LNG

Trafigura, the commodities trading firm with offices in the main trading centres of the Americas, Asia and Europe, has signed a long-term liquefied natural gas agreement with the largest Canadian natural gas producer Tourmaline.

Kitamaat Technical Services Group (KTSG), a joint venture including the native North American Haisla First Nation and the resources of three leading industrial service companies, will be seeking to secure contracts and work in LNG projects in the western Canadian province of British Columbia.

KTSG was established by ServcoCanada, Novus Technical Services (Novus) and Well Services Group (WSG) to bring their combined expertise to emerging LNG projects in BC.

“A central tenet of KTSG is to work closely with the Kitimat community and in particular the Haisla Nation, who have occupied lands centred around Kitamaat Village for more than 9,000 years,” said KTSG.

KTSG said it was already supporting the Haisla Nation’s economic infrastructure by providing training for potential LNG supply chain jobs and would assist start-up businesses directly related to services required for contracts secured by the partnership.

Various projects

There are currently at least four LNG export projects under development in BC including LNG Canada led by Shell and the Cedar FLNG project pairing the Haisla First Nation with Calgary, Alberta-based Pembina Pipeline for the Douglas Channel project.

The Nisga’a people are behind a third project, the Ksi Lisims venture near Prince Rupert in BC in partnership with Rockies LNG Ltd and Western LNG LLC.

“The aim is to be the leading energy services organisation in BC with strong international LNG experience, supported by a balance sheet allowing major contracting opportunities to be undertaken which directly benefit the economy of North-Western British Columbia, local First Nations and the wider community,” KTSG explained.

The KTSG contracts and work venture will benefit from the experience of companies like ServcoCanada, already a well-established Kitimat-based business with a 30-year pedigree of providing electrical and instrumentation, mechanical, piping and structural and facility shutdown and maintenance services across Canada and the US.

Infrastructure

Novus is an international provider to the energy and infrastructure sectors which employs more than 10,000 staff in Canada, US, Europe, Middle East, the Caspian and China working on behalf of some of the world’s largest operators.

WSG is a process, pipeline and industrial services specialist and the leading provider of UK and European refinery and LNG terminal services with extensive experience in the Australian LNG market.

KTSG said it was actively bidding for a range of pre-commissioning, commissioning and operations and maintenance contracts on the LNG Canada project under construction at Kitimat and which when completed will export an estimated 14 million tonnes of LNG per annum.

“The LNGC project will transform Canada’s energy producing capabilities and be a major contributor to the local and national economy,” said John Gordon, a spokesman for KTSG and President and Chief Executive of ServcoCanada.

“We believe the combined resources, expertise and successful track records of KTSG’s three partner companies can play an important role in the success of this ambitious development,” explained Gordon.

“From the outset we understood the importance of working with the Haisla Nation, and that creating employment opportunities and supporting indigenous entrepreneurs who could play a role in the supply chain, was just as important as any financial benefits which may accrue,” he stated.

“We are delighted that the Haisla Nation are partners and shareholders in KTSG and we look forward to learning from their vast local knowledge and working together to create sustainable long-term opportunities for their people,” Gordon added.

A fourth LNG plant is being built further south in BC called the Woodfibre project and run by Asia’s Pacific Energy Corp.

The Woodfibre facility is being constructed about seven kilometres from the town of Squamish and 70km north of Vancouver on the brownfield site of a former mill.

This project is giving hiring priority to qualified Squamish First Nation members first, then Squamish residents followed by people from the rest of BC and Canada.

TC Energy and Pembina Pipeline, the North American energy infrastructure and LNG project companies, have entered into a carbon-sequestration evaluation agreement with the Canadian provincial government of Alberta to further evaluate one of the largest areas of interest for safely storing carbon from industrial emissions.

A third large-scale LNG export joint venture is being considered based on previous projects discussed since 2015 and has been outlined by a First Nation representative at a council meeting in the city of Terrace located near the Skeena River in northern British Columbia.

A new North American LNG company said it was proposing to build a $12 billion LNG export plant in Southeast Alaskan waters near the Canadian port of Prince Rupert in British Columbia. 

US major ExxonMobil and its Canadian subsidiary Imperial Oil Resources have decided not to proceed with their plans for an LNG export project near the Port of Prince Rupert, where a liquefaction plant was proposed on the same scale as Royal Dutch Shell’s LNG Canada joint venture.

Royal Dutch Shell has formally withdrawn its plans for a Canadian liquefied natural gas liquefaction and export plant inherited as part of its acquisition of BG Group of the UK and located on Ridley Island near that port of Prince Rupert in British Columbia.

The Metlakatla First Nation in British Columbia has signed two pipeline agreements backing plans by TransCanada Corp. and Spectra Energy of the US to build feed-gas connections to planned liquefied natural gas export plants in the province.