It’s rare for Reese Energy Consulting to share news covering the same topic over two consecutive days. But sometimes, serendipity sprinkles fairy dust on a subject matter hard to ignore.

Following our post yesterday on activity in the Alaskan North Slope, REC today returns to the Land of the Midnight Sun starting with a comment from Matthan B., who shared his opinion that “Energy & Alaska is the most untold story in the last decade, and not a single journalist or editor has keyed in.” We tend to agree, Matthan. And here’s where the serendipity kicks in. After publishing our Wednesday post, we came across an email received earlier that morning from the American Oil & Gas Historical Society, which shares major milestones from yesteryear as they happened each month.

And wouldn’t you know it? On June 8, 1969, Richfield Oil Company (soon to become ARCO), exported Alaska’s first LNG cargo from the Kenai Peninsula to Japan. When the Kenai plant stopped exporting in 2015, it was the longest, continuously operating LNG terminal in the world. Seems it couldn’t find enough customers at the time. The facility would later entertain numerous buyers –BP in 2000, Phillips 66 (now ConocoPhillips) which shut down the terminal in 2017 after failing to find buyers, and Marathon Petroleum a year later.

Now owned by Harvest Midstream, a part of Hilcorp, the Kenai LNG plant is underway with a conversion of the export terminal to an import facility. First cargo is expected in 2028.