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Mackenzie may get more time
The seemingly endless history of the Mackenzie Gas Project is likely to be extended by another seven years.
Canada’s National Energy Board approved an application by operator Imperial Oil to stretch the deadline for a start of construction to the end of 2022 from the end of 2015.
Its decision must still be ratified by the Canadian government, which originally sanctioned the project in December 2010.
A spokesman for Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said the cabinet would make its decision before the end of September when the current certificate expires.
Imperial had requested the new deadline, making the case that low natural gas prices had forced the proponents to delay development.
In granting the extension, the federal regulator said that although the project is currently uneconomic, it remains in the public interest and the backers should have more time for the markets to recover.
The NEB also said there is no need for new public proceedings.
Connecting with network The proposed pipeline would run from three anchor gas fields in the Mackenzie Delta over 720 miles to a gas pipeline network in northern Alberta.
In 2013 Imperial put a price tag on the MGP of C$16.1 billion, with another C$5 billion needed to connect satellite gas fields into the main transportation system.
Based on 6.2 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves, the MGP - whose partners are Imperial, ConocoPhillips Canada, Shell Canada, ExxonMobil Canada and the Aboriginal Pipeline Group - filed for regulatory approval early this century, but a drawn-out hearing process was eventually overtaken by shale gas discoveries in Canada and the United States that offered cheaper supplies and closer proximity to major markets.
Northwest Territories Premier Bob McLeod has been a resolute supporter of developing Arctic gas and has talked out the possibility of using the gas supplies to support LNG operations in Canada and Alaska.
Ben McDonald, a spokesman for the advocacy group Alternatives North, opposed extending the construction deadline, arguing that public views on the environment have changed radically since the initial approval.
“It just seems very risky for us to believe that what was in the public interest five years ago is still going to be in the public interest seven years from now, especially in the context of a changing world view on climate change,” he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
- GARY PARK
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