Warning for Alaska over gas shortage

By ANTHONY GUEGEL Anchorage Alaska

 20 September 2012 06:39 GMT

SOUTH-central Alaska is in danger of running out of natural gas by 2015 if new reserves are not discovered, according to an assessment by Petrotechnical Resources of Alaska.

Peter Stokes, an engineer with Petrotechnical Resources of Alaska, delivered his sobering assessment at the preliminary session of the Alaska Oil & Gas Congress in Anchorage this week.

Cook Inlet gas supplies practically all the state’s business and residential electricity and heating.

Not enough wells in and around Cook Inlet are being drilled and consequently “a pretty severe decline” in gas is expected, he said.

Stokes predicted a 7.3 billion cubic foot shortfall, with only five to six wells being developed per year between 2009 and 2011.

The situation is not yet critical, but the…

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