Environmental assessment of Kitimat LNG project underway

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) has begun an environmental assessment of the Kitimat LNG project in British Columbia.

The Department of the Environment said that the CEAA started the environmental assessment on Tuesday, August 20.

In a separate announcement from Wednesday, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna approved the substitution of the federal environmental assessment process for the project.

As for the project, the operator, energy giant Chevron, proposed to expand the Kitimat LNG project, an LNG production and marine export facility located at Bish Cove in British Columbia.

The expansion project would comprise two phases, namely the optimization of the two LNG train configuration to use all-electric drive design with a combined output capacity of 12 mtpa, an optimized marine terminal, and reduced LNG storage capacity.

It also includes an additional LNG processing train pushing the total capacity to 18 mtpa, an LNG storage tank, and an additional LNG loading berth on the Kitimat LNG foundation project site.

Chevron and partner Woodside expect to make a final investment decision for the project in 2022 or 2023 with the production start scheduled for 2029.

To remind, the operator also looked for approval to modify its plans for the Kitimat LNG export facility to an all-electric design last month.

According to the company, the transition to an all-electric design will result in the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per ton of LNG of any large project in the world.