By Suzanne Downing 
Harvest Midstream has officially closed on its purchase of the Kenai LNG export terminal from Marathon Petroleum, marking a major step toward redeveloping the site into an LNG import facility to supply natural gas to Southcentral Alaska.
The project is intended to provide new natural gas supplies to the region by 2026, with full operations expected in 2028. The company says the move will help fill an emerging gap in local gas production as Cook Inlet’s output continues to decline year after year.
“Today’s announcement is another milestone in delivering real energy solutions for Alaska and advancing America’s energy infrastructure,” said Jason C. Rebrook, Harvest CEO. “Earlier this year, we delivered the first-ever North Slope LNG to Fairbanks, and now we are putting existing LNG infrastructure back to work to help meet Southcentral Alaska’s near-term gas needs and strengthen long-term energy reliability for the state.”
The deal includes roughly 100 acres of industrial waterfront property, 107,000 cubic meters of LNG storage, and dock facilities historically capable of accommodating LNG vessels carrying up to 138,000 cubic meters — the equivalent of about 2.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
While the Alaska LNG pipeline project continues to move slowly through permitting and financing phases, the new Kenai project is designed to address Southcentral Alaska’s immediate needs. Even if the pipeline is ultimately built, the Kenai LNG venture provides an independent, market-driven solution to bridge the supply gap expected over the next several years.
Cook Inlet gas production has been declining steadily as existing fields mature. Local drillers are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to maintain output, but state regulators and utilities alike have warned that the region’s available supply is tightening.
Harvest’s LNG import project would allow natural gas to be brought in from global suppliers, ensuring power generation and heating for the Railbelt region remain stable as domestic production wanes. The company says it has already completed a full inspection of the Kenai facility and dock infrastructure and will seek amendments to its FERC permit to increase import capacity.
A final investment decision is expected in mid-2026, with first LNG imports targeted for early 2028. The redevelopment also preserves the potential for future LNG exports, should Alaska’s production once again outpace in-state demand.
Harvest Midstream, headquartered in Houston, is a privately held midstream company involved in gathering, storage, transportation, and terminal operations for crude oil and natural gas. The company has a growing footprint in Alaska, including operations on the North Slope and in Cook Inlet, and a 49 percent ownership stake in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS).
Alaska to ‘import’ LNG seems so very strange. Where have our leaders failed us on energy and other matters?
Where haven’t they failed???