LNG

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. 

Enbridge Inc., the Canadian company whose natural gas pipelines span North America to connect supply basins, urban demand centres as well as LNG export plants, is caught up in a battle just revived by the Democratic Party governor of the US state of Michigan.

TC Energy Corp, one of the largest North American pipeline companies, said the Canadian federal government approved the expansion of the Nova Gas Transmission Ltd (NGTL) system moving the huge natural gas resources from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin to markets.

TC Energy Corp., the leading North American pipeline company supplying natural gas to the US and Mexico and feed-gas for projects such as LNG Canada, has announced the retirement of President and Chief Executive Russ Girling.

The CEO will step down from his posts and the board of the Calgary, Alberta-based company at the end of December.

His replacement has been named as François Poirier, currently Chief Operating Officer and President of TC Energy’s Power & Storage and Mexican divisions.

Girling will assist Poirier with the transition through February 28, 2021.

One of TC Energy’s main current projects is building the Coastal GasLink Pipeline from Dawson Creek to the Royal Dutch Shell-led LNG Canada project at Kitimat in British Columbia.

Among its many other ventures in North America, the Canadian company is a shareholder in the South Texas-Tuxpan pipeline with Sempra Energy’s IEnova. The pipeline crosses part of the Gulf of Mexico from Texas and was built at a cost of $2.5 billion for US exports to Mexico.

“On behalf of all Board members, I would like to thank Russ for his invaluable contributions to the company,” said Siim Vanaselja, TC Energy's Board Chairman.

“Over the last decade, he has led TC Energy through a period of unprecedented growth and transformation, including the development of its Liquids pipelines footprint, expansion of its Mexican natural gas pipelines business, the successful US$13 billion acquisition of Columbia Pipeline Group and advancement of North American LNG,” stated the Board Chairman.

Vanaselja praised Girling for creating “a culture of excellence” focused first on the safety of employees and those in the communities where the company operates.

“It has been a privilege and honour to lead TC Energy over the past 10 years and to be part of the extraordinary TC team,” said Girling.

“With the wisdom and guidance of the Board and the skills and tenacity of our dedicated employees, we have accomplished many things, delivered the energy critical to millions of people safely and reliably every day, and created significant shareholder value,” stated Girling.

“I am grateful for the opportunity and confident in how the Company is positioned to prosper as global demand for energy continues to grow and transition in the years ahead,” Girling concluded.

Vanaselja said he was confident in the choice of François Poirier as Girling’s successor having seen his leadership over six years at TC Energy.

“He has had exposure to all aspects of our business and consistently shown unwavering commitment to the company’s long-term success. His integrity, strategic thinking, commercial acumen and bottom-line focus will serve the Company well in the years ahead,” stated the Chairman. 

The Canadian business of Clough Enercore is rebranding to fully integrate into Clough’s North American unit whose project contracts have spanned work for ventures such as LNG Canada, Freeport LNG in Texas and Eagle LNG in Florida.

The Coastal GasLink pipeline to deliver at least 2.1-billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to the LNG Canada export plant being built in Kitimat in British Columbia will lay its first section of pipes in the ground in July and a peak workforce of 2,500 is expected to be on site in the months ahead.

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.

TC Energy Corp. has completed project financing and the sale of a 65 percent equity interest in the Coastal GasLink pipeline project to supply feed gas for LNG shipments to Asia from the Canadian province of British Columbia.

Pieridae Energy, the developer of the German-backed Goldboro LNG project in the Canadian Atlantic province of Nova Scotia, has had its purchase of Royal Dutch Shell’s midstream and upstream assets in the southern foothills of Alberta blocked by the provincial regulator.

TC Energy will close the sale of a majority stake in the Coastal GasLink Pipeline to two equity funds by June and will also offer 20 Canadian First Nations a 10 percent share of the project to bring feed-gas for LNG processing on the Pacific Coast of British Columbia.