NEB to consider jurisdictional claims over LNG Canada feeder pipeline

Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) said Monday it will consider a claim filed by a local environmentalist that TransCanada’s Coastal GasLink pipeline should be listed as a federal project.

NEB has granted a new hearing and will accept submissions until next Monday from the claimant, the provincial and federal governments, and other parties on whether the 670 km pipeline that will provide feed gas to the recently approved Shell-led LNG Canada project falls within federal jurisdiction.

If it turns out that the project falls within federal jurisdiction, it would require NEB’s approval to proceed, making approval of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline from the British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission insufficient.

Coastal GasLink will transport natural gas from the Montney gas-producing region near Dawson Creek, B.C. to the LNG Canada facility in Kitimat.

The pipeline will have an initial capacity of approximately 2.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/day) with the potential for expansion of up to approximately 5 Bcf/day.

Construction activities are expected to begin in early 2019 with a planned in-service date in 2023, TransCanada said previously.

The estimated C$6.2 billion ($4.8 billion) project is underpinned by 25-year transportation service agreements entered into with the LNG Canada participants.

LNG Canada will initially export LNG from two trains totaling 14 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), with the potential to expand to four trains in the future.

LNG World News Staff