Canada’s first LNG terminal in regulatory stream, aims to be online in 2006

Gary Park

Petroleum News Calgary correspondent

Irving Oil, part of the giant privately held Irving conglomerate, has put itself in the forefront of the race to establish Canada’s first liquefied natural gas terminal.

The New Brunswick company reported a “significant milestone” in filing its environmental impact statements with the New Brunswick government that it hopes will allow construction to start later this year on the $375 million plant at Saint John.

It is aiming to come on line in 2006 at 500 million cubic feet per day and eventually double those volumes, making the Canaport project the third largest LNG terminal in North America. There are two rival projects for Canada — the Bear Head project by Access Northeast Energy, which is targeting a late 2007 start-up at Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, of a $350 million terminal and a joint venture by TransCanada and Quebec utility Gaz Metropolitain to build a terminal on the St. Lawrence River.

ChevronTexaco had initially planned to ship gas to New England through the Irving facility, but has since decided to pursue other opportunities.

An Irving spokesman doubted Canaport would face the community and environmental opposition that forced TransCanada and ConocoPhillips to scrap plans for a terminal at Harpswell, Maine. He said New Brunswickers are well accustomed to the crude oil tankers arriving at Saint John, where Irving has Canada’s largest refinery.