Group wants to export crude oil using Skagway’s port

JUNEAU, Alaska — Alaskans know Valdez as the state’s oil port of choice, but an independent Yukon oil producer is planning to make Skagway No. 2 on the list of Alaska oil ports.

Last week, Skagway Mayor Mark Schaefer announced that officials from Northern Cross Yukon are interested in using the port of Skagway to export crude oil to a refinery in Washington state.

Northern Cross, an independent oil producer with backing from Chinese state oil company CNOOC, has been investigating the Eagle Plains area along the Dempster Highway north of Dawson City for almost a decade.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Northern Cross director and CEO David Thompson said his company is still in the “resource assessment” phase at Eagle Plains but wants to be prepared to export whatever comes out of the ground during preliminary drilling. “This would be a way to establish production and give us more insight into what is there,” he said. “Our feeling is there are conventional oil resources there.”

According to a 2005 study by Natural Resources Canada, the Eagle Plains Basin is estimated to contain 426 million barrels of crude oil. In comparison, the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field has an estimated ultimate recoverable size of 15.3 billion barrels.

A smaller size means a smaller footprint. Thompson said any pipeline to Skagway “is way down the road.”

“I think we’re looking at the transition now from seismic (testing) to drilling,” he said. “The best way to evaluate that is to put wells on stream. If we do put that on stream, what would we do with that?”

His company instead plans to truck oil to Skagway, then send it south on barges that already haul refined fuel — gasoline, fuel oil and diesel — north. According to a letter emailed to Skagway borough officials, Northern Cross anticipates shipping as much as 2,000 barrels per day, starting as early as spring next year.

In the letter, Northern Cross expects to send 8-10 tankers per day over the highway to Skagway, where they will offload into five storage tanks to be built in Skagway. A tanker barge would arrive every two weeks to take the product south.

Kathleen King, a natural resources specialist with the Alaska Department of Oil and Gas, said Northern Cross doesn’t need a permit from her department. “There’s no oil and gas permits needed for trucking that crude from Canada to Skagway,” she said.

Interim Skagway borough manager Emily Deach said the company probably will not need a local permit, either. “If they’re going to be trucking the entire time, they would not need a permit from us,” she said. “If they’re building tanks, which might happen in the future, they would have to go through a permitting process.”

More in News

Kenai City Manager Terry Eubank speaks during Kenai’s State of the City presentation at the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Services, projects spotlighted at Kenai’s State of the City

Mayor Brian Gabriel and City Manager Terry Eubank delivered the seventh annual address.

The Homer Public Library. File photo
In wake of executive order, peninsula libraries, museums brace for funding losses

Trump’s March 14 executive order may dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”

Cracks split the siding outside of Soldotna High School on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
SoHi siding, Hope roof repair projects move forward

The Soldotna project has been reduced from its original scope.

Jacob Caldwell, chief executive officer of Kenai Aviation, stands at the Kenai Aviation desk at the Kenai Municipal Airport on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Aviation selected to provide air service to Seward

Scheduled flights between Seward and Anchorage will begin May 1.

Monte Roberts, left, and Greg Brush, right, raise their hands during an emergency meeting of the Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board’s guide committee at the Kenai Peninsula Region Office of Alaska State Parks near Soldotna, Alaska, on Feb. 25, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
KRSMA board pushes back on new guide stipulations, calls for public process

Stipulations 32 and 40 were included in an updated list emailed to Kenai River guides.

KPBSD Board of Education member Patti Truesdell speaks during a town hall meeting hosted by three Kenai Peninsula legislators in the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly Chambers in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Education hot topic at local legislative town hall

More than 100 people attended a three-hour meeting where 46 spoke.

The Soldotna Field House is seen on a sunny Monday, March 31, 2025, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Field house work session set for April 9

A grand opening for the facility is slated for Aug. 16.

HEX President and CEO John Hendrix is photographed at Furie’s central processing facility in Nikiski, Alaska, on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Furie announces new lease to use Hilcorp rig, will drill this spring

A jack-up rig is a mobile platform that can be transported and deployed in different areas.

The ORPC proposed American Tidal Energy Project site is located at East Forland, Cook Inlet, just north of Nikiski, Alaska. Photo provided by ORPC
Marine energy developer pursues Cook Inlet tidal project

ORPC recently filed a draft pilot license application for a tidal energy project site near Nikiski.

Most Read