TransCanada has been selected by Shell Canada and its partners to develop a $4 billion natural gas pipeline to Kitimat for the LNG Canada project.
The pipeline, called the Coastal Gaslink project, will run from near Dawson Creek and transport gas produced in the Montney, Horn River and Cordova basins.
“Our team has the expertise to design, build and safely operate pipeline systems,” said TransCanada president Russ Girling in a statement. “We look forward to having open and meaningful discussions with Aboriginal communities and key stakeholder groups, including local residents, elected officials and the Government of British Columbia, where we will listen to feedback, build on the positive and seek to address any potential concerns.”
TransCanada has approximately 24,000 km of pipelines in western Canada, which includes 240 km in Northeast B.C.
The company said that they estimate between 2,000 and 2,500 jobs for construction over a three year period.
The initial capacity will be above 1.7 billion cubic feet of gas a day.
The in-service date is currently expected by the end of the decade with construction starting in 2015, based on the company receiving all their approvals by early 2014.
Haisla Chief Councillor Ellis Ross said that while no official referral relating to the project has come to the Haisla from the Crown yet, TransCanada has had an open line of communication with them.
The Haisla do have questions relating to the project that they look forward to having addressed as the process proceeds.
“The pipeline route is going to be a big deal for us. There’s a lot of different issues and questions we have to answer,” said Ross, notably relating to environmental issues, particularly as the scale of the project is so large.
Following the TransCanada announcement, the company has committed to being available to local governments and the company will be meeting with the District of Kitimat in the near future.