Construction to begin in August on Ksi Lisims feeder pipeline

The BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) said June 11 it had received notification from the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) project that construction on the 900-km pipeline that will deliver feed gas to the proposed 12mn tonnes/year Ksi Lisims LNG project in northern BC will begin by the end of August.

The notification was delivered May 26 to the EAO by TC Energy, which reached an agreement in March to sell PRGT to the Nisga’a Nation, on whose traditional territory Ksi Lisims LNG will be built, and Western LNG, a Houston-based LNG developer and a partner, along with the Rockies LNG consortium, in Ksi Lisims LNG.

“Construction of the (pipeline) project is scheduled to commence on August 24, 2024, subject to the successful closing of the sale of PRGT entities to Western NLG and Nisga’a Lisims Government (NLG),” said the letter, which was over the signature of Allison Denby, TC Energy’s Director, Environment, Land and Regulatory. 

PRGT received its initial approval from the EAO in November 2014 and won a five-year extension in 2019, giving the project until November 25, 2024 to begin construction.

PRGT was initially intended to deliver gas to a natural gas liquefaction project near Prince Rupert proposed by Malaysia’s Petronas, which subsequently abandoned that project in 2017 and instead invested in the Shell-led LNG Canada project in Kitimat, south of Prince Rupert. A modified PRGT will be somewhat shorter than the originally-approved pipeline, at about 755 km. 

In a joint statement to NGW, the Nisga'a Nation and Western LNG said they expect to close the purchase of PRGT by the end of June, motivated by the fact that construction on the approved pipeline could begin quickly.

“For over a year, we've been working closely with TC Energy to advance the project in a way that lines up with the Ksi Lisims LNG facility schedule while also maintaining its permits,” the statement said. “Today, the new ownership team is proud to be leading an indigenous co-owned pipeline project into its first phase of construction work, which will begin in August and will be limited to Nisga’a lands only.”

Ksi Lisims LNG is currently undergoing an environmental assessment by the EAO.

Construction activities on the PRGT right-of-way will include physical works such as clearing and land preparation and permanent road and bridge improvements, the statement said. “The latter is important and intensive work as the Nisga’a lands have some of the harder-to-access sections of the project corridor.”

Pending the sale of PRGT to the NLG and Western LNG, TC Energy will have no role in the construction of the pipeline, it said in a statement to NGW.