Canadian firms plan BC gas plant, target LNG export

Aug. 19, 2014
AltaGas Ltd. and Painted Pony Petroleum Ltd., both of Calgary, have agreed to develop processing and marketing of natural gas and NGLs for Painted Pony’s liquids-rich Montney gas production in northeast British Columbia.

AltaGas Ltd. and Painted Pony Petroleum Ltd., both of Calgary, have agreed to develop processing and marketing of natural gas and NGLs for Painted Pony’s liquids-rich Montney gas production in northeast British Columbia.

In the first phase, AltaGas will build and operate a 198-MMcfd shallow-cut gas processing plant in the Montney for which Painted Pony will retain rights to a minimum 150 MMcfd of firm capacity.

The Townsend plant will be built 62 miles north of Fort St. John and 12 miles southeast of AltaGas’s Blair Creek plant, through which Painted Pony has already been processing a large portion of its Montney production, the companies said.

Estimated cost for the Townsend plant is $325-350 million (Can.) to be built and funded by AltaGas. It will start up by yearend 2015, subject to regulatory and other approvals.

In addition to building gas processing systems, AltaGas will become primary marketer for Painted Pony’s gas and NGL production from northeast British Columbia. Painted Pony will become a major supplier to AltaGas under the alliance, which will “provide preferred access to export opportunities” for LNG and NGLs from “existing and planned facilities,” the companies said.

They also said that, upon completion of this first phase, further construction of processing infrastructure in northeast British Columbia, including a second phase of Townsend to include a deep-cut system for the enhanced recovery of additional NGLs and fractionation, is possible.