The Nikiski Natural Gas facility made its first delivery of what is expected to be four or five this year. The shipments are Asian bound.

The plant, that Conoco Phillips now owns wholly, was due for the scrap heap,but now is shipping gas again. Conoco-Phillips took over Marathon Oil Corporations stake in the plant in September of last year.

The plant hasn’t shipped any gas since last fall, and was due to be closed. This because of lack of shipping contracts with Tokyo utilities as well as increasing difficulty obtaining natural gas from the mature Cook Inlet basin.

But, the earthquake in Japan changed part of that. Since the closure of the Fukushima power plant damaged in last year’s quake, as well as the closure of other plants in that country, demand for Nikiski’s natural gas is again on the rise.

It is unclear if that rise is sustainable however. There is no certainty about the future of this plant. Its future depends on domestic needs, the natural gas yield from the Cook Inlet basin and the accessibility of natural gas through a pipeline from the North Slope to South-central Alaska.

The Nikiski plant , like its name implies, is located in the small community of Nikiski on the Kenai Peninsula. The plant was commissioned in 1969.