The Anchorage headquarters of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, shares space with a sister agency, the Alaska Energy Authority. (Photo by Nathaniel Herz)
The board of Alaska’s embattled economic development agency, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority , is set to consider some $70 million in spending and loans for oil and gas development near Anchorage and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
HEX, a privately owned Anchorage-based company, has asked AIDEA for a $50 million line of credit to finance five years of drilling — both in Cook Inlet, offshore of Anchorage, and onshore, on the Kenai Peninsula.
HEX’s drilling effort, AIDEA’s staff wrote in a recent memorandum to board members, is “essential” to alleviate a forecasted shortage of locally produced natural gas. The fuel powers urban Alaska’s power plants and a Kenai Peninsula oil refinery, and utilities have been developing plans to fill gaps with imported liquefied natural gas.
HEX’s chief executive, John Hendrix, has repeatedly argued that drilling for gas on his company’s state leases is too risky unless the state grants concessions that improve his potential for profits.