Located nine miles from the epicenter of last week's magnitude 7 earthquake, the Titan LNG liquefaction plant on Point MacKenzie, Alaska, has come through the quake and the more than 1,000 aftershocks undamaged. The facility is owned and operated by Interior Gas Utility (IGU), which is the only user of the almost 38,000 gallons of LNG produced daily by the plant. IGU said the facility was shut down Friday due to a power loss, but the inspections found no damage to the plant itself. Utility officials said the main road to the facility has been heavily damaged, but a secondary route -- much longer -- has been opened so there is access to the plant. IGU says the foundations at the plant were designed for seismic activity and that piping was designed with expansion loops and enough flexibility to account for earthquakes. The oldest part of the Titan plant was built in 1996 and additional components have been added on since then. IGU said that if the local market continues to expand, Titan's LNG supply will not be enough and the utility is considering options to increase the natural gas supply such as a plant expansion or new source agreements.
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