Cook inlet oil field
Oil was discovered in the Cook Inlet area in 1957, and rigorous development began in 1959, first in the Swanson River area and then with oil rigs in Cook Inlet off the coast of Nikiski. Platforms speckle the inlet and shoreside support systems abound, employing many in Nikiski.
Photo Gallery
Oil rigs stand among the ice floes off the shore of Nikiski (Photo Credit: Tim Peters)
Helicopters regularly ferry crews and supplies to oil rigs from shore (Photo Credit: Tim Peters)
The Monopod platform in Cook Inlet (Photo Credit: henks3222 on Flickr)
Photo Gallery
The Grayling Platform in Cook Inlet (Photo Credit: Jared Cockman)
A platform can be seen backed by Mt. Spurr off Port Nikiski (Photo Credit: pderricks on Flickr)
Oil Platforms are seen beyond Port Nikiski’s wharves at sunset (Photo Credit: Dan Smouse)
Alaska LNG Project
(being planned currently)
Company: Alaska Gasline Development Corporation
Future plans:
The Alaska LNG Project consists of: a gas treatment plant located in the Prudhoe Bay Unit of Alaska’s North Slope, and two natural gas pipelines connecting production units to the gas treatment plant (a 1.0-mile-long, Prudhoe Bay Unit Gas Transmission Line and a 62.5-mile-long, Point Thomson Unit Gas Transmission Line); an approximately 806.9-mile-long (Mainline Pipeline) capable of transporting up to 3.9 billion cubic feet of gas per day (Bcf/day) from the gas treatment plant to the liquefaction facilities; eight compressor stations along the Mainline Pipeline; and liquefaction facilities on the Kenai Peninsula (in Nikiski) designed to produce up to 20 million metric tons of LNG for export.
The operator, Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, estimates that the cost of the facilities will be between $40 and $45 billion.
Alaska LNG Project – Pipeline Map