Another benchmark moment for LNG development on the North Coast has been reached with confirmation by the National Energy Board on Wednesday, that the federal regulator had approved long term export licences for both the Pacific Northwest LNG project and the Prince Rupert LNG project.
Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford announced the export licence approval in a press release late Wednesday, this is the last step in the Government of Canada's approval process for the issuance of an LNG export licence.
Minister Rickford recently took on the Natural resources post as part of the recent Federal cabinet shuffle, replacing Joe Oliver who took over the duties of Finance Minister.
The export licences mark the first announcement since his arrival to his portfolio and authorizes the export of up to 73.38 million tonnes per annum of LNG for the four companies.
The normal length of the export licence is between 20 to 25 years.
Pacific Northwest LNG has targeted exports of 19.68 mtpa per year by late 2018, while Prince Rupert LNG is proposing exports of 21.6 mtpa beginning in 2021.
Beyond the two Prince Rupert based projects, the NEB also issued licences for projects from WCC LNG for a terminal to be located either in Kitimat, or Prince Rupert and Woodfibre which has a proposal in place for an LNG terminal in Squamish.
The four export licences granted on Wednesday, follow the path of three previous licences issued since 2011.
The National Energy Board is now reviewing five additional applications.
You can review the announcement here, from the Natural Resources Canada website.
For the Petronas backed bid of Pacific Northwest LNG, Wednesday was a very good day in the news department, with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency announcing the start date for a 30 day comment period regarding their proposed development for Lelu Island.
Further information on the two Prince Rupert based LNG proposals can be found on our LNG archive page.
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