Aurora LNG receives NEB approval for LNG shipments

One of the four major proponents of LNG development on the North Coast has taken a first step in the lengthy process between proposal and terminal development, as Aurora LNG received National Energy Board approval for LNG shipments late last week.

As part of the announcement, the National Energy Board outlined how they determined that the gas reserves that have been proposed for export are surplus to Canadian needs and with that approved the export licence for a duration of 25 years.

The gas which would be liquefied at a terminal facility to be built at Grassy Point, near Lax Kwa'laams would see annual shipments of 24 million tonnes to be delivered to export markets, primarily it would seem to be in China and Japan.  The full export limit would be 849.82 billion cubic metres of natural gas over the 25 year term of the licence.

You can review the full decision here.

The Aurora decision, marks the third significant LNG proponent to move their application process forward, with Petronas' Lelu Island project and the Ridley Island project from BG Gas further along on those development steps.

The Aurora LNG project features the investment from the Chinese National Energy giant CNOOC, which most recently acquired the Canadian energy company Nexen, so as to further their investment opportunities in Canada.

As we outlined earlier on the blog, it was recently announced that CNOOC, through a subsidiary company would partner with BG Gas on a joint study on a plant to export LNG.

How that partnership may impact on the BG Plans for Ridley Island has not yet been outlined by either CNOOC or BG Gas.

You can review more about the Aurora project and other LNG developments for the North Coast from our Archive page.