ExxonMobil affiliates plan Canadian LNG export

July 10, 2013
Affiliates of ExxonMobil Corp. last month applied to Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) to build an LNG export plant at one of two sites on the British Columbia coast.

Affiliates of ExxonMobil Corp. last month applied to Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) to build an LNG export plant at one of two sites on the British Columbia coast.

WCC LNG Ltd., Calgary, equally owned by ExxonMobil Canada Ltd. and Imperial Oil Resources Ltd., formally sought approval to build a gas liquefaction plant with ultimate sendout capacity of as much as 30 million tonnes/year. The application named two possible sites: Kitimat or Prince Rupert, BC. The term of the license sought is 25 years.

Imperial Oil Resources is an upstream affiliate of Imperial Oil Ltd. ExxonMobil Canada is wholly owned by ExxonMobil Corp.

The planned plant would consist of as many as six liquefaction trains of 5 million tpy each. The application said initial design capacity would be 10-15 million tpy ready by 2021-22. Full export capacity could come online as early as 2025.

Gas supply to the plant would be from a combination of the partner companies’ proprietary gas and gas obtained through commercial supply agreements. The NEB application stated the companies have “entered into confidentiality agreements with several pipeline companies and are in discussions regarding services for delivery of gas” to the plant.

West Coast plans

The WCC project follows several others proposed and approved for export from Canada’s West Coast (OGJ, Apr. 1, 2013, p. 90).

Earlier this year, the NEB approved an LNG export application by LNG Canada Development Inc. for a plant near Kitimat (OGJ Online, Feb. 5, 2013) to export up to 24 million tpy for 25 years beginning in 2020. LNG Canada is a joint venture of Shell Canada Ltd., Korea Gas Corp., Mitsubishi Corp., and PetroChina Co. Ltd.

Also in early 2013, Chevron Canada Ltd. announced plans to buy 50% of Kitimat LNG and the proposed Pacific Trail Pipeline and 50% in 644,000 acres in the Horn River and Liard basins in BC (OGJ, Jan. 7, 2013, p. 42). The two-train Kitimat LNG project targets start-up in 2016; its NEB license allows export of 10 million tpy.

Last year, two Canadian regulators approved a 20-year export license for BC LNG Export Cooperative (OGJ Online, Feb. 3, 2012). The plant will sit on the west bank of the Douglas Channel in the District of Kitimat. BC LNG intends to ship as much as 1.8 million tpy, mainly to Asia.

The NEB also approved a 20-year LNG export license in October 2011 to KM LNG Operating General Partnership. That project would be based at Bish Cove, near Kitimat (OGJ Online, Oct. 14, 2011).

Contact Warren R. True at [email protected].