INNOVATION July-August 2014

fea t ure s

BC Aims to Lead Natural Gas Boom

Woodfibre LNG project rendering, June 2014.

D’Arcy Jenish

A nthony Gelotti has spent 25 years or so working in the liquefied natural gas industry, most of it on the Gulf Coast of Texas. In the early 2000s, Gelotti was involved in developing import terminals in Houston to receive gas originating in Nigeria, Algeria, Qatar, Northwest Australia, Trinidad and other places. Since then, however, a seismic shift has occurred in the US natural gas industry. Thanks to technological advances such as horizontal drilling, as well as increased use of hydraulic fracturing, American pro- ducers have tapped vast reserves trapped in previously inacces- sible shale or other tight gas formations. The demand in the US for imports has fallen sharply and the repercussions have been felt not only in far off places like Nigeria and Qatar, but here in Canada where producers have a problem that might be summed up as too much of a good thing. Canada is the fifth largest natural producer in the world and domestic companies can deliver far more gas than their residential, commercial and industrial customers can use. They are producing nearly 14 billion cubic feet (bcf) a day while Canadians consume only half that amount. For years, the balance has been shipped south via pipeline to the US. But given the emerging shift in continental market dynamics, Canadian producers have faced two choices—turn off their taps and wait for things to change, or look for newmarkets. They’ve chosen the latter. Southeast Asia has become the new frontier and Gelotti has come north to lead the Woodfibre LNG project, which is at the forefront of an anticipated boom in liquefied natural gas exports from BC. “I was approached by a representative of the sponsor,” recalls Gelotti. “I was set to retire at the end of November 2013, but didn’t want to retire altogether.

The industry is a very, very exciting place to be and I wanted to be part of this project. We plan to make it the first export project out of Western Canada.” Gelotti and his team, which includes Project Director Alex Brigden and Project Engineer Alex Taimuri, P.Eng. (Civil), are working feverishly to make that happen, but they have plenty of competition. The provincial government is committed to having three LNG export facilities operating by 2020, which would repre- sent $20 billion in new investment and would create 9,000 construc- tion jobs as well as 800 long-term positions. Currently, there are five projects, including Woodfibre LNG, under review by the BC Environmental Assessment Office and a number of others are in the pre-application stage with the BC Oil and Gas Commission. These projects are expected to require the services of professional engineers in many capacities. “We’re witnessing the emergence of a new resource-based industry in BC,” says Peter Mitchell, P.Eng., APEGBC’s Director of Professional Practice, Standards and Development. “This is the first opportunity for the engineering community in BC to be exposed to large-scale liquid natural gas processing plants. This will create many engineering opportunities, including ongoing maintenance and inspection of facilities, as well as ongoing utilization.” The Kitimat LNG project—a 50/50 joint venture between Chevron Canada and Apache Corporation—is one of the most advanced. In October 2011, the National Energy Board granted Kitimat the first federal export licence, which would allow the sponsors to ship 10 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas

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