|
Williams, Steelhead LNG link up on projects
GARY PARK For Petroleum News
Williams Cos., the Oklahoma-based natural gas processing and transportation giant, has linked up with Steelhead LNG which is involved in two ventures on Vancouver Island.
It is working on what is called the Island Gas Connector Project - covering 80 miles, including 46.7 miles underwater - to deliver gas to a joint venture by Steelhead and the Malahat First Nation. Steelhead is also planning a C$30 billion floating LNG facility near Port Alberni on the island’s west side.
Steelhead Chief Executive Officer Nigel Kuzemko said the partnership with Williams is a “significant step forward for both of our proposed projects.”
He said Williams will develop a pipeline to meet the needs and standards of potentially affected aboriginal groups, along with communities, governments and regulators.
Line starts in Washington The pipeline would start at Spectra Energy’s British Columbia pipeline system at Sumas, Washington, and travel to Cherry Point, Washington, from where it would travel underwater to the proposed Malahat project on the Saanich Inlet near the provincial capital of Victoria on Vancouver Island.
Additional overland pipeline would then be required to deliver gas to the proposed Sarita LNG project, which would be designed, owned and operated by a separate Canadian entity.
The pipeline needs approval from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Canada’s National Energy Board.
Steelhead and Williams say they will undertake extensive consultation with First Nations, landowners and communities in Canada and the U.S.
No cost estimate Steelhead has yet to estimate the cost of the Malahat LNG project, but has applied to the NEB for a 25-year export license to export 6 million metric tons a year of LNG, or the equivalent of 310 billion cubic feet a year of gas, amounting to maximum exports of 173 million metric tons using 8.92 trillion cubic feet of feedstock gas.
Kuzemko said his company is not deterred by the cancellation in 2004 of a pipeline across the Strait of Georgia by BC Hydro.
The government-owned utility spent C$50 million over four years before abandoning plans for a C$340 million pipeline to fuel a gas-fired power generation plant on Vancouver Island after the project was deemed to be too expensive.
He said technological advances and a change in the demand for natural gas means the project now makes economic sense.
| 