Woodfibre LNG Granted 40-Year Export License

The Government of Canada has approved a 40-year export license for the Woodfibre LNG project in Squamish, British Columbia.

The $1.6 billion LNG plant planned for the site of the old Woodfibre pulp mill is expected to be operational in 2020. It will process natural gas shipped by pipeline from Northern British Columbia into LNG for export to Asian markets.

The proposed facility will be powered with electricity from BC Hydro, which generates more than 90 percent clean renewable energy, making it one of the cleanest LNG facilities in the world.

Woodfibre LNG Limited is owned by Singapore-based Royal Golden Eagle.  

The export license was granted after the National Energy Board found that the quantity of natural gas proposed to be exported is surplus to Canadian needs and can accommodate a plausible increase in demand as well as exports.

Canada is the world’s fifth-largest producer of natural gas. The nation has about 300 years’ worth of marketable natural gas reserves, estimated at 1,566 trillion cubic feet, or 44 trillion cubic meters. 

To date, the Government of Canada has issued LNG export licenses to 24 projects. 

The Woodfibre LNG project will create about 100 full-time jobs at the facility during operation and about 650 jobs each year during an estimated two-year construction period.

The LNG carriers destined for the Woodfibre LNG terminal will travel along existing commercial shipping lanes and will be piloted by two British Columbia Coast Pilots.