VOLUME 21 | ISSUE 32 | SUMMER 20254
Local production will take three trucks a day off the road, Wilcox said. The methanol production process will also produce hydrogen, which can be used in the plant to upgrade high-sulfur diesel now locally pro- duced from crude oil in “topping plants” on the slope to Ultra-Low Sul- fur Diesel, or USLD, which is now re- quired to be used in vehicles. Alyeschem’s plant will be able to produce 1,500 barrels a day of the USLD, which will take six trucks that now haul the fuel off the Dalton Highway. The combined reduction in trucking amounts to about 4,000 truck trips annually, reducing maintenance needs on the road. Maintenance costs on the highway, a vital road link for producers, have been rising with heavy truck traf- fic supporting new oil activity on the Slope as well as erosion from heavy summer rains. Wilcox said the plant can also be- come a “launchpad” for future produc- tion of other clean fuels and chemicals that can be used to enhance oil produc- tion, such as dimethyl ether, or DME. “This facility is a solution to long-standing logistical challenges for producers. This will allow us to replace fluids needed for production now im- ported to the slope with locally made methanol and ‘clean’ diesel,” Wilcox said. Much of the methanol now used is made outside the U.S., barged several thousand miles to Southcentral Alas- ka, and then trucked 800 miles to the oilfields in northern Alaska, he said. “The North Slope is a world-class energy basin and can be for genera- tions to come, but its future hinges on the ability to lower operating costs, in- crease the resource base, monetize gas and adapt to changing markets. Val- ue-added chemistry is an invaluable tool for addressing all of these chal- lenges,” Wilcox said. The state and North Slope Borough will receive an estimated $5 million yearly in new revenue mainly through property taxes. AIDEA itself will be paid an estimated $2.39 million yearly in loan repayments with some of the construction loan repayments con- verted to a cents-per-gallon royalty.
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PETROCHEMICAL PLANT ON SLOPE UNDERWAY
AIDEA approves $70M in construction funding for Alyeschem LLC BY TIM BRADNER ALASKA-BASED ALYESCHEM LLC HAS CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY FOR A $130 MIL- LION PETROCHEMICAL PRODUCTION PLANT PLANNED AT PRUDHOE BAY, ON ALASKA’S NORTH SLOPE.
Fabrication of production modules is being done in Texas and on-site construc- tion on the slope is to begin in early 2026, according to company CEO JR Wilcox. Alaska’s state development finance corporation, Alaska Development and Export Authority, approved $70 million in construction financing on July 9. Part- ners in the project besides Alyeschem are McKinley Private Investment, also Alas- ka-based, and BP Energy Partners. The plant will produce methanol and ultra-low sulfur diesel, reducing the need
for oil producers and support contractors to truck these liquids north on the Dal- ton Highway, the state-owned gravel road connecting the North Slope oilfields to Interior Alaska’s highway system. Methanol is used by producing com- panies in freeze-protection of wells and in protection of pipelines from corrosion. Wilcox said the plant is planned to go into operation in late 2027 and will have a capacity to produce 31,500 gallons per day of methanol. Methanol is now trucked to the North Slope from southern Alaska.
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ALASKA RESOURCE REVIEW SUMMER 2025
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