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Joining LNG lineup in BC
The first major LNG terminal proposed for the Greater Vancouver area has entered the regulatory realm by applying for approval to export up to 3 million metric tons a year of LNG over 25 years.
The application to Canada’s National Energy Board was filed by WesPac Midstream Vancouver, a unit of Texas-based WesPac Midstream, with the terminal location identified as the Fraser River at Delta, south of the City of Vancouver.
Of the 15 LNG projects on the table in British Columbia, eight have received NEB permits, but none has received a final investment decision from the corporate backers.
There is some confusion over whether WesPac has a partner, even though it listed FortisBC Energy in its application. Fortis said no formal deal had been signed.
However, Fortis, a natural gas, electricity and alternative energy utility, said in late July that it has selected Bechtel Canada as the contractor to expand its existing LNG facility on the Fraser River by adding 1.1 million gigajoules of LNG storage as well as 34,000 gigajoules of daily liquefaction capacity.
Two BC facilities in operation Fortis has operated the only two LNG facilities on the British Columbia coast - the Mount Hayes plant at Ladysmith on Vancouver Island since 2011 and the Tilbury Island facility in Delta since 1971.
It said the expansion will “better equip FortisBC to meet the growing LNG demands in British Columbia’s transportation sector, remote communities, industrial customers and the marketplace.”
Construction is scheduled to start in September and is due for completion in 2016.
Meanwhile, a major resource port at Roberts Bank has been mentioned as a potential export hub for crude oil and LNG.
But Kinder Morgan said it is not considering that alternative to its controversial plans for tripling capacity at the Burnaby tanker terminal in Port Metro Vancouver to handle increased volumes on the company’s Trans Mountain system from the Alberta oil sands.
- Gary Park
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