We read yet another online complaint about how slowly Canada works on approval of major LNG projects, and wondered how bad (or good) we really are.
So let’s see:
Pacific NorthWest LNG filed its formal Project Description with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) in February 2013.
The CEAA then posted it publicly on its website on 19 February 2013. That action kicked off a government-and-public review process that, we were told at the time, could take two years.
So where are we now (as of 26 April 2016)?
- 3 years, 2 months, 12 days later (1,167 days), and there is still no decision.
In contrast, look at Cheniere Energy Inc.’s experience with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Cheniere filed the Project Description for its Sabine Pass LNG project in Louisiana on 31 January 2011 and formal evaluation began.
The project received on 16 April 2012 the FERC order granting authorization to begin construction.
- Elapsed time: 1 year, two months, 17 days (442 days).
Its first export cargo left by tanker for Brazil on 24 February this year. Six more have left since then.
