Two Canadian energy companies are closer to developing export facilities for liquefied natural gas in the Pacific Northwest, driven by burgeoning demand for natural gas in Asia and vast North American natural-gas reserves. Other companies are also queuing up to export natural gas.
Last month, B.C.-based Kitimat LNG received a 20-year export license from Canada’s National Energy Board to develop a $5.7- billion LNG terminal and pipeline to ship natural gas to the Asia-Pacific region. A few weeks later, the U.S. Dept. of Energy awarded a 30-year license to Veresen’s Jordan Cove Energy Project to export natural gas from a proposed $3.5-billion LNG terminal in Coos Bay, Ore.