North American LNG market Booming, thanks to healthy demand in Asia

Two Canadian energy companies are closer to developing export facilities for liquefied natural gas in the Pacific Northwest, driven by burgeoning demand for natural gas in Asia and vast North American natural-gas reserves. Other companies are also queuing up to export natural gas. Last month, B.C.-based Kitimat LNG received a 20-year export license from Canada's National Energy Board to develop a $5.7- billion LNG terminal and pipeline to ship natural gas to the Asia-Pacific region. Further north, a front-end engineering and design study is under way for Kitimat's LNG facility, which would process 700 million cu ft of gas a day. The natural gas would be transported southward from the Horn River area along the existing Spectra pipelines system to Summit Lake, then make its way to the LNG facility along a proposed 463-kilometer, 36-in.-dia pipeline. Asian demand is driving these proposals and helped Kitimat LNG win its export license.