Canada’s Haisla Finds Partners for Cedar LNG

Canada’s Haisla Nation says it has approved partnership agreements with Pacific Traverse Energy (PTE) and Delfin Midstream to pursue its 3mn-4mn mt/yr Cedar LNG project on its traditional territory in Kitimat, on BC’s northern coast.

The partnerships were agreed October 30 and announced on Haisla Nation’s social media channels on November 13.

PTE is a Vancouver-based energy infrastructure development company pursuing a 1.25mn mt/yr propane export facility on Haisla territory adjacent to the Cedar LNG project site, while Delfin Midstream, based in Houston, specialises in floating LNG technology and infrastructure.

Cedar LNG will be a floating natural gas liquefaction facility and is aiming to be the first majority indigenous-owned LNG export facility in Canada, with its majority stake owned by the Haisla Nation.

The project, which already has a 25-year export licence from the National Energy Board (now the Canada Energy Regulatory), is advancing through the joint provincial-federal environmental review process, under the direction of the BC Environmental Assessment Office. It may apply to extend the export licence to 40 years.

Crystal Smith, chief councillor of the Haisla Nation Council, said the nation’s experience with and benefits from the LNG Canada project now under construction in Kitimat drove the Haisla Nation to pursue its own LNG project.

“A benefit from our LNG Canada project agreement means that the Haisla Nation can exercise an option for capacity on the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which feeds the LNG Canada project,” she said. “Our economic development department [has] worked hard to secure that capacity to maximise benefits for the Haisla territory.”

Pursuing its own LNG project also means Haisla Nation can bring its own values to development of Cedar LNG, including minimising its impacts on the environment. The facility’s liquefaction trains will be driven by electricity and will use air cooling technology, Smith said.

Zachary Steele, CEO of PTE, welcomed the opportunity to work with Haisla Nation on the Cedar LNG project.

“We are honored and humbled to partner with Haisla Nation on this historic project,” he said. “We are excited, through our partnership, to progress the Cedar LNG Project which will create positive generational impacts for the Haisla Nation and the region as a whole.”