Nikiski Terminal Wharf forms part of the Port of Nikiski petroleum facility in upper Cook Inlet on the west coast of the Kenai Peninsula at East Foreland, about 63 miles (101 km) southwest of Anchorage and 10 miles (16 km) north-northwest of Kenai, Alaska. East Foreland—a prominent cape on Cook Inlet’s east shore—was named in 1794 by Captain George Vancouver; it may also have been called ‘Punta de Martinez’ by Don Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra in 1791. The area was traditionally occupied by the Kenaitze band of Dena’ina Athabaskans, who called it ‘Mikischkin’ (cape). The name ‘Nikiski’ comes from a Dena’ina village and boat landing—Nikishka—first reported by the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1912. Cook Inlet is a northeast-trending forearc basin roughly 200 miles (322 km) long and 60 miles (97 km) wide, bounded by the Chugach and Kenai Mountains to the southeast and the Alaska Range and Aleutian volcanic arc to the northwest. The Chugach and Kenai Mountains comprise a vast Mesozoic and Paleogene accretionary complex—the Chugach-Prince William terrane—that forms much of southern Alaska’s coast. By contrast, the Alaska Range features igneous rocks, both intrusive and plutonic, associated with the subducting Pacific Plate situated 31–37 miles (50-60 km) beneath the basin’s center. Three fault zones mark the basin margins: the Castle Mountain fault to the north, the Bruin Bay fault to the northwest, and the Border Ranges fault to the southeast. The Cook Inlet basin, an intermontane half-graben, contains more than 40,000 feet (12,192 m) of Mesozoic and up to 30,000 feet (9,144 m) of Paleogene sediments. Folding of these layers produced anticline traps that later formed petroleum reservoirs. During the Pleistocene, glaciers sculpted the Cook Inlet landscape. In the Late Wisconsin period, major glacial flows from the basin’s west reached the Kenai Peninsula, while smaller flows descended Turnagain Arm and the Kenai Mountains. The region deglaciated about 10,000 years ago, paving the way for human migration around 9,000–8,000 years ago.

Prehistoric maritime cultures thrived on the Kenai Peninsula from 8,000 years ago to 1,000 AD. The Dena’ina, a later interior migration, arrived about 1157 AD and met European explorers in the 18th century. Early settlers identified three nearby Dena’ina villages called Nikishka. Nikishka No. 1 (Tukyektat) lay south of East Foreland near today’s Nikiski Terminal Wharf; Nikishka No. 2 (Titukilsk) was about 5 miles northeast on Nikishka Bay at today’s Arness Dock; Nikishka No. 3 (Kultuk) lay at the mouth of the Swanson River on Number Three Bay in present-day Captain Cook State Recreation Area. An epidemic between 1880 and 1900 decimated the population, leading to their abandonment. The coast was homesteaded in the 1940s, and oil discovery in the Swanson River oilfield in 1957 spurred growth. By 1964, industries had relocated to Nikiski to support offshore drilling in upper Cook Inlet. Today the area is primarily a privately owned wharf and petroleum-handling facility. The northern wharf, Nikiski Terminal Wharf, managed by the Kenai Pipeline Company and Marathon Petroleum, receives crude oil from the Alaska North Slope and Cook Inlet and refines gasoline, distillates, heavy fuel oil, asphalt and propane at a capacity of 68,000 barrels per day. Two 14‑inch (0.4 m) pipelines feed 18 storage tanks holding 2 million barrels, and the wharf offers 1,310 feet (399 m) of berthing space at a depth of 42 feet (13 m). The middle wharf, the Kenai LNG Dock, exports liquefied natural gas, distillates, fuel oils and lubricants. A 24‑inch (0.6 m) pipeline connects it to three storage tanks, providing 1,050 feet (320 m) of berthing at a depth of 40 feet (12 m). Operating since 1969, it was North America’s sole LNG export terminal until idled in 2018 and later approved for import conversion. The southern wharf, owned by Agrium US Incorporated, handles shipments of urea and anhydrous ammonia. Two pipelines connect it to ammonia storage tanks. Its refinery, idled in 2007, may reopen with more natural gas, and the wharf has 1,135 feet (352 m) of berthing at a depth of 45 feet (14 m).

On February 2, 2006, the tanker Seabulk Pride (574 feet) was moored and loading oil products at Nikiski Terminal Wharf during heavy sea ice conditions when a massive ice floe struck the vessel, parting the mooring lines. Heavy vacuum gas oil and gasoline were being loaded through two hoses when the tanker drifted north with the tidal current and ran aground about 600 feet from the wharf. All motor-operated valves had been closed before the hoses parted, limiting the spill to roughly 84 gallons of gasoline into Cook Inlet, 84 gallons of gas oil onto the dock, and 126 gallons onto the deck. Tugboats were dispatched from Anchorage, Kachemak Bay, and Prince William Sound to refloat the tanker. The vessel was freed the next morning after ballast water was removed from its double hull tanks, and no additional oil spilled while it was aground. Under tug escort, Seabulk Pride proceeded to Kachemak Bay, where US Coast Guard surveys found two small hull cracks that were temporarily patched with cement. The tanker departed Kachemak Bay on February 8 for Puget Sound to offload cargo in Anacortes, Washington. On January 9, 2007, Seabulk Pride again encountered difficulties at the same dock under extreme ice conditions. In response to these incidents, a tug was assigned permanently to assist all tanker vessels at the hazardous port, where high tidal ranges, fast currents, and unpredictable heavy ice persist. Read more here and here. Explore more of Nikiski Terminal Dock and East Foreland here: