Tag Archives: LNG

Shell Hiring TransCanada to Build Pipeline to Proposed Kitimat LNG Plant

June 5, 2012Energy and Resources, Fracking, Oil&Gasfracking, LNG, Oil and gasDamien Gillis

Read this report from Reuters on Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s plan to hire TransCanada Corp to build a new pipeline from Northeast BC to Kitimat to supply natural gas to Shell’s proposed liquid natural gas plant there. (June 5, 2012)

CALGARY, Alberta, June 5 (Reuters) – TransCanada Corp will build a C$4 billion ($3.8 billion) pipeline to serve Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s planned liquefied natural gas plant on British Columbia’s northern coast, the company said on Tuesday.

TransCanada, Canada’s No. 1 pipeline company, said it would design and build a 700-kilometer (434-mile) line capable of shipping 1.7 billion cubic feet of gas per day from Dawson Creek in northeast British Columbia to Kitimat, where three LNG plants, including Shell’s facility, are planned.

Northeastern British Columbia contains some of the world’s largest unconventional natural gas reserves. The Montney and Horn River shale gas deposits alone contain trillions of cubic feet of gas.

However the U.S. market is glutted with its own shale gas production, and British Columbia’s producers have pinned their hopes on LNG exports to tap lucrative Asian markets.

TransCanada said in a statement that it expected to complete the line by the end of the decade, pending regulatory and corporate approvals.

The line will run near Enbridge Inc’s Northern Gateway oil pipeline project, which will also end at Kitimat. Currently in regulatory hearings, Northern Gateway faces strong opposition from environmental groups and many of the aboriginal communities along its planned route.

That opposition has already added more than a year to regulatory hearings, a delay that encouraged the Canadian government to put in new rules capping the length of such sessions.

However TransCanada’s pipeline is expected to get an easier ride.

With little risk of sustained environmental damage from a rupture, natural gas pipelines have not faced the same opposition as oil lines. Also, some aboriginal communities, such as the Haisla who live near Kitimat, have a stake in LNG projects.

“I don’t think it will get the same sort of resistance (as Northern Gateway faces),” said UBS Securities analyst Chad Friess. “In addition, it’s starting from square one and subject to the accelerated regulatory review that the Canadian government has put out there.”

Rafe Confronts Dix on LNG, Fracking, Enbridge

March 7, 2012Canada, Energy and Resources, Fracking, Oceans, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and Supertankers, Politics, Salmon Farming and Aquaculture, Western CanadaAquaculture, BC Oil Pipelines and Supertankers, Enbridge, fracking, LNG, Oil and gas, Politics, rafe mair, Salmon, VideoDamien Gillis

Rafe Mair pulls no punches in this, the second of a two-part interview with BC NDP Leader Adrian Dix – grilling the potential future premier of BC on Liquid Natural Gas, fracking, the proposed Enbridge pipeline and salmon farms. Will the NDP stand up to Harper over Enbridge and open net pen aquaculture? Why do they favour LNG – and how do they reconcile their support for it with the controversial fracking process that would supply it with much of its gas? Watch and find out!

Excellent CBC Radio Interview on Site C Dam with Peace Valley Environment Association’s Andrea Morison

February 16, 2012Energy and Resources, Fracking, Hydropower, WATERfracking, LNG, Site C Dam, Water and EnergyCommon Sense Canadian

Listen to this highly informative 8 min radio interview from CBC’s Daybreak North show – featuring Andrea Morison of the Peace Valley Environment Association discussing the proposed Site C Dam and its connection to the planned Liquid Natural Gas boom on BC’s coast. (Feb. 14, 2012)

Listen here

Sun Op-ed: Plans for 3 LNG Plants on BC Coast Undercut Province’s Climate Goals

November 14, 2011Climate Change, Energy and Resources, Fracking, Oil&Gasclimate change, fracking, LNG, Oil and gasDamien Gillis

Read this op-ed in the Vancouver Sun by SFU assistant professor John Axsen on the carbon emissions implications of the Clark Government’s support for three new major LNG plants.

“Premier Clark plans to construct three massive liquefied natural gas
(LNG) plants in Northern B.C. This won’t only create jobs. Extracting
shale gas and operating these plants will release enough global warming
gases to undo B.C.’s other efforts to cut emissions. Clark claims these
plants are in the best interest of B.C.’s families.

However, the
effects of climate change will deliver hardship to B.C. families in
coming decades. The National Round Table on the Environment and the
Economy concludes that climate change will inflict billions of dollars
in economic losses on B.C. residents each year.” (

Read article: http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/op-ed/government+plan+construct+three+plants+counters+reduction+efforts/5704881/story.html

Dr. Marvin Shaffer in Vancouver Sun: BC Will Lose Millions on LNG

October 25, 2011Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and Supertankers, WATERBC Hydro, BC Oil Pipelines and Supertankers, LNG, Oil and gas, Water and EnergyCommon Sense Canadian

Read this essential op-ed from SFU’s Marvin Shaffer in the Vancouver Sun, exposing the real cost to British Columbians of a heavily subsidized liquid natural gas boom on BC North Coast.

“A striking feature of the government’s jobs strategy is the number of
very electric-intensive projects it entails. The strategy calls for the
development of new mines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities,
all of which will require very large amounts of electricity.

The
first phase of the proposed LNG plant at Kitimat in itself will
reportedly consume some 1.5 million megawatt hours of electricity per
year, or roughly one-third of the entire output of the proposed Site C
dam project.

Media commentators have questioned whether BC Hydro
will be able to supply these large new requirements for electricity.
Some worry that it will not be able to do so because of the capital
spending and other constraints that were recommended in the government’s
recent review of BC Hydro’s rapidly rising costs and rates.

However,
the real issue here is not whether BC Hydro can supply the electricity
these projects will need. It no doubt could by acquiring or developing
new sources of electricity supply. The issue is whether, or at least
under what circumstances, it should.

One thing is certain. It will
be very bad for BC Hydro and consequently all of its existing customers
if it does supply electricity to the new mines and LNG facilities at
its standard industrial rate. Under that rate, which averages less than
$40 per megawatt hour, the amount BC Hydro would receive would be less
than half the costs it would incur for the new sources of supply it
would have to acquire.” (October 205, 2011)

Read full article: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/todays-paper/Cheap+power+comes+price/5601086/story.html

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