Northwest LNG plans on hold as Top Speed Energy goes up for sale

An ambitious  plan to ship LNG by specialized containers to Asian markets would appear to be on hold as the company behind the project is put up for Sale.

An asset sale for Top Speed Energy Canada has been announced after the death of its founder, leaving proposed developments in Terrace and Prince Rupert on the list of those LNG plans on pause, perhaps destined to shift over to those that never made it to the finish line

The publication Business in Vancouver outlined the notes on the asset sale in an article on Wednesday, which has a deadline of October 7th in place for any expressions of interest.

Of the two projects, the better known one was the Terrace proposal, which we introduced in November of 2019, when the Chinese energy company outlined its plans to develop an energy terminal facility near the Terrace Airport and ship LNG by specialized container car to port facilities in Prince Rupert.

The Terrace facility, Skeena LNG which was to be fed by the Pacific Northern Gas pipeline was planning for process output of 150,000 tonnes of LNG per year. 

They also had a plan to develop a smaller terminal in the Prince Rupert area, to be known as Totem LNG which would process 75,000 tonnes of LNG per year, but few details of the Prince Rupert initiative were noted on their website as their program moved forward.

The description of the Prince Rupert Totem LNG facility
plans for the North Coast. The site is one of a range
of assets for Top Speed Energy now up for bid.

Calgary based Sayer Energy Advisors is handling the asset sale, in their prospectus they note that the two plants are scheduled to come into service in the fourth quarter of 2023 (Skeena) and the fourth quarter of 2024 (Totem) respectively. 

Top Speed also owns and operates a fleet of 76 ISO containers in western Canada for the storage and transport of LNG to domestic markets and various market regions in southeast Asia.

In early 2021, the founder of Top Speed passed away unexpectedly. While the business case for Top Speed remains strong, the majority shareholder felt it best to divest Top Speed of all works, permits and commercial arrangements developed for the Skeena LNG and Totem LNG projects. Top Speed will also be divesting its fleet of 76 ISO containers in the Vancouver area. These containers are fully approved for use in North America and are available for immediate use. -- From the prospectus for the sale of assets of Top Speed Energy

You can review more on the asset sale here.

The Top speed proposal was one of a number of small-scale LNG production facilities that have been in the planning stages in the province in recent years.  They generally host a smaller footprint than the mega-projects of ten years ago, but so far, few have made much progress towards development.

You can review some of the past LNG themes in the region from our archive page here.