Bear Head LNG files for DOE export license

Bear Head LNG files for DOE export license

HOUSTON -- Bear Head LNG Corporation and Bear Head LNG (USA), both indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries of Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (LNGL), have filed an application with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for authorization to export natural gas to Canada for a 25-year period.

Under the DOE application, both the subsidiaries are seeking long-term, multi-contract authorization to export up to 503 Bcf per year, or 1.4 Bcfd, by pipeline to Canada. This is the first of the various applications that both the subsidiaries anticipate filing with DOE to enable the export of LNG from the project to free trade agreement and non-free trade agreement nations.

Once constructed, the Bear Head LNG project will be capable of receiving, processing and liquefying natural gas, storing LNG, and loading LNG onto ocean-going vessels for delivery to export markets. The project will require LNG export authorization from Canada's National Energy Board (NEB). Bear Head LNG filed an export license application with NEB on Nov. 6, 2014.

Ian Salmon, Bear Head LNG’s CFO and CCO, said that the export facility's development schedule aligns with the projected ramp-up of natural gas production from U.S. supply basins, including the Appalachia basin. Bear Head LNG may also access supplies of natural gas from Eastern Canada. "We have a comprehensive and robust plan for gaining access to natural gas supply," said Salmon.

The Bear Head LNG project, which will have an initial production capacity of 8 mtpa, will be developed on a world-class site that was partially developed and then maintained in hotidle status.

The Bear Head LNG site is located on the Strait of Canso in Point Tupper, Richmond County, Nova Scotia, which is about half the shipping distance to major European markets compared to U.S. Gulf Coast ports. The location puts the Bear Head LNG project closer than its North American competitors, including those in British Columbia, to burgeoning natural gas markets in India.

The project is being developed on a 255 acre site comprising industrial-zoned land (180 acres) and deep-water acreage (75 acres). LNGL purchased 100% of the stock and assets of Bear Head LNG from a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum for $11 million. More than $100 million were invested prior to LNGL’s acquisition of Bear Head earlier this year, to design, complete engineering work, and develop the Bear Head LNG project in the early to middle of 2000s.