By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

Texas-based companies continue to lead the U.S. in oil and natural gas production – including in Alaska.

A Houston-based company has helped make history by completing the first liquified natural gas (LNG) delivery from Alaska’s North Slope beyond the arctic region this month.

Houston-based Harvest Midstream and Alaska’s Interior Gas Utility (IGU) have completed the first delivery of LNG via pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope to Fairbanks, making the delivery the first commercial sale of North Slope gas to communities beyond the Arctic region in U.S. history.

“For the first time in history, North Slope gas isn’t just staying on the Slope — it’s reaching beyond to power Alaska’s future,” Harvest CEO Jason Rebrook said. “This project unlocks clean, reliable energy for Interior families and businesses and shows what’s possible when we work together to build Alaska’s energy security.”

Harvest’s North Slope LNG facility near Deadhorse, Alaska, will produce up to 150,000 gallons a day, triple the capacity of IGU’s current plant. Deliveries are projected to surpass 8 million cubic feet of natural gas a day as IGU expands its infrastructure and converts customers over to natural gas service, it says.

Pipeline delivery is the safest and more efficient method to transport LNG in one of the most remote regions of the state, the industry and government officials have found. Deadhorse is roughly a 500-mile and 12 hour drive along the Dalton Highway to Fairbanks. It’s the only highway that crosses the Yukon River, the Arctic Circle and has the highest pass in the state.

The privately-held Houston-based midstream service provider operates more than 6,000 miles of pipeline across seven states. It transports and processes natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids like ethane, propane and butane.

Harvest began operating in Alaska in 2014 and expanded its role in the state’s critical infrastructure over the last decade. In 2020, it acquired BP’s midstream assets, bringing Harvest a 49% ownership stake in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) and Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.

IGU, a publicly owned utility of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, serves more than 3,400 customers and operates more than 150 miles of mainline in Fairbanks and 85 miles in North Pole. It’s supported by 5.5 million gallons of LNG storage at three storage sites.

“Bringing North Slope natural gas into Fairbanks is a historic step for Interior Alaska but also for our state as a whole,” IGU General Manager Elena Sudduth said. “This project gives our community access to a new, virtually unlimited, source of gas, strengthening our resilience and ensuring our customers have access to reliable service as Alaska’s energy landscape continues to evolve.”

Harvest says the LNG facility has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 2,000 tons a year by converting the energy source of homes and businesses from fuel oil or wood to natural gas. Doing so “will have a significant improvement to air quality,” it says, since a large component of emissions in the area comes from particulate matter.

The news comes after the Trump administration reversed Biden administration policies in the North Slope. This included reinstating a program to make the entire 1.56-million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) available for oil and natural gas leasing.

The Biden administration also canceled previously approved oil and gas leases in ANWR and restricted development on more than 50% of ANWR. In response, the Iñupiat North Slope community, which relies on oil and natural gas development for income, said the administration was trying to “silence indigenous voices in the Arctic,” The Center Square reported. Nearly all of the North Slope’s tax base comes from resource development infrastructure.

Last year, U.S. House Republicans passed Alaska’s Right to Produce Act to reverse Biden administration policies by establishing the Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing program to allow oil and natural gas leasing on 13 million acres of public land in the North Slope. The bill went nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Under the Trump administration, at least six lease offshore sales have been scheduled in Alaska’s Cook Inlet beginning next March, The Center Square reported.

The Trump administration argues the lease sales will ensure that “Alaskans benefit from new jobs, stronger local economies and long-term investment in their communities.” It also maintains that Alaska holds a “unique position as both a strategic energy hub and a gateway to the Arctic,” making it “essential to U.S. energy security.”