A partnership between the Nisga’a Lisms Government, Rockies LNG and Houston-based Western LNG have filed a project description with provincial and federal environmental regulators for a proposed new floating LNG terminal at the end of Pearse Island.
“Attracting an economic base to the Nass Valley has long been a priority for the Nisga’a Nation,” Nisga’a Nation President Eva Clayton said in a news release.
“This is why, for close to a decade, our nation has worked to attract a world-leading LNG project to our treaty lands, and why we are proud to commence the formal regulatory process for our project, Ksi Lisims LNG,” said.
Rockies LNG is a consortium of Alberta natural gas producers that have been looking for a West Coast LNG project to invest in to provide them with a new market for their natural gas. They include Advantage Energy Ltd., ARC Resources Ltd., Birchcliff Energy Ltd., Bonavista Energy Corp.; NuVista Energy Ltd., Paramount Resources Ltd., and Peyto Exploration and Development Corp.
Western LNG is a Houston-based LNG terminal developer.
The proposed project would be a floating LNG terminal located on Nisga’a land on the northern tip of Pearse Island, in the Portland Canal north of Prince Rupert. It would have an annual capacity of 12 million tonnes per year, which is similar in production capacity to the LNG Canada project.
The news release does not identify the project’s capital cost, although the project description filed with the BC Environmental Assessment Office says the companies would invest $45 billion just in the upstream to produce the natural gas needed to supply the plant over its lifetime. The company’s timeline for completion and commissioning is late 2027 or 2028.
The partnership says there are two possible pipelines that could feed the plant: the TC Energy (TSX:TRP) Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline or the Enbridge (TSX:ENB) Westcoast Connector Gas Transmission. Both are permitted, but would still need to be built.
