NEB issues certificate for Mackenzie Valley Pipeline

March 11, 2011
Canada’s National Energy Board has issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the 1,196-km Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, part of the Mackenzie Gas Project.

Christopher E. Smith
OGJ Pipeline Editor

HOUSTON, Mar. 11 -- Canada’s National Energy Board has issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the 1,196-km Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, part of the Mackenzie Gas Project.

The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline would run from the Beaufort Sea to northwestern Alberta, and is designed to carry as much as 1.2 bcfd of natural gas. The Mackenzie Gas Project also includes three onshore gas fields, a pipeline gathering system to bring the gas from the development fields to a processing plant, a 457-km pipeline to carry natural gas liquids from Inuvik, NWT, to an existing oil pipeline at Norman Wells, NWT, and other related facilities.

The NEB approved the Mackenzie Gas Project in December 2010, attaching 264 conditions that must be met for construction to proceed (OGJ Online, Dec. 20, 2010). Additional regulatory approvals are also pending.

Shareholders in the project are Imperial Oil Resources Ventures Ltd., Mackenzie Valley Aboriginal Pipeline LP, ConocoPhillips Canada (North) Ltd., Shell Canada Ltd., and ExxonMobil Canada Properties. Imperial filed a letter with NEB in March 2010 stating it would not decide whether to proceed with the project until late 2013.

Contact Christopher E. Smith at [email protected].