Irving to build $750-million Liquefied Natural Gas Terminal in Saint John

Irving Oil of New Brunswick has received environmental approval to build the first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal on Canada’s East Coast. Several LNG terminals are being proposed for the area.<br>
Three tanks of 160,000 cubic metres will be built at the Irving Canaport, 10 kilometres east of Saint John off the Atlantic ocean. The plant, which will revert liquefied gas to its natural state for transportation via pipelines, is expected to output 14 million cubic metres a day. The deep water Irving Canaport is ice-free all year and only 65 miles from the energy-hungry U.S. <br>
In announcing the project in August, Kenneth Irving said: “My grandfather had the foresight to build our refinery at this location in the late 1950s when others could not see the potential in Saint John’s deep water, proximity to the Northeastern U.S., and the capability of its people. Today our refinery is recognized as being among North America’s best. In 1970, my father completed building North America’s first deepwater terminal before the industry appreciated the potential in evolving ship sizes. Today we have one of the most modern and well-maintained deepwater facilities, which is integrated with our world-scale refinery.”<br>
A large Spanish oil company, Repsol, will develop the terminal with Irving. The Madrid-based company already ships LNG in tankers to the U.S. from Trinidad and Tobago. It also plans to build an LNG terminal in Mexico to pipe gas imported from Bolivia. <br>
Irving has local firms working on the design for the LNG terminal already but won’t identify the firms until it has completed negotiations in about two months’ time with international companies to do engineering-procurement-construction. The project will cost $750 million. Plans are for it to be operational by 2007.<br>
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