Canada’s Woodfibre LNG, a unit of Pacific Energy, confirmed that it plans to start construction work next month on its $5.1 billion LNG export facility near Squamish, British Columbia.
“We expect to begin construction in September of this year,” Woodfibre LNG’s communications director, Sean Beardow, told LNG Prime late on Friday.
The company expects to launch operations at this onshore gas processing and liquefaction facility with floating storage of about 250,000 cbm in 2027.
In November 2021, Woodfibre LNG awarded the engineering, procurement, fabrication, and construction (EPFC) contract to McDermott.
After that, the LNG terminal developer issued a notice to proceed to McDermott in April last year to start work on its 2.1 mtpa LNG terminal.
Woodfibre LNG did not announce a final investment decision on the project.
However, as a privately-owned project, Woodfibre LNG “does not use the same terminology as public companies such as Shell and the LNG Canada project,” Beardow said.
“Notice to proceed is similar to an FID in that it’s a final go-ahead to move into construction,” he said.
19 modules to be built in China
Qingdao McDermott Wuchuan (QMW), a joint venture consisting of US contractor McDermott and China State Shipbuilding Corporation, recently started building the first module for Woodfibre LNG.
QMW will build 19 modules for Woodfibre LNG and plans to complete the project in the third quarter of 2025.
The scope of work includes module fabrication design, bulk material procurement, modules construction, mechanical completion and pre-commissioning, weighing, loading-out, and also sea-fastening.
Beardow said that QMW is a direct subcontractor to McDermott and the final cost of this contract “will be paid using a formula related to module weight prior to actual loadout at QMW based on a cost per metric tonne.”
According to Beardow, the contract includes inlet and treatment module, liquefaction module, BOG module, utility module, flare drum and pipe rack, marine trestles, powerhouse module, and several pipe racks.
Besides McDermott, Woodfibre LNG previously also awarded a contract to Siemens Energy to work on the all-electric plant.
The scope includes all equipment associated with the main refrigeration trains including compressors, synchronous motors, variable speed drives, converter transformers, harmonic filters, and numerous powerhouses.
The electric compressors will use renewable hydroelectricity from BC Hydro.
Last year, it also awarded a contract to Canadian firm Graham Construction to conduct onshore work, which involves the final stages of cleaning up the previous pulp and paper mill at the Woodfibre site.
Following completion of a deal last year, Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge also now owns 30 percent stake in Woodfibre LNG.
As per offtakers, the project has two long-term offtake agreements with BP Gas Marketing for 15 years representing 70 percent of the capacity.
