would Export Natural Gas From Coos*Bay
EarthFix | March 28, 2012.

http://news.opb.org/article/pipeline_terminal_would_export_natural_gas_from_coos_bay/

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is requiring Jordan Cove Energy, a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in Coos Bay, Oregon, to submit a new application now that the facility would be used to liquefy and export natural gas instead of importing it.

However, FERC officials say that the associated Pacific Connector Pipeline has not been asked to file any new applications, and that the pipeline’s certificate of convenience and necessity is still valid.

That certificate gives the Pacific Connector the ability to use eminent domain to acquire easements on private land. The pipeline would connect Jordan Cove’s coastal export terminal to natural gas suppliers at a major hub in Malin, Oregon. The 36 inch pipeline would run directly across several hundred private properties.

Jordan Cove initially applied for permits to build a facility to import natural gas, but publicly changed course in fall of 2011, and received a permit to export to free trade agreement countries from the Department of Energy in December of 2011.

...A small crowd of Coos Bay residents braved several hours in the rain to tour the proposed LNG terminal site with FERC officials.Jordan Cove has acquired industrially zoned land for its proposed export terminal on a wind-swept sand dune that once belonged to Weyerhauser on Coos Bay’s North Spit.

The terminal would consist of a 350 megawatt power plant and liquefaction facility, two LNG storage tanks, each 180 foot tall, and a berth where tankers would dock and connect with cryogenic pipes to fill up with the supercooled LNG. The power plant is not under FERC’s jurisdiction and will require its own specific license from an Oregon board.

Bob Braddock, a project manager with Jordan Cove, said he anticipates 90 ships docking at the terminal per year when the facility is operating at full capacity...“If this terminal was built 5 years ago, we’d have jobs in Coos Bay today,” said Roy Metzger, an appraiser with Coos County. “We wouldn’t be stuck in this downturn.”

Oregon Attorney General John Kroger...questioned what public benefit the proposed pipeline and terminal would bring ...

Members of Oregon’s congressional delegation have also weighed in. Congressman Peter Defazio recently introduced legislation that would block developers from using eminent domain to obtain an easement from a private property owner for an LNG pipeline.

______________________________________
Note by 300mileclub:

It's surprising Oregon elected officials (at end of above article) do not see a source of LNG as a way to provide truck fuel in the state. Making LNG from gas brought in from Canada for export can be done by the peak-shaving process as the pressure is released at the end of a pipeline:

http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/NaturalGas/Projects_n/TDS/LNG/LNG_A_42027NYDemo.html

[cowboy]

Re: LNG port would create liquefaction plant in Coos Bay OR

I see a problem here. why are we shiping it out of the country? I be willing to bet that it is to power all the places that our jobs went just another scam to steal the things that belong the the people starting with jobs than your house now the only fuel that could power us out of this depression . as if the cost of shipping could be cut by1/2 we could all have a job making wigets

[300mileclub]

Oregon's Jordan Cove proposed LNG port plans 2014 construction start

http://theworldlink.com/news/local/lng-site-tour-becomes-what-if-session/article_9b53cc4e-ea24-502d-b360-c65218dd2ff2.html

LNG site tour becomes 'what if' session
By Jessie Higgins, The World | March 28, 2012

NORTH BEND ...More than 30 braved Tuesday's rain for the nearly two-hour tour on the North Spit, pausing at every new location to ask more questions... Following the tour, Jordan Cove held an open house with representatives from eleven of the major government agencies and private companies working on the LNG project set up to answer the public's questions. About 130 people toured the open house, many from out of town.

...The open house is beneficial to both the community and the companies working on the project, Braddock said. Many of the specialized engineering firms are from out of state. The open house brings them together to get feedback from the community. It also demystifies the project to community members, he said. Representatives from agencies working on various aspects of engineering, ship transit, fire and safety, liquefaction, power generation, and the natural gas pipeline lined the walls of the Mill Casino's Salmon Room.

...When the project was initially proposed, no one exported LNG. The market was not there. Since then the market has shifted, and many domestic companies are scrambling to keep up, he said. Gordon Pickering, the director of business consulting firm Navigant, agreed, saying the global market is prime for LNG exports. Most of the gas that would be exported from Coos Bay would come from reserves in Canada, he said.

'This will turn this area around," Pickering said. 'It is a large project. I think the scale of it is something people have trouble grasping."...Jordan Cove hopes to begin construction in July 2014 and be operational by late 2017.