LNG Canada Contracts Already Near $1BN

LNG Canada said January 21 the value of contracts and subcontracts awarded since it took a final investment decision (FID) on its C$40bn project in Kitimat, BC is approaching C$1bn (US$752mn).

As of the end of December, the five-company consortium headed by Anglo-Dutch major Shell had awarded more than $937mn worth of contracts and subcontracts to First Nations enterprises and other businesses across Canada.

The total includes $175mn in contracts to local First Nations businesses, $155mn in contracts to local businesses – including First Nations businesses – in the District of Kitimat and $200mn to BC businesses outside the local area. And the contracts extend across Canada, with nearly $400mn in contracts and subcontracts approved for businesses outside BC.

“What these contracts and subcontracts represent is tremendous opportunity for individuals to find employment on the LNG Canada project through our contractors and subcontractors,” Susannah Pierce, LNG Canada’s director, external relations, said. “For First Nations communities, it is delivering on the opportunities we have committed to that will assist the Nations address issues of poverty, unemployment and skills development. For local communities, it is the opportunity for young people to find employment that allows them to remain living in the north.”

During October – the first month after FID was taken October 2 and the first month of construction on the project – 249 workers from the local Kitimat area, including First Nations, were employed by LNG Canada or one of its contractors.

By the end of construction on the project, which includes the first two trains of a liquefaction facility at Kitimat and the $6.1bn Coastal GasLink pipeline stretching 670 km from Dawson Creek to Kitimat, an estimated 10,000 Canadians will have been employed by LNG Canada, Coastal GasLink or their respective contractors.