LNG

LNG terminal developer, FortisBC Holdings and First Nation Musqueam Indian Band have signed an agreement, aimed at sharing the benefits associated with the Tilbury LNG projects. 

Clough, the Australian energy engineering company, was awarded the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract for the FortisBC Energy truck-loading expansion at the Tilbury LNG facility at Delta in the Pacific Coast Canadian province of British Columbia.

The ferry company of the Canadian province of British Columbia, BC Ferries, is among the leaders in the sector globally for LNG-powered vessels and another of its newbuilds has just entered the water at the Polish Remontowa Shipyard in the Baltic port of Gdansk.

The Salish Class vessel is the fourth on order and will operate around the port city of Vancouver.

BC Ferries said that unnamed vessel was still in the process of being constructed and finished and was not expected to be ready to commence sea trials off the Baltic coast during late 2021 before making its way to the Pacific Coast of Canada.

“Following successful sea trials, the vessel will make the 10,440 nautical mile journey from Gdansk to British Columbia in early 2022 for final preparations,” said BC Ferries.

The new 107-metre-long vessel will be used to serve the Southern Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the BC mainland from 2022.

The vessel’s entry into service would retire the 1965-built and diesel-fuelled “Mayne Queen”.

The new LNG-powered ferry will have the capacity to carry at least 138 vehicles and up to 600 passengers and crew.

BC Ferries noted that it had issued a Request for Expressions of Interest for the construction of the series vessels to leading shipyards in Canada and around the world in July 2018.

Canadian shipyards were invited to participate in the competitive bidding process.

“BC Ferries received responses from 16 international shipyards and short-listed three shipyards to proceed to the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage. No Canadian companies submitted a bid,” it added.

The dual-fuel ferries are capable of running on LNG or ultra-low sulphur diesel.

“Using primarily LNG to fuel the new ship will result in reduced emissions and reduced costs for BC Ferries,” stated the company.

The new ferries were part of the company’s move towards a sustainable future by adopting LNG.

“In partnership with the First Peoples’ Cultural Council, BC Ferries will commission an artist to create designs for the new Salish Class vessel,” it added.

BC Ferries had announced the successful launch of its third battery electric-hybrid Island Class vessel in October 2020 at the Damen Shipyard in Galati in Romania.

Following successful sea trials, the vessel will make its way to Point Hope Maritime in the BC capital of Victoria in the third quarter of 2021 for final preparations.

The yet-to-be named ship is the fourth in a series of six Island Class vessels joining the BC Ferries fleet, and the second assigned to the Campbell River -Quadra Island route.

Two-ship service is scheduled to begin on the route in 2022, replacing the larger “Powell River Queen”.

The British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission in Canada has awarded a three-year contract to a Houston, Texas-based company to conduct project reviews and assist in Field Inspections of LNG facilities in the Pacific Coast province.

The Canadian Woodfibre LNG project being developed by the Asia-based Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) group of Indonesian businessman Sukanto Tanoto has pushed back the start of construction until the end of summer 2021.

Woodfibre President David Keane, who is retiring at the end of November but will continue to be an adviser to the project in British Columbia, said the parent company was expected to make a final investment decision by the third quarter of 2021.

“Construction would start shortly thereafter, with the plant expected to be producing liquefied natural gas for export by late 2025,” said Keane.

The outgoing President explained that the delay had been caused by several issues, not least the Covid-19 pandemic.

The project has been affected by Covid-19 temporarily closing LNG-module fabrication yards in Asia. The delay also forced the company to apply for a five-year extension to its provincial environmental certificate.

Before joining the Woodfibre project in 2018, Keane had been the Chief Executive of the industry lobbying group, the BC LNG Alliance, now called the Canadian LNG Alliance, for four years.

Woodfibre LNG is a small-scale venture with plans to export to Asia, where the parent company has offices in Singapore, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Nanjing and Beijing.

The Woodfibre plant is sited on a brownfield site of a former pulp mill, about 7 kilometre from the town of Squamish and 70km northeast of Vancouver.

It was granted a permit back in July 2019 by the provincial authorities to proceed with construction.

The plant when completed will comprise a facility with output of 2.1 million tonnes per annum and LNG and storage tanks with 250,000 cubic metres of capacity. The projected cost is around US$1.4Bln.

Woodfibre had close cooperation in the environmental assessment process with the native North American Squamish First Nation in the area of the proposed plant.

Earlier in November 2020, the BC Environmental Assessment Office also granted utility and infrastructure company FortisBC a five-year extension to its environmental certificate for a new 47-kilometre pipeline that will supply natural gas to the Woodfibre plant.

In the meantime, Woodfibre has been working on the remediation of its site so that it is ready for construction next year. 

The British Columbia LNG Alliance has become the Canadian LNG Alliance to reflect the critical role of the fuel in national economic recovery, boosting industry opportunities for Indigenous communities and leading Canada's clean energy transition.

The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada is moving forward in the regulatory process for the proposed Tilbury Phase Two LNG expansion, located on Tilbury Island near Delta in British Columbia, and the comment period closes in mid-July, while other associated LNG projects are also advancing.

The British Columbia provincial government in Canada and provincial Premier John Horgan said they would support the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and utility company FortisBC to establish the first ship-to-ship LNG bunkering service on the West Coast of North America.

FortisBC, the Canadian utility in the province of British Columbia, said it entered into its first supply agreement to produce liquefied natural gas from its small-scale plant near Vancouver to export to China.

A liquefied natural gas jetty expansion project at the existing Tilbury Island plant of utility FortisBC in the Canadian province of British Columbia is advancing and is expected to lead to small-scale exports to Asia and a West Coast LNG fuel hub for shipping.