Pembina pushes Jordan Cove LNG production start to 2025

Canadian energy infrastructure company Pembina has pushed back its Jordan Cove LNG project’s expected start-up date to 2025. 

Pembina noted that the regulatory processes for the Jordan Cove facility in Coos County, Oregon, are progressing.

The projects has been issued a draft environmental impact statement by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) at the end of March, which provides a constructive framework for the approval of Jordan Cove essentially as proposed, with reasonable conditions that work with the project development process and with only minor suggested changes.

The company noted it expects to receive FERC’s final decision by January 2020.

Oregon State permit approvals including those under the Coastal Zone Management Act and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality 401 are also progressing with decisions on both approvals expected by the end of 2019. Each of the permits are a critical component of the regulatory process and enable the commercial viability and critical investment in Oregon to move forward, Pembina said.

Pembina continues to see Jordan Cove as a viable project, however, the company has decided to limit pre-FID capital investment on non-permitting related activities. Pembina has approved incremental funding of approximately $50 million for 2019 in support of the remaining critical regulatory and permitting work streams.

The company will conclude Federal and Oregon regulatory processes allowing it to catch up with certain other project work streams.

“Given the anticipated regulatory timeline, we expect these activities to resume in early 2020, subject to receipt of the requisite FERC and State of Oregon approvals,” the statement reads.

Suspending non-permitting related activities will affect the construction schedule of the project and first gas is expected to be delayed up to one year from the previously anticipated date in 2024.

Commercialization efforts have continued and the company has executed non-binding off-take agreements with customers in excess of the planned design capacity of 7.5 mtpa.  Commercial discussions with prospective customers are continuing as regulatory permitting is progressed and under the new timeline, the company will work to conclude binding off-take agreements by early 2020.

Pembina previously disclosed that given the size of this project, the company intends to seek partners for both the pipeline and liquefaction facility thereby reducing its 100 percent ownership interest to a net ownership interest of between 40 and 60 percent with the intention to reduce the capital, operating and other project risks. This process to find partners is expected to commence upon securing binding off-take agreements, and under the new timeline is expected to occur in early 2020.