The second-largest project in B.C. that has started construction is a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility – but it is in Metro Vancouver rather than on B.C’s northwest coast.
The $400 million expansion of the Tilbury LNG plant in Delta started construction in the third quarter of 2014, according to the major projects inventory compiled by the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies British Columbia.
FortisBC, the owner and operator of the facility, awarded Houston, Texas-based Bechtel an engineering, procurement and construction contract to expand the facility, which will include a new billion-cubic-foot full-containment LNG storage tank. Bechtel, a world leader in LNG-related construction, is also responsible for the startup and commissioning of the new liquefaction facility.
The new LNG tank includes a 9% nickel steel plate used for the cryogenic containment system within the tank’s concrete walls.
Construction is expected to be finished in November 2016. The project will add approximately 46,000 cubic metres of LNG storage and raise the facility’s liquefaction capacity to 1,740 cubic metres per day to meet the growing LNG demands of the transportation sector, remote communities and industry in the province, according to FortisBC.
The original Tilbury LNG storage facility was built in 1971 and remains one of only two LNG plants in B.C. The other, also owned by FortisBC, is near Ladysmith on Vancouver Island.
According to the major projects inventory, there are $100 million worth of oil and gas extraction projects proposed, mostly LNG plants in northwest B.C. •
