TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink is moving forward with the construction work on the giant pipeline that will supply natural gas to the Shell-led LNG Canada export terminal in order to complete it by the end of this year.
Coastal GasLink said in a construction update on Thursday that the overall progress on the 670 kilometers long pipeline had reached 83 percent completion as of the end of December.
This compares to 81.2 percent completion at the end of November.
According to Coastal GasLink, there were 5,578 workers across the project route as of December 18, 2022.
The pipeline will have the capacity to transport 2.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day (bcf/d) from Groundbirch, BC to Kitimat, with the potential to boost it further.
TC Energy expects to reach mechanical in-service of the pipeline by the end of 2023 but the costs will significantly rise.
In July last year, LNG Canada and TC Energy reached a revised deal for the pipeline. The project now has a price tag of C$11.2 billion.
However, the project costs continue to rise and TC Energy said in November that the firm expects a “material increase in project costs” and TC Energy’s corresponding funding requirements.
LNG Canada 80 percent complete
As per the LNG Canada plant in Kitimat, the C$40 billion project is 80 percent complete, according to a recent statement by LNG Canada.
The first phase of the giant LNG Canada project includes building two liquefaction trains with a capacity of 14 mtpa.
LNG Canada expects to deliver its first cargo by the middle of this decade.
The company is also planning a second stage of the project as well.
Besides operator Shell, other partners in LNG Canada are Malaysia’s Petronas, PetroChina, Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation, and South Korea’s Kogas.