The Alaska Gasline Development Corp. (AGDC) has signed an agreement with BP plc and ExxonMobil Corp. to collaborate on ways to advance the state-owned corporation’s Alaska LNG project, including identifying ways to improve the project’s competitiveness and secure FERC authorization to build the project.

The move marks a homecoming of sorts for BP and ExxonMobil, whose affiliates, along with ConocoPhillips, relinquished control of Alaska LNG to the AGDC in 2016, after the producers determined it was no longer economic when compared to other LNG projects around the world.

“Our respective organizations share an interest in the successful commercialization of Alaska’s stranded North Slope natural gas,” said AGDC Interim President Joe Dubler. “BP and ExxonMobil possess world-class LNG expertise which may help AGDC responsibly advance this project with maximum efficiency for the benefit of Alaskans, and I welcome their collaboration.”

Dubler told state lawmakers earlier this month that AGDC may be dissolved if the Alaska LNG project is determined to be unfeasible.

Also this month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said it needed an additional four months to complete an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the project. A final EIS is now expected on March 6, 2020, followed by a final order by June 4, 2020 [CP17-178].

As designed, Alaska LNG would include a three-train liquefaction plant in Southcentral Alaska at Nikiski, an 807-mile, 1.1 meter diameter gas pipeline, a North Slope gas treatment plant, and interconnecting facilities to connect the Prudhoe Bay gas complex to the gas treatment plant. The project is estimated to cost $43.4 billion and could export up to 20 million metric tons/year.