TC Energy Corp. has finished building the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline after five years of construction, marking the completion of the first system in Canada that will deliver feed gas to an export plant.
CGL hosted a final assembly event for the 402-mile pipeline near where it will link up with the LNG Canada terminal destination in Kitimat, about 392 miles north of Vancouver on the Pacific coast.
The Golden Weld event as it was called brings “mechanical completion” to a close for CGL, the company said. All 402 miles “of pipe has been welded, coated, lowered into the trench, rigorously tested and backfilled.”
TC finished installing jumbo pipe with the ability to deliver up to 5 Bcf/d to Kitimat, or more than double LNG Canada’s first phase export capacity of 1.8 Bcf/d, which is expected to come online by 2025. A second Kitimat project, the native Haisla Nation-led Cedar LNG project, also has environmental and commercial approval to use CGL deliveries.
Work continues on construction site cleanups, reclamation, and erosion and sediment control, which will be followed by technical completion, and operational commissioning to start gas flows by 2025.
CGL costs jumped to nearly $11 billion, or more than double the first forecast of about $4.6 billion. The Covid-19 pandemic, protests and hard northern weather disrupted construction and added to the price tag.
By coincidence as the bulk of work finished, defendants Logan Staats and Hannah Hall pleaded guilty to contempt of court charges as trials began for native project foes.
Other defendants accused the Royal Canadian Mounted Police of violating their rights. Protests by declared warriors for ceremonial “traditional chiefs” staged railway blockades, torch throwing rallies and wreckage of contractor equipment during construction.
Despite the protests, the northern British Columbia native majority supported the project. TC Energy secured participation deals with elected councils of all 20 tribes on the route and agreed to sell a 10% stake in the system to 17 of them.
Canada’s first LNG pipeline is a potent economic driver, according to CGL. Benefits include 27,500 jobs, $248 million in taxes and $3 billion in BC supply and contractor orders. Counting gas development the CGL-LNG Canada combination is forecast to be worth more than $30 billion.
