Kitsault Energy has stated that the defunct mining town on the north coast of British Columbia, which the company owns, would translate into the perfect site for a proposed floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) unit.
FLNG plant
Kitsault Energy Director, Dave Pernarowski, highlighted his preference for a floating LNG plant as opposed to a land-based unit. He said an FLNG 鈥渨ill save a considerable amount of time on the backend in terms of construction in terms of the land base鈥�.
Asian Target
鈥淲ith our phased approach, to get us to a point where we鈥檙e physically shipping natural gas across the ocean to Asia and other markets, I think we can get there just as fast, if not faster than some of these other projects.鈥�
The company鈥檚 base on Alice arm provides ideal access to the Pacific Ocean for LNG ships. It is also a destination for natural gas pipelines, which stem from northeastern British Columbia.
Although the company does require outside investment and partnership for proposed projects such as the FLNG at Kitsault, projected implementation of pipelines, and natural gas itself, Perarowski remained upbeat on returning from a trip to China:
鈥淓veryone we talked to during our trip expressed a great deal of interest in the natural gas,鈥� he said. 鈥淐hina is looking for large amounts of LNG to power their country and try to move away from coal, they鈥檙e really trying to work on environmental issues over on that side of the world. So, burning natural gas instead of the coal burning methods that they鈥檙e using now will be a big improvement for them. They鈥檙e just very keen on finding opportunities to get access to the natural resource.鈥�
Competition
However, other companies such as Kitimat LNG and BG Group have also begun to capitalise on this opportunity in the Asian markets, with proposals for LNG plants in the Kitimat and Prince Rupert regions. 鈥淲e may be a little bit behind some of the other activity, but we think we can get there just as quickly,鈥� Pernarowski affirmed.
He observed that these two projects will be supplied by natural gas pipelines from the north of British Columbia and then arrive on the coast at Kitimat before heading south.
鈥淜itsault is considerably closer to the actual gas fields, so that鈥檚 going to save any company that partners with us billions of dollars in pipeline construction, environmental assessment through waterways, etc.鈥�, Pernarowski concluded.
Edited from various sources by