PRINCE COUNTY
Pictou County watching Goldboro LNG with hopefull eyes
Cautiously optimistic.
It’s a phrase that comes up often when people in Pictou County talk about the prospects of the Goldboro LNG project moving forward in Guysborough County.
In case you’re not familiar with the project, the liquid natural gas facility -if it goes ahead - will be Canada’s first east coast LNG export facility. Plans call for a two-train LNG processing facility, storage tanks and marine works located at the Goldboro Industrial Park in Guysborough County that will cost more than $8 billion to build.
Natural gas will be transported to the site using existing pipelines and exported by ship to target markets in Europe, South America and Asia. The facility is anticipated to produce approximately 10 million metric tonnes of LNG per year and have on-site storage capacity of 690,000 cubic metres of LNG.
While it’s been talked about for years, the project, which is owned by Pieridae Energy, appears to be moving forward. In October 2020, Black Diamond Group Ltd. in partnership with skijnu’k Mtmo’taqnuow Agency Ltd, a corporate body wholly owned by the 13 Mi’kmaw communities in Nova Scotia received a letter of award confirming they had been selected to exclusively negotiate the contract providing for the construction of a 5,000-bed lodge and associated amenities during the
four-year construction phase. The estimated value of that contract alone is $720 million. The contract is expected to begin on or before June 30, 2021, the anticipated date for a final investment decision by Calgary-based Pieridae Energy Limited on whether the project goes ahead.
How Pictou County could benefit is through spinoffs that will impact everything from restaurants to manufacturing facilities. Pictou County is one of the closest economic centres near the site and stands to benefit as much as any region
in Nova Scotia from it.
“Pictou County really is the closest municipal centre to the project that has any kind of size to it. I can see us being a strategic hub,” said Nick MacGregor of MacGregor Industrial who has been closely watching the project for the last number of years.
While there are still hurdles the company must get over, he believes the project is headed in the right direction to be approved.
“It’s definitely going to be a game-changer for everything in this region,” he said.
He hopes that his family’s business will be able to pick up some subcontracts from it and believes it will be beneficial in general to the region. Already they’ve had some communication with the company about the type of capabilities they have and services they can offer.
“I think the big thing is just to have the business community and the community at large to be supportive,” MacGregor said.
Pictou County Chamber of Commerce President Blair van Veld said the challenge the company may have with the project is finding enough workers. He anticipates that there would be many Maritimers who would return home to work on the project if it were to go ahead.
Like MacGregor, he believes there will be benefits for existing residents and businesses in Pictou County.
“I’m sure there’s still going to be subcontractors and stuff that need a home base when it’s being constructed. Even after the fact, there’s going to be companies that put their roots down,” he said.