FortisBC still in Tilbury LNG supply talks

Construction on FortisBC’s Tilbury LNG expansion project is moving forward while the Canadian company is still in talks with potential export customers following the termination of its supply contract with Hawaiian Electric Companies.

The Tilbury expansion project, estimated to cost about $440 million, includes a second LNG tank and a new liquefier, both expected to be in service in mid-2017.

The current facility is able to liquefy 5,000 gigajoules (GJ) of gas per day, and has a storage capacity of 600,000 GJ. The expanded facility will be able to liquefy an additional 34,000 GJ of natural gas per day and will add 1.1 million GJ of additional storage capacity.

FortisBC said in its third-quarter report on Friday that key activities during the quarter included the “continued construction of the internal LNG storage tank and the control building, as well as the continued installation of the liquefaction process area major equipment.”

However, the company is still in supply talks with potential customers of the fuel following the termination of the supply deal between Fortis Hawaii Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fortis, and Hawaiian Electric to export LNG to Hawaii.

To remind, Fortis had previously agreed the 20-year deal with Hawaii Electric for the supply 800,000 metric tons of LNG per year from its Tilbury LNG facility in Delta, British Columbia.

“Despite the termination of the agreement with Hawaiian Electric, Fortis continues to have discussions with a number of other potential export customers,” the company said in its quarterly report.

Discussing future plans, FortisBC noted in the statement it is also planning additional LNG infrastructure investment opportunities in British Columbia, including a pipeline expansion to the proposed Woodfibre LNG site near Squamish, and a further expansion of Tilbury.

The potential pipeline expansion has an estimated total project cost of up to $600 million, the company added.

LNG World News Staff