Feb 12 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell's LNG Canada
export project in British Columbia has won approval from health
officials for construction to ramp back up with improved
coronavirus protection measures.
Work at the site was curtailed last month by an order from
the Provincial Health Officer which applied to five major
industrial projects in British Columbia, including LNG Canada.
"Our approved restart and measured workforce increase at the
project site will continue over the coming months," LNG Canada
and JGC I Fluor, the engineering joint venture building the
project, said in a statement on Thursday.
LNG Canada said the coronavirus restart plan includes
additional coronavirus testing for workers.
All non-local workers will continue to be forbidden from
leaving the site except for medical emergency or "critical"
appointments that cannot be held virtually or postponed, it
added.
LNG Canada is the only big LNG export plant under
construction in Canada.
It is set to cost about C$40 billion ($31.4 billion), and is
designed to produce about 14 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of
LNG or 1.8 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas.
Before coronavirus delayed the project, it was expected to
start producing LNG in 2024. Many analysts however now say they
expect the project to enter service in the second half of 2025.
Officials at LNG Canada were not immediately available to
discuss the cost or timing of the project.
LNG Canada is a joint venture between units of Shell,
Malaysia's Petronas, PetroChina Co Ltd, Mitsubishi
Corp and Korea Gas Corp, according to the
company's website.
JGC I Fluor is a joint venture between JGC Holdings Corp
and Fluor Corp.
($1 = 1.2733 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Jan Harvey)
