GLNG: Qilak LNG plans $5bn LNG facility in Alaska

Qilak LNG has revealed it is seeking to build a 4mn tonne per year (tpy) liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Alaska’s North Slope, to be completed by the end of the decade. The announcement from the company’s chief executive comes as large LNG importers in East Asia look to wean themselves off Russian gas following its invasion of Ukraine.

Qilak is a subsidiary of Dubai-headquartered Lloyds Energy and was founded to build and operate LNG facilities in the North American Arctic using a near-shore concept of commercialising previously stranded Arctic natural gas supplies for export to Asia.

The proposed site for Qilak’s $5bn export terminal would be 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km) closer to Asian markets than Novatek’s $27bn Yamal LNG terminal in the Russian Arctic, which delivered its first cargoes in 2017.

Capitalising on its geographic location, Qilak believes it can produce LNG at a lower cost than Yamal LNG. Likewise, competitors in the US Gulf Coast would be hard pressed to challenge Qilak, since Alaskan terminals can ship an LNG cargo to Asia in a fortnight, which is about twice as fact as a delivery could be made from the US Gulf Coast.