TransCanada not giving up on LNG pipeline to northwest B.C.

VANCOUVER Trans Canada Corp. continues to keep alive its $6-billion Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Project to transport natural gas from northeast B.C. by pipeline to the coast despite uncertain market and economic conditions.

Just two weeks ago, the megaproject received approval from the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office for an amendment to its project certificate for two additional main construction camps, and a standby compressor unit at each of its eight proposed compressor stations.

The proposed 900-kilometre pipeline was meant to feed the Petronas-led $11.4-billion Pacific NorthWest LNG project on Lelu Island near Prince Rupert that was cancelled five months ago.

“TransCanada continues to evaluate alternatives for the PRGT pipeline project and are completing matter-of-course permitting work that was underway prior to the Pacific Northwest project being cancelled in mid- 2017,” TransCanada spokeswoman Do- ris Kaufman Woodcock said in a written statement.

The company has not said what alternatives there might be for the pipeline.

Two other LNG projects in the Prince Rupert area have also been cancelled.

Last September, Nexen Energy, the Calgary-based subsidiary of Chinese oil giant CNOOC Ltd., said it has decided with Japanese partner INPEX Gas British Columbia Ltd. to pull the plug on the $28-billion Aurora LNG project.

In March 2017, Shell announced it was cancelling the Prince Rupert LNG project, which it inherited from the BG Group when it purchased the company in 2015.

The former B.C. Liberal government had great hopes for starting a new natural gas export industry, tapping the province’s robust gas resources and sending them to Asia.

The new NDP government has also said it will support an LNG industry.

However, the projects, includ- ing others proposed in Kitimat in northwest B.C., faced delays as the province worked out a new policy and regulatory structure for the LNG export industry. The projects also ran headlong into challenges such as a reduction in available capital because of low oil prices, increased global LNG supply coming on stream and lower natural gas prices in a jittery global economy.

There remains one project on the books in the Prince Rupert area, the ExxonMobil-led WCC LNG project, estimated at a cost of $25 billion, which is still in the preliminary stages of planning and environmental application.

WCC LNG has said that with the current LNG market conditions and economic uncertainties, it will continue to assess its proposed project schedules and plans. Throughout 2018, WCC LNG will be moving at a slower pace, the company says.

WCC has not named a dedicated provider to deliver gas to its facility.

TransCanada continues to evaluate alternatives for the $6-billion Prince Rupert pipeline project.