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Nova Scotia LNG project clears hurdle
Gary Park For Petroleum News
The Nova Scotia government has raised hopes of a lead-off LNG export project in Atlantic Canada by granting environmental approval to a US$8.3 billion venture by Pieridae Energy Canada.
The province’s Environment Minister Randy Delorey set 40 conditions for the Calgary-based company, including working in conjunction with his department to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at every phase of the project.
Expressing confidence that “any potential environmental issues can be addressed and the economic benefits of this project can be realized,” he said the conditions are in line with a plan submitted by Pieridae.
The Goldboro LNG project is designed to produce up to 10 million metric tons per year of LNG and have on-site storage for 690,000 cubic meters.
Pieridae said it is continuing to negotiate with several natural gas producers, pipeline operators and prospective buyers, although it already has a 20-year commitment from E.ON Global Commodities, a German power utility, to buy half of the plant’s output.
Part of the natural gas feedstock would be shipped from New England on the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline.
There are plans to reverse the flow and increase capacity of the 660-mile pipeline that runs from Goldboro to Dracut, Mass., delivering gas from Nova Scotia’s offshore Sable field.
The rest of the gas would come from Nova Scotia’s offshore Sable and Deep Panuke field as well as startup operations in Newfoundland’s offshore and shale gas projects in New Brunswick.
FEED can begin Mark Brown, Pieridae’s director of project development, said his company can now proceed with front-end engineering and design work through its main contractors, Netherlands-based CB&L.
A final investment decision is expected by mid-2015 after Canada’s National Energy Board issues permits to import gas from the United States and export production, mostly to Europe. The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board must also give its final verdict on the proposal.
The three-member environmental review panel said the projected economic benefits of Goldboro LNG tipped the scales in favor of the project.
It said the project is expected to account for 0.5 percent of Canada’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, but said that would be offset largely by a conversion to gas-sourced energy by coal-fired operations in Europe.
The Halifax-based Ecology Action Center had requested that the application be “dismissed outright” because its 2020 emissions would make it impossible for Nova Scotia to achieve its stated goal of reducing emissions by 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
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