Robert Seitz: The Regulatory Commission should have left some incentive for the gas storage request by Enstar

By ROBERT SEITZ

July 22, 2026 – Cook Inlet natural gas is the primary energy source for south central Alaska and should remain as such even with the development of the Alaska LNG project. Among the various things that can be done to help ensure this continuity of this strategic asset and critical infrastructure for the benefit of Alaska is provide increased storage capacity of natural gas in the Kenai Peninsula area.

The advantage of large gas storage is producers can produce and sell their gas to the entity with the gas storage capacity so the producer could quickly drill more wells to increase production in Cook Inlet more rapidly.

With rejection of Enstar’s plan is not a positive move in Alaska’s energy future.  It is important to realize that it is import to keep Cook Inlet gas as a strategic asset and critical infrastructure and that we, collectively, must advocate for any positive moves that will keep Cook Inlet gas in that category.  The things we need to look for are increased storage capacity, an additional jack-up rig to allow doubling of the number of wells which can be drilled each summer, financial incentives which would ensure less expensive gas for South Central Alaska.

It’s been reported that the Regulatory Commission said Enstar had not provided enough information on the project, and that there were other uncertainties.  Rather than reject the project, the commission should have requested the additional information desired.  What is clear is that gas storage has being going on for decades in Alaska, so it is difficult that there is not enough information to allow this project to unfold in an orderly fashion.  By killing the project, the incentive for more drilling is discouraged.  A large storage location allows producers to sell gas more quickly after drilling new wells to provide a more immediate cash flow to make improvements and to drill more wells.

My recommendation is for the commission to reactive the request, and submit whatever questions need answered for the Commission to more proactively address this critical request for additional gas storage. In the event the Legislature ever gets around to approving the property tax relieve for the Alaska LNG project, we do not want the reality of the project to reduce the interest in maintaining Cook Inlet gas as a strategic asset.

John Sims, Enstar’s president was quoted as saying the action was “baffling” and I agree that it is baffling. The approach should be proactive to allow progress on development of the project to move forward. If there is a major concern the commission has about some feature of the project that might totally derail the project, they should voice that concern so it can be properly addressed.  We have been solving all kinds of problems in development of many oil and gas projects in this state and this project should be no different.

There is probably a good way to get to the end of development with the result of increase storage.  Our Future in the North depends on this kind of progress.

Robert Seitz is a professionally licensed electrical engineer and longtime Alaskan. 

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