If the burst of shale gas supplies in British Columbia (BC) turns into a source of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the Far East, the $300-400 million Kitimat export facility being conceived by engineering consultants is likely to be a moveable feast.

The proposed Kitimat export project on the BC coast will not be built at the ice-free port in the Douglas Channel near the village of Kitimat, but instead engineering contractor Black & Veatch (B&V) said Wednesday it would be constructed in a warm water location — maybe the Gulf of Mexico — on a barge and later moved into place via transport through the Panama Canal. B&V Vice President and Senior Project Manager Alan Kamp told NGI Wednesday that his firm is looking at designing several barge-mounted LNG facilities at various locations around the world.

B&V made the disclosure in outlining its work developing front-end engineering design for the Kitimat project backers — Apache Corp., EOG Resources Inc. and Encana Corp. According to a B&V spokesperson, this is an unusual way to approach the development of a liquefaction facility. The engineering work is preliminary to several major financial and regulatory steps that still have to be completed for the proposed LNG export venture.

B&V Managing Director Tom Tatham said building the liquefaction facilities on a “standard Panamax barge” will minimize the physical and environmental impact on the project site, a rugged mountainous area with sheer cliffs meeting the sea. B&V said it plans to incorporate its patented process, “PRICO,” for liquefying the BC shale gas supplies that will be piped to the site near Kitimat through the Pacific Trails Pipeline, a proposed 36-inch diameter line (see Daily GPI, March 21).

B&V said front-end design work will be completed in January. Kitimat export partners have talked about starting construction some time later in 2012 with exports beginning three years later.

The early engineering work will provide what the Kansas-based construction company called “a definitive estimate” to be used in the final lump sum turnkey contract between the parties for engineering, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning of the facility. B&V CEO Dean Oskvig reiterated how “extremely competitive” it is to build a global LNG export facility.

It is anticipated that it will take about 30 days for the facility to fill an LNG ocean tanker and 25 days for the round trip between BC and China, a B&V spokesperson said.

“While locating the LNG export facility in Douglas Channel provides transportation efficiencies, the weather and other factors do not make it ideal for construction activities. To overcome this challenge, the LNG facilities will be built on a barge in a more favorable environment.”

Eventually the facility is to be taken to the site via the barge and be affixed in place in a shelf that would be cut in the side of a mountain, Kamp said. It will remain on the floating device, however, and could be moved to another location if needed in later years, he said.

“We are going to cut a shelf in the side of the hillside and at high tide float it in and then fill it with water and ground it,” Kamp said. “If you take the water back out, it could float again and be relocated.” LNG carriers then would dock adjacent to the liquefaction facility, which will pipe LNG onto the ships.

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