Tag: Shell

Shell confirms purchase of Methanex site, marine terminal, in Kitimat for LNG project

Energy

600-methanexsite.jpgThe former Methanex site is seen the red square in this map of the Kitimat service centre prepared by Enbridge as part of its Northern Gateway  pipeline proposal and filed with the Joint Review panel. The yellow line is the proposed Enbridge bitumen pipeline. The dark red line  is the proposed pipeline that would feed the Kitimat LNG and likely the BC LNG projects, where the red pipeline route has white, that is the Pacific Trails Pipeline.  See How Kitimat harbour will look if both Northern Gateway and KM LNG go ahead.

Updated Oct. 20, 2011, 0955

Kitimat mayor Joanne Monaghan has confirmed that Royal Dutch Shell has purchased the former Methanex site in  town, “as a first step toward a proposed Liquified Natural Gas facility in Kitimat.”

Monaghan said she met with Shell executives on  Wednesday afternoon, when the long rumoured purchase of the Methanex site was confirmed.

Thursday morning, Shell spokesman Stephen Doolan  said that the company and its partners
also acquired the Kitimat Marine Terminal. Shell’s partners include Korea Gas Corp, Mitsubishi Corp and China National Petroleum Corp, Doolan said.

Both sites were owned by Cenovus Energy which purchased them in 2010  from Methanex  for a reported $40 million.

Monaghan also said that the Shell officials said the company will not be making an announcement of the details of their plans for another few weeks.

If the Shell project goes ahead, it will be the third liquified natural gas project in Kitimat.
The others are KM LNG partners’  (Apache, Encana and EOG) Kitimat LNG plant at Bish Cove and the smaller project from BC LNG.

The Methanex plant on the Kitimat river  permanently ceased methanol production November 1, 2005.  Methanex currently uses the Cenovus terminal in Kitimat to import
methanol to supply customers in western Canada. Cenovus uses the terminal and site to process condensate, used to dilute bitumen, that arrives by ocean tanker and then is shipped by rail to Alberta.

The future of condensate operation has been in doubt since the announcement of  the Enbridge  Northern Gateway project, since it was expected that the Cenovus condensate  operation would have been absorbed into the Enbridge operation. 

If the Methanex/Cenovus site is converted to a full LNG facility, current operations will have to be decommissioned first, Monaghan said.

Multiple sources in Kitimat have been saying for the past month that Shell had purchased the Methanex site, but official conformation only came from the mayor late Wednesday.

Niger delta oil spills clean-up will take 30 years, says UN: Guardian

Energy Environment

The Guardian

Niger delta oil spills clean-up will take 30 years, says UN

The Guardian has obtained a copy of a special United Nations report on oil spills in the Niger River delta.

Devastating oil spills in the Niger delta over the past five decades will cost $1 billion to rectify and take up to 30 years to clean up, according to a UN report.

The UN Environment Programme (Unep) has announced that Shell and other oil firms systematically contaminated a 1,000 square kilometre (386 sq mile) area of Ogoniland, in the Niger delta, with disastrous consequences for human health and wildlife.

Nigerians had “paid a high price” for the economic growth brought by the oil industry, said Unep’s executive director.

Oil and gas spills in North Sea every week, papers reveal: Guardian

The Guardian


Serious spills of oil and gas from North Sea platforms are occurring at the rate of one a week, undermining oil companies’ claims to be doing everything possible to improve the safety of rigs.

Jake Molloy, general secretary of the Offshore Industry Liaison Committee (OILC), a union representing North Sea workers, said Deepwater Horizon showed that “even the most up-to-date, cutting-edge safety technology can go wrong if it is not maintained properly and not operated by competent people….

Other major oil companies which are high in the spills league include the Danish conglomerate Maersk and Canadian firm Talisman, which both have a rig with five leaks. Four spills came from a rig known as Mungo Etap, which is owned by BP.

Sacred Headwaters book slated for October release

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Last summer, members of the International League of Conservation Photographers visited the northwest of British Columbia in what they call a RAVE (Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition).

One RAVE involved photographing areas which ILCP members feel may be threatened by the construction of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline and the increased  number of supertankers plying the west coast of British Columbia. That RAVE shot mainly along the coast and in the Great Bear Rainforest.

At the same time the ILCP conducted a second RAVE along the Skeena, Nass and Stikine Rivers. 

Today, National Geographic announced that a book on the Sacred Headwaters would be released in October.

National Geographic says:

Now, against the wishes of all First Nations, the British Columbia government has opened the Sacred Headwaters to industrial development. Imperial Metals proposes an open-pit copper and gold mine, called the Red Chris mine, and Royal Dutch Shell wants to extract coal bed methane gas across a tenure of close to a million acres

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National Geographic says the Sacred Headwaters RAVE was launched with partner Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition (SWCC) to produce images of the Sacred Headwaters of (the birthplace of 3 of British Columbia’s greatest salmon rivers – the Stikine, Skeena, and Nass). The text is written by author and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis.

National Geographic is quite open about why it is publishing the book:

The book will be used as a tool by iLCP, SWCC, other local conservation groups and Wade Davis to derail proposed mining projects that would destroy the Sacred Headwaters. The book will be published in October 2011 right before the moratorium on mining in the Sacred Headwaters is lifted.

Information on the ILCP Great Bear Rave can be found here.

The 14-day expedition to the Great Bear Rainforest called upon 7 world-renowned photographers and 3 videographers to thoroughly document the region’s landscapes, wildlife, and culture. The RAVE provided media support to the First Nations and environmental groups seeking to stop the proposed Enbridge Gateway pipeline project (and thus expansion of the tar sands) and to expose the plan to lift the oil tanker ship moratorium

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While the Great Bear RAVE did produce some stunning photographs, the photographers stayed along the coast and (at least for now) did not venture up Douglas Channel where the tankers will have to navigate the tricky waters to the port of Kitimat.

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Shell says it’s looking at B.C. Coast for new LNG terminal: Vancouver Sun

Vancouver Sun


Shell says it’s looking at B.C. Coast for new LNG terminal

Shell Canada says it is investigating the potential for a new liquid natural gas terminal to be located on the B.C. coast.

Shell “is interested in, and currently exploring LNG opportunities along the B.C. coast,” Stephen Doolan, of Shell’s media relations department said in an email to The Sun.
“We are early in the evaluation process so do not have specific details but are pursuing opportunities,” he said. “Natural gas is a key area of growth for Shell. In terms of LNG, we will continue to invest in our global leadership position as demand continues to grow

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