WesPac looks to develop LNG at Port Mac

An energy company focused on processing liquefied natural gas is looking to develop more than $600 million in LNG infrastructure at Port MacKenzie. The project would include an LNG facility, an 11 megawatt power plant, gas pipelines, and would create some 350 jobs in the first phase, WesPac's Senior Vice President Brad Barnds told the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly Tuesday. He said the next 60 to 90 days would give the company sufficient information to make a proposal.

WesPac is owned by Highstar Capital and Oaktree Capital, an $86 billion investment firm with experience in energy development. The company's primary goals are:

• to build, own operate a new mid-sized LNG project in Cook Inlet

• to establish an LNG alternative for Fairbanks and the Interior

• to create new gas markets in rural and coastal Alaska by displacing diesel

• to offer competitive gas peaking alternative for the rail belt

• to develop LNG by truck, pipe, rail, vessel, and wire

• to own and commercialize stranded Cook Inlet gas reserves.

WesPac likes Port MacKenzie for its ideal location, abundant land, gas pipelines, and growth opportunities, Barnds said.

The company has been working for the last two years with the State. "We believe that in the next 60 to 90 days we're going to have sufficient information to make a credible proposal to the state and to AIDEA and to others to show that this project is not only credible but economically viable for the state of Alaska," Barnds told the Assembly.

Mat-Su Borough Manager John Moosey said this presentation is very introductory. No agreements have been signed, but excitement is here.

"We are excited about these types of opportunities and all the work for the past dozen years on our port, developing our port, our rail. And one thing to add, we did not seek them out, they sought us out. They did due diligence on Port MacKenzie and saw value," Moosey said.

View the WesPac powerpoint here.

For more information call Mat-Su Borough Public Affairs Director Patty Sullivan at 907.861-8577 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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