FortisBC to supply Tilbury LNG volumes to China

FortisBC said it has entered into its first term supply agreement to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) for Top Speed Energy Corp. to export to China.

This term supply agreement was made possible by the completion of the Tilbury LNG expansion project in Delta, B.C. earlier this year, the company said in its statement.

The two-year agreement will see 53,000 tonnes of LNG a year or about 60 ISO containers (standard-sized shipping containers) a week shipped from Tilbury to China by the summer of 2021.

The volume of LNG to be exported is equivalent to the volume necessary to heat more than 30,000 average B.C. households for a year.

“This is the first agreement of its kind that will see Canadian LNG shipped regularly to China,” said FortisBC vice-president of market development and external relations, Douglas Stout.

In 2017, FortisBC became the first company in Canada to supply LNG for export to China. Since then FortisBC has been supplying LNG to customers for export to China on a spot basis.

Chinese industries and residential buildings are switching from coal to natural gas to significantly improve air quality and address climate change.

According to the International Energy Agency, LNG imports will be critical to transition China’s energy system to a path that limits global warming. Shipping LNG by ISO container helps meet the energy demands of industrial and public utility customers in China who are not connected to a pipeline network as the containers can be transported virtually anywhere and don’t require large regasification terminals to convert the LNG back into natural gas.