TC Energy is working to clean up its operations along its Coastal GasLink pipeline sending liquified natural gas out to Kitimat, but Phase 2 of the project could see another compressor station built near Bear Lake if approved.
At the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George’s Thursday, July 18 board of directors’ meeting, Tamara Trevelyan, Heather Desarmia and Carolyn Clifton from TC Anergy gave a progress update on the pipeline and its potential future expansion.
Coastal GasLink stretches about 670 kilometres from roughly the halfway point between Chetwynd and Dawson Creek, northeast of Prince George, to near Kitimat.
It currently has capacity to ship 2.1 billion cubic feet of LNG per day, with future expansions potentially raising the total to five billion cubic feet.
In August 2024, the pipeline became fully operational, sending natural gas to the LNG Canada facility near Kitimat. That facility loaded its first shipment onto a vessel in late June.
In the last year, Trevelyan said, operations in Fraser-Fort George has focused around final cleanup and reclamation work with around 500 workers based out of a workforce accommodation site called Parsnip Lodge, located near the Parsnip River northeast of Bear Lake.
“Once that work was completed, both the prime contractor and our workforce accommodations were demobilized from the area,” she said.
“Machine cleanup took place along our right-of-way as well as cleanup of our temporary workspace and our ancillary sites. We decommissioned our access roads that our project personnel used throughout the constriction of the projection, as well as activities focused on restoring the land as close to its original state as possible.”
Along the length of the pipeline, workers also have been conducting monthly checks on each valve, responding to BC One calls and installing signage.
As gas flows through the pipeline, friction slows it and drops the pressure. To compensate for that, compressor stations are needed to repressurize the pipeline along the route.
To deliver more gas out west to support the potential Indigenous-owned Cedar LNG project, also near Kitimat, a compressor station will be built in the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George near Mt. Bracey around 198 kilometres northeast of Prince George.
“That compressor station will power the transportation of an additional 0.4 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas to the Cedar project,” Trevelyan said. “The compressor station requires a footprint of approximately 19 hectares of Crown land … and it will consist of three 31,000 kilowatt natural gas-fired turbo compressor units.”
Mobilization and early work for this station started last July, preparation started this May and construction started in June. It’s expected to go into service in 2028.
A potential Phase 2 of Coastal GasLink would see an increase in the pipeline’s capacity without building any additional line due to the addition of six more compressor stations.
One of those stations would be near Raccoon Lake, northwest of Prince George, and another would be at Clear Creek, just west of Vanderhoof.
“The current focus and development work to assess the full potential of phase two includes scope refinements, engineering, permitting requirements, financial analysis and engagement with both Indigenous and local communities,” Trevelyan said.
Director Art Kaehn (Woodpecker-Hixon) asked whether TC Energy has plans to engage with various fire departments along the line. Trevelyan said departments in Prince George and Kitimat are both updated regularly, but they are starting to engage more with others.
