Canada’s FortisBC has awarded Frontier-Kemper Constructors a contract to work on a tunnel component for a pipeline that would deliver gas to Woodfibre LNG’s 2.1 mtpa LNG terminal in British Columbia.
According to a statement on Monday, Frontier-Kemper, a company specialized in engineering and construction of tunnels, will work on constructing a nine-kilometer tunnel between the town of Squamish and the Woodfibre LNG industrial site.
The contract has a price tag of about $341 million Canadian dollars ($267.8 million), Frontier-Kemper, a unit of Tutor Perini, said in the statement.
Frontier-Kemper said the tunnel would play an important role in protecting sensitive ecosystems and wildlife within the Skwelwil’em Squamish Estuary by locating underground a 24-inch natural gas pipeline system that it would install as part of the project.
Also, it will measure four meters in diameter and run at depths of about 25 meters to 450 meters below the ground surface.
The company expects the pre-construction activities, including design, procurement, and construction planning, to start in March 2022, while construction should begin in early 2023, it said.
Frontier-Kemper plans substantial completion in 2025.
Woodfibre LNG FID
According to FortisBC’s website, the proposed Eagle Mountain – Woodfibre gas pipeline project is expected to expand the existing natural gas pipeline that runs between Coquitlam and Woodfibre, near Squamish.
The Canadian utility plans to add about 47 km of new pipe, beginning north of the Coquitlam watershed and ending at the Woodfibre industrial site, where Woodfibre LNG is planning to build its LNG terminal.
However, Woodfibre LNG still needs to take a final investment decision on its export development.
To remind, the firm contracted McDermott last year to build its LNG terminal in British Columbia.
Under the engineering, procurement, fabrication, and construction (EPFC) contract, McDermott would manage onshore construction of the facility located about 7 km west-southwest of Squamish.
Besides onshore gas processing and liquefaction, the facility includes a floating storage capacity of about 250,000 cbm.
