Progress Energy Canada Ltd. has signed firm transportation agreements with TransCanada Corp.’s wholly owned subsidiary Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL) for 2 bcfd of natural gas shipments from northeastern British Columbia, underpinning development of NGTL’s North Montney Mainline expansion project. The 189-mile, large-diameter North Montney expansion will include two sections—Aitken Creek and Kahta—both starting from NGTL’s Groundbirch mainline.
The project also will include an interconnection with TransCanada's proposed Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) project to provide natural gas supply to the proposed Pacific NorthWest LNG export facility near Prince Rupert, BC.
Under terms of the transportation agreements receipt volumes will ramp up between 2016 and 2019 to an aggregate volume of 2 bcfd and delivery volumes to the PRGT project will be 2.1 bcfd beginning in 2019. NGTL is also talking with other parties that have expressed interest in transportation services on North Montney.
NGTL is currently engaged in First Nations and community outreach, field studies, engineering and design work, and pipeline routing to support applications for regulatory approvals and to finalize project requirements. The company anticipates filing an application with Canada’s National Energy Board in this year’s fourth quarter for approvals to build and operate the project. Pending these approvals, NGTL expects the Aitken Creek section to be operational second-quarter 2016, the Kahta section second-quarter 2017 and the export delivery facilities in 2019.
The company estimates the total cost of the North Montney Mainline project at about $1.5 billion.
Contact Christopher E. Smith at [email protected].