A proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) project that will be sited in Nova Scotia and is sponsored by Access Northeast Energy Inc. is garnering favorable support from communities located in proximity to the project, a top official with the Nova Scotia energy ministry said on Thursday.

Access Northeast Energy is a private, Canadian energy infrastructure company focused on development of LNG and related facilities in North America. The company is proposing to develop and operate an LNG terminal at Bear Head near Point Tupper, Nova Scotia, in Canada to meet the growing demands for natural gas.

“It’s an excellent site,” said Dan McFadyen, deputy minister of energy for Nova Scotia, in a briefing on natural gas options in North America, which took place at the Canadian embassy in Washington, DC.

He said that the project “is in an industrial area. It’s a deepwater port…There’s already an oil transshipment terminal there, so they’re used to this kind of activity in the area. So we think there’s good, strong community support for the project in our area, which isn’t always the case in other areas.”

TransCanada Corp. and ConocoPhillips said on Wednesday they were suspending further work on their planned Fairwinds LNG project in Harpswell, ME, after the town residents earlier in the week voted not to lease the former U.S. Navy Fuel Depot site to build the terminal and regasification facilities (see Daily GPI, March 11).

According to McFadyen, the land for the Bear Head project “was originally Crown land and the company has been given an option on it by the government.” He said that Access Northeast Energy “has an option to lease on that land now if the project goes ahead, so there’s no issue with respect to land access for the site.”

The Bear Head LNG terminal development would include marine off loading, LNG storage and re-gasification facilities to deliver gas into the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline, which services eastern Canada and the Northeast U.S. gas markets.

Pending receipt of appropriate permits, the proposed Bear Head LNG terminal would be in commercial operation with a send-out capacity of 1 Bcf/d by November 2007.

Point Tupper is the location of the Sable Offshore Energy fractionation plant, and a proposal was made recently by Nova Scotia Power for a marine terminal at its generating station at Point Tupper to offload coal.

A lateral connecting Maritimes & Northeast with Point Tupper was completed in 2001.

For more information on the project, go to: https://www.ane-inc.com/bearhead/index.htm.

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