Enbridge cancels plans for natural gas pipeline in northern B.C.

financialpost.com:

Enbridge Inc. has cancelled plans to build a natural gas pipeline project in northern British Columbia that was once touted as a key supply route for liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals near Prince Rupert.

The Canadian pipeline giant on Tuesday said it is no longer developing its Westcoast Connector Gas Transmission (WCGT) project after allowing its environmental certificate to expire on Nov. 25.

“This was a business decision based on an assessment of the project’s viability,” a spokesperson for the company said in an email. “We appreciate all those communities and Indigenous groups who supported this project and look forward to maintaining those relationships and working together on other opportunities in B.C.”

WCGT was envisioned to carry 4.2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas more than 850 kilometres on two pipelines from northeastern B.C. to the Prince Rupert area, initially to feed Shell PLC‘s proposed Prince Rupert LNG export facility.

Shell scrapped that project in 2017, but WCGT was revived and in contention to supply another proposed export terminal in northern B.C., Ksi Lisims LNG, Canada’s second-largest proposed terminal after LNG Canada.

But the fate of WCGT may have been sealed in March when the partners behind Ksi Lisims announced an agreement to purchase TC Energy Corp.‘s rival Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) project, which left Enbridge without an obvious LNG export facility to partner with.

At one point, five natural gas pipelines were proposed to traverse northern B.C., carrying gas from Western Canada to export facilities on the West Coast. Now, just two of those pipelines remain: TC Energy’s completed Coastal GasLink pipeline, which will supply the Shell-led LNG Canada facility