Even Exxon wants in on the party

June 22, 2013

The race to build west coast LNG capability added yet another player—Exxon Mobil Corp. By last count there are 7 proposals in the works for LNG exports from Kitimat/Prince Rupert BC.

Exxon and Imperial Oil Ltd. (ticker IMO on TSX), Exxon’s Canadian subsidiary, filed an application with the National Energy Board to export 30 M tonnes of LNG from Prince Rupert/Kitimat. Exxon noted that the export license is not a project proposal rather a precursor to developing a proposal.

The other projects are:

• Western Canada LNG – (BG Group and Spectra Energy Natural Gas Transportation System) planned completion date 2020. The pipeline to the coast has a capital cost of $1.5 B
• Pacific Northwest LNG (PETRONAS & Progress) With an in service date of late 2018/early 2019 Prince Rupert LNG export facility’s capital would be $9-11 billion.
• Kitimat LNG (Apache Canada Ltd. & Chevron Canada). Construction of the Kitimat LNG facility is planned to begin in 2013, with commercial operations expected to commence in late 2016.  Initially, the facility will produce five million tonnes annually of liquified natural gas (or the equivalent of nearly 700 million cubic feet per day) with plans to eventually double capacity.
• LNG Canada – (Shell Canada Ltd., PetroChina Company Limited, Korea Gas Corp, Mitsubishi Corporation (KOGAS)) Project construction for this Kitimat project is expected to start in 2015, pending receipt of the necessary regulatory approvals, with construction of the first phase expected to be completed in 2019-2020.
• Douglas Channel Energy Project – (BC LNG Export Co-operative LLC: LNG Partners (Texas) and Haisla Nation). The capital cost of the Kitimat LNG facility is projected at $360-450 million.
• BG Group -(BG Group is a London - headquartered giant natural gas producer with 6,000+ employees). BG Group has made an application to export 21.6 million metric tonnes annually of LNG.

 

Commentary

The LNG party is on and Exxon-Mobil wants to join in on the good times. The overall pattern is apparent LNG exports through northern BC. BC has lots of natural gas and Asian markets beckon. The new Liberal Government in BC had made LNG exports a prominent part of its re-election campaign. BC has formed a new ministry and added a Minister of Natural Gas Development.

Sources

• a)Shawn McCarthy, "Exxon, Imperial enter race to export LNG from BC", Globe and Mail, 21-Jun-2013, p.B1.



• b)http://engage.gov.bc.ca/lnginbc/first-nations-and-communities/



• c)http://investnorthwestbc.ca/major-projects-and-investment-opportunities/map-view/kitimat/kitimat-lng



• d)http://www.gov.bc.ca/ener/popt/down/liquefied_natural_gas_strategy.pdf