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www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 62 No. 06
Shell delays final decision on LNG project
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
$
By Todd Hamilton Kitimat Northern Sentinel Royal Dutch Shell is delaying its final investment decision (FID) from the anticipated April 2016 timeline to December on the proposed LNG Canada terminal in Kitimat. In its 2015 fourth-quarter report, Royal Dutch Shell, a 50 per cent stakeholder in the “This is not project, stated that a final decision will inconsistent investment now be made in late with the 2016, however, LNG said the news information Canada is not startling and very LNG Canada much in keeping with has shared their timeline. “Shell’s quarterly with the results [Thursday] community.” included information that the LNG Canada project FID decision will occur right at the end of this year. This is not inconsistent with information LNG Canada has shared with the community,” Kirsten Walker, LNG Canada spokesperson, said in a prepared statement. “We have always stated that our joint venture participants plan to make a final investment decision in 2016. We are pleased, given the current oil and LNG prices, and turmoil in global energy markets that the joint venture participants in LNG Canada are still working toward a final investment decision for the proposed facility late this year.” Continued on Page 2
Kitimat, the town the Portugal built
Page 8 Marlins are the champs at Northwest Regionals Page 12 PM477761
Members of the Haisla Sr. Ladies — representing Kitamaat — enter the opening ceremonies at the 57th Annual All Native Basketball Tournament in Prince Rupert on Sunday. The Haisla team earned a first-round bye and tipped off in their first game on Monday night. Shannon Lough photo
Feds silent over $100 million duty By Jackie Lieuwen Special to the Kitimat Northern Sentinel Nathan Cullen doesn’t understand why federal customs authorities want to place a $100 million duty on a floating platform which would contain a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant planned for the Kitimat area. The NDP MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley said attempts to find answers have, so far, met with silence. The floating platform which would be moored offshore in the Douglas Channel is part of the planned Douglas Channel LNG being promoted by Calgary energy company AltaGas and partners. At an estimated $600 million, the project is one of the smallest LNG projects being proposed but also one of the more advanced because it would take natural gas from the existing Pacific North-
ern Gas pipeline already servicing northwestern B.C. But federal customs officials last year ruled the floating platform is a ship and slapped on the $100 million duty using regulations designed to encourage domestic ship building. In this circumstance the platform would be built at an Asian site and towed across the Pacific. AltaGas has appealed the ruling, saying the platform does not have the characteristics of a navigable vessel and have been waiting for the results of the appeal since late last fall. In a letter sent in December to federal public safety minister Ralph Goodale, Cullen noted that the duty would add to the cost of the project. “This represents a tremendous barrier for this small-scale but important project, which has strong support from local com-
munities and First Nations,” wrote Cullen to Goodale, who is responsible for the Canadian Border Service Agency. Cullen now says he’ll redouble efforts to find out what is happening. “It would seem there is a relatively easy fix,” said Cullen this week in emphasizing that importing the planned floating platform for Douglas Channel LNG would not contravene the reasoning behind the customs duty provision which is to protect Canadian shipbuilders. “There’s some urgency. Here we have a project which has a lot of [local] support. You’d think the government would be in support at a time when there isn’t a lot of economic activity,” said Cullen. Last fall when AltaGas officials announced they were appealing the duty decision, they said it would also affect several other LNG projects planning to use floating platforms.