Stolt LNGaz project receives approval from provincial government in Canada

The Quebec Government has approved the Stolt LNGaz project which includes plans to develop a natural gas liquefaction plant in Bécancour, Canada and is valued at C$800m ($600m).

The project, which is a joint venture between Stolt-Nielsen Gas, SunLNG and LNGaz, is expected to ensure production of 500,000t of LNG for the Canadian province.

The produced LNG is likely to be distributed through tankers among those businesses in Quebec which are not connected to the local gas distribution network.

Stolt LNGaz CEO Rodney Semotiuk said: "With the Bécancour project, Quebec will become the global model for the production and distribution of LNG on a regional scale."

The facility is expected to be commissioned in 2018, and is also supported by partnership deals signed with Groupe Somavrac’ subsidiary Servitank, and Groupe Desgagnes’ subsidiary Petro-Nav.

Groupe Desgagnés CEO and president Louis-Marie Beaulieu said: "We are pleased to announce this partnership between our subsidiary Petro-Nav and Stolt-Nielsen, which will see us become the co-owners and operators of the tanker ships that will serve Stolt LNGaz customers on the North Shore and possibly even customers on other Canadian coasts."

Groupe Somavrac president Marc Paquin said: "Servitank is a natural partner for the safe transportation of LNG by road tankers from Stolt’s regional terminals to its clients’ facilities."

The project is also the first LNG liquefaction and distribution project in the Canadian province which has carried out an in-depth impact study and is ‘ongoing consultations with the citizens and leaders of the Bécancour region, and to have received an overall favourable report from the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) of Quebec.’