Canada's Port Edward LNG Advances Pacific Export Project [UPDATE]

(Updates with comments from CEO, new regulatory details)

British Columbia’s Port Edward LNG met January 5 with officials of the District of Port Edward to consider an October 2020 rezoning application underpinning its plans for a 150,000 mt/yr liquefaction facility that it hopes to have operational by 2023.

The liquefaction terminal would sit on a 37-acre site east of Port Edward, close to BC Hydro infrastructure, which would supply power to the all-electric facility, and Pacific Northern Gas facilities, the local gas distributor that would supply feed gas.

The terminal would export LNG via ISO containers from the port of Prince Rupert, 17 km north of Port Edward, to Asian markets, and would provide ISO deliveries to northern communities in BC and elsewhere in Canada, primarily to displace diesel power generation. ISO containers can be transported by road, rail or conventional ships.

“We have two formalised offtake agreements with international customers, and several others in the discussion phase,” Port Edward LNG CEO Chris Hilliard told NGW. “For now, let’s just say that we’ve essentially oversold the first phase (150,000 mt/yr) and will likely pursue a second phase, also 150,000 mt, at some point.”

The company has in hand a short-term (two-year) export authorisation from the Canada Energy Regulator (CER), and has begun the provincial regulatory process through the BC Oil & Gas Commission and its Environmental Assessment Office. It will continue with the short-term export authorisations, which can normally be turned around by the CER in about two weeks, rather than pursue a long-term 25-year or 40-year export licence, Hilliard said.

Pending receipt of regulatory approvals, it hopes to begin construction this year with completion slated for 2023.