Alaska’s natural gas and the state’s potential to export new sources of fuel were on the agenda for Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy trade mission to Japan.
The Alaska delegation, headed, by the governor, spent four days meeting with government and company representatives including the JERA; the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp.; the Japan Bank for International Cooperation; Tokyo Gas; TOYO Engineering; the Mitsubishi Corp.; and the Chiyoda Corp.
The trade mission concluded June 3.
This is the governor’s second foreign trip during his administration. The first, in 2019, was also to Japan. That trip marked the 50th anniversary of the first LNG shipment from Nikiski to Tokyo.
In a June 4 statement the governor’s office said the meetings were to discuss procurement of Alaska’s natural gas and assess the state’s potential to export new sources of fuel.
“Alaska and Japan have a trade partnership going back over 50 years to the first LNG export from Nikiski to Japan,” Dunleavy said.
While Cook Inlet LNG is no longer exported, Dunleavy said that with the worldwide shift “away from older fuel sources, and the simultaneous need for supplies that are not risked due to political instability,” there appears to be a role for Alaska LNG to play, and an opportunity for Alaska to supply clean hydrogen.
The journey came on the heels of the first Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference.
Members of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. were in the governor’s delegation.
In letters to Japanese firms and government officials in late March, the governor said he would be accompanied by AGDC President Frank Richards. Dunleavy said the group would provide updates on the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas project. He also mentioned reduction in carbon emissions from the use of Alaska LNG and “the parallel blue ammonia project under development” in Alaska.
Hydrogen opportunity
AGDC has been talking about hydrogen opportunities.
Richards discussed the Alaska hydrogen opportunity when he updated House and Senate Resource committees on AGDC in April.
On April 6 he told Senate Resources that many of the same reasons which allowed creation of the modern LNG industry Alaska more than 50 years ago with the LNG plant at Nikiski would allow creation of the clean hydrogen industry in Alaska.
He listed four factors:
*Ability to store and sequester carbon at the project site at tidewater.
*Natural gas with low greenhouse gas, GHG, from conventional gas supply.
*A short distance from Cook Inlet to expanding clean hydrogen markets in Asia.
*The existing ammonia plant which would be well positioned to be the first mover in the market.
In an overview of clean hydrogen Richards noted that natural gas - methane - releases CO2 when burned and is somewhat difficult to store and transport, whereas hydrogen, although it releases no CO2 when burned, is very difficult to store and transport. Hydrogen and ammonia, he said, are both “clean fuels.”
Converting hydrogen into ammonia makes storage and transportation easier, and ammonia could then be exported to Asia to meet future energy needs there.
Process
Natural gas can be converted first into hydrogen and then into ammonia - by adding nitrogen - in a process used by the existing Nutrien ammonia plant at Nikiski, Richards said.
He told Senate Resources that the ammonia plant at Nikiski is in a position to be restarted, and could meet an immediate need in Asia, with the ammonia a carrier of hydrogen atoms. Asia, Richards said, is looking to spike coal generation with ammonia to reduce the amount of carbon coming out of stacks when coal is burned.
In converting natural gas into hydrogen and ammonia, CO2 is produced. If that CO2 is captured and sequestered, the resulting product, “blue ammonia,” is a clean fuel.
Cook Inlet could provide sequestration.
A study done of Cook Inlet some 10 years ago found 50 gigatons of carbon CO2 sequestration is available - it has been called the best carbon sink on the West Coast, Nick Szymoniak, AGDC manager of new business ventures, told the committee.
Richards said hydrogen is not part of AGDC’s current plan, but the corporation is working with partners on external funding for hydrogen opportunities in Alaska, with potential funding sources including:
*Private North American energy companies.
*$8 billion in Infrastructure bill fund which can be used for 4+ hydrogen hubs.
*Private Japanese energy companies.
*Japanese state entities.
Richards said Alaska LNG and Cook Inlet blue ammonia are complementary, with LNG going into the current LNG market and the proposed LNG facility large enough to support construction of the natural gas pipeline from the North Slope. Cook Inlet blue ammonia demonstrates that Alaska can produce an expanded clean energy supply, providing a path to net-zero carbon energy.
- KRISTEN NELSON
