The Bear Head LNG companies have filed at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for authorization to export U.S. natural gas to Canada and to export the liquefied gas from Canada to global markets.

Bear Head LNG Corp. and Bear Head LNG (USA) LLC want to export 440 Bcf per year (1.2 Bcf/d) of natural gas from the United States to Canada via pipeline. They also want to export 8 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a planned terminal in Nova Scotia to free trade agreement (FTA) and non-FTA countries, they said in their filing at DOE [15-33-LNG].

The authorizations sought are multi-contract for a duration of 25 years. Bear Head said it expects to begin LNG exports in 2019.

In a previous filing, which is a companion to the most recent, Bear Head asked DOE for authorization to import Canadian gas to the United States and then re-export it to Canada for liquefaction at the Nova Scotia terminal (see Daily GPI, Feb. 3). Such authorization would give the LNG terminal access to gas from Western Canada.

The latest DOE application for export of U.S. gas to Canada replaces one filed last December (see Daily GPI, Dec. 10, 2014).

Last year Bear Head, a project of Perth, Australia-based Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd., was doubled in size to 8 mtpa. The capacity doubling was disclosed in a filing for permit modifications made with regulators Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board and Nova Scotia Environment (see Daily GPI, Nov. 3, 2014).

Bear Head said it believes the U.S. and Canadian governments have a vested interest in advancing such projects in “a streamlined regulatory framework.” Bear Head COO John Godbold said, “Our goal has been, and continues to be, to achieve a solution that bridges the North American Free Trade Agreement, U.S. Natural Gas Act, and U.S. [National] Environmental Policy Act.”