Pacific Canbriam Energy, a unit of Sukanto Tanoto’s Pacific Energy, has purchased more Montney acreage as part of plans to deliver natural gas to the Woodfibre LNG export project in Canada’s British Columbia.
Pacific Canbriam said in a statement on Thursday it had completed the acquisition of 47,025 net acres of Montney rights in the Altares, Attachie, and Portage areas of northeast British Columbia.
Moreover, the acquisition increases the company’s total Montney land holdings to 224,805 net acres and represents a 26 percent increase to its total acreage.
Pacific Canbriam is “strategically positioned” in northeast British Columbia to supply Canadian natural gas to overseas markets.
The company says it would achieve this through integration with the proposed Pacific Energy’s Woodfibre LNG project located near Squamish.
“This land acquisition complements our existing Montney development and supports our long-term LNG requirements,” Paul Myers, president of Pacific Canbriam, said in the statement.
Woodfibre LNG launch planned for 2027
Woodfibre LNG’s project will have a production capacity of 2.1 mtpa as well as 250,000 cbm of floating storage capacity.
Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge recently agreed to buy a 30 percent stake in the LNG export project.
Under the partnership agreement, Enbridge would invest in a 30 percent ownership stake in the C$5.1 billion Woodfibre LNG project, with Pacific Energy retaining the remaining 70 percent stake in the facility.
The project has two long-term offtake agreements with BP Gas Marketing for 15 years representing 70 percent of the capacity, with additional commitments in development for up to 90 percent, according to Woodfibre LNG.
In addition, Woodfibre LNG recently awarded a contract to Siemens Energy to work on the all-electric plant.
Prior to that, it issued a notice to proceed to US contractor McDermott to start work on the project, while it also said it would spend $500 million on its planned terminal.
Woodfibre LNG has not yet announced a final investment decision on the plant.
It expects to reach substantial completion of the project in 2027 and begin commercial operation by September of that year.