Bear Head LNG Corp. has announced project participation and benefits agreements with Nova Scotia native and labor groups for its proposed natural gas export terminal on Canada’s Atlantic coast.

In a joint statement, the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs, Nova Scotia Construction Labor Relations Association and Cape Breton Unions described the deals for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal as industry, native rights and job stability milestones.

Bear Head, a subsidiary of Australia-based Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd., which also owns Magnolia LNG in Louisiana, set no construction date for the estimated C$5 billion ($3.8-billion) Nova Scotia project.

The Australian firm bought the Canadian project from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in 2014 for US$11 million and has held a National Energy Board (NEB) export license for 1.6 Bcf/d since 2016. A review of Bear Head’s proposed terminal in the Strait of Canso in Point Tupper, Richmond County was completed in 2017 by Transport Canada.

However, gas production offshore of Nova Scotia, which figured in the original Bear Head plan, ceased at the end of 2018, and provincial bans against hydraulic fracturing by the Nova Scotia, Quebec and New Brunswick governments prevent development of nearby onshore supplies.

Like another Nova Scotia export project that also has stopped short of issuing a final investment decision, Pieridae Energy’s Goldboro LNG has told its shareholders that much of its gas supply must flow more than 3,000 miles east from Alberta and British Columbia.

In 2016, Bear Head had proposed building a 1,600-kilometer (1,000-mile) pipeline to carry Western Canadian gas to the east coast for LNG exports.

Work continues on securing producer support and pipeline expansions for the Atlantic LNG export proposal, according to Bear Head investor presentations.