Canadian Terminal Cools Down with Russian LNG
Canada’s lone LNG import terminal, the Repsol/Irving Oil Canaport facility on the east coast in Saint John, New Brunswick, took delivery July 31 of the first cargo of Russian LNG from the Yamal project to be delivered to Canada.
Given the much lower price for gas in Canada than in northwest Europe, an industry source told NGW August 2 that he expected the cargo was needed to keep the Canaport facilities cold, and the LNG would not be vaporised and delivered into the grid.
The 174,000 m3 GasLog Hong Kong LNG carrier, chartered by France’s Total, which has a 20% stake in Yamal, delivered the cargo, which had been loaded at the Dutch Gate terminal in Rotterdam, Netherlands on July 17. The transshipment included the direct transfer of the Yamal cargo from the 172,410 m3 ice-class tanker Boris Vilkitsky.
The Yamal LNG project is a three-train, 16.5mn metric tons/year (mt/yr) terminal on the Yamal peninsula in Siberia, operated by a joint venture of Russia’s Novatek, France’s Total, China National Petroleum Corporation and China’s Silk Road Fund. The first 5.5mn mt/yr train is currently operating, with the second and third due later this year and in 2019, respectively.