The Globe and Mail reports, “There are now 14 B.C. LNG projects vying to launch exports to Asia, but only three or four at most are expected to bear fruit. …On Wednesday, a report by RBC Dominion Securities Inc. singled out Pacific NorthWest LNG as the B.C. project that has been taking large strides toward reaching the goal of supplying energy-thirsty customers in Asia. …Two other leading contenders are the Shell Canada Ltd.-led LNG Canada joint venture and the Kitimat LNG project co-owned by the Canadian units of Chevron Corp. and Apache Corp., said Bryan Yu, the Vancouver-based economist at Central 1 Credit Union.”
Photo: Aerial view of proposed site for Kitimat LNG. Photo from Warrior Publications.
This view has been previously supported by Bentek, a U.S. energy analysis firm, that believes only two LNG projects – Kitimat LNG and LNG Canada – will be built by 2020.
And the Prince Rupert Northern View adds, “Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Minister John Rustad … is confident at least one liquefied natural gas company will make a final investment decision either by the end of this year or at least by this time next year. Although the Pacific Northwest LNG is regarded as the hotbed for potential LNG projects, he said (the Woodfibre LNG) near Squamish shows great potential. Woodfibre LNG, owned by a company controlled by an Indonesian billionaire, has expectations of exporting LNG by 2017.”
So it would appear that these may be the projects to keep a particularly close watch on:
Kitimat LNG
Company: Chevron Corp., Apache Corp.
Capacity: 5 million tonnes per year/ .6-1.3 billion cubic feet per day
Location: Kitimat
Pipeline: Pacific Trails
Expected in-service date: 2016
Woodfibre LNG
Company: Pacific Oil & Gas (owned by Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto)
Capacity: 2 million tonnes per year/ 290 million cubic feet per day
Location: Squamish, 75 kilometres north of Vancouver
Pipeline: Eagle Mountain-Woodfibre
Expected in-service date: 2017
Pacific Northwest LNG
Company: Petronas, Progress Energy, Japan Petroleum Exploration Company
Location: Lelu Island, Prince Rupert
Pipeline: Prince Rupert Gas Transmission
Capacity: 22 million tonnes per year/ 1.5-2.7 billion cubic feet per day
Expected in-service date: 2018
LNG Canada
Company: Shell Canada Ltd., PetroChina Company, Korea Gas Corp, Mitsubishi Corp
Location: Kitimat
Capacity: 12 million tonnes per year/ 1.5-3.1 billion cubic feet per day
Pipeline: TransCanada Coastal GasLink
Expected in-service date: 2018
But it is just speculation at this point as to which projects will proceed and we need to be concerned about all the projects being proposed and their potential cumulative impacts. The British Columbia government has posted profiles of the proposed LNG terminals and pipelines here. The Northwest Institute for Bioregional Research also provides a very helpful chart of the projects here.
The Council of Canadians is opposed to LNG/ fracking projects because they: contribute to climate change; consume massive amounts of water; cause ecosystem destruction and disrupt communities; often violate the rights of Indigenous peoples; mean a high number of LNG tanker ships impacting marine safety, fishing areas and local wildlife; impact air quality, notably the plants emit sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide; require huge amounts of electricity and/or burn natural gas to generate power; could result in a disastrous LNG spill in an ocean passage; and may power destructive projects in other countries.
