THE ALASKA NORTH SLOPE LNG PROJECT

摘要

The Alaska North Slope (ANS) LNG Project continues to advance towards commercial reality through the efforts of the four Sponsor Group companies: Phillips Alaska, Inc.; BP Exploration (Alaska), Inc.; Foothills Pipe Lines, Ltd.; and Marubeni Corporation. The Sponsor companies have integrated a critical mass of complementary attributes to achieve success; gas resource ownership at Prudhoe Bay Unit; as well as experience in LNG marketing, transportation, and operations; Alaskan operations and permitting; arctic pipeline design, construction, and operation; and mega-project execution. Formed in 1998, the Sponsor Group is currently working toward an internal target of first LNG deliveries as early as 2008, if and when the market is ready. Significant engineering activities are underway to refine the scope, introduce innovation, and reduce the cost of the major facilities. These facilities include a gas treatment plant (or plants) located on the North Slope, a 1300-km (800-mile) pipeline, an LNG plant and associated marine terminal, and a fleet of LNG tankers. Two LNG plant sites and corresponding pipeline routes are currently under consideration; one with the LNG plant at Anderson Bay in Valdez Harbor, and the other near Nikiski on the Cook Inlet. Specific areas of uniqueness and innovation to be reported include: The combination of colder ambient temperatures and high-pressure LNG-quality feed gas to allow the LNG plant to manufacture far more LNG than a similarly powered warm-weather plant; The consideration of aero derivative versus industrial gas turbines at the LNG plant; The optimum pipeline design resulting from the combination of dense-phase; operating pressures with X80 or stronger steel, while considering chilling or other techniques to mitigate frost-heave and thaw-settlement stresses. The selection of an acid gas removal process that will provide LNG-quality pipeline gas at the outlet of the North Slope gas treatment plant These and other areas of innovation enable the ANS LNG Project to commence with an initial Project as small as 7 MTPA, with the possibility of future expansion to previously-cited figures of 14+ MTPA.