FortisBC began expansion work of its Tilbury Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility in October 2014. The expansion project will ensure the facility meets the LNG needs of the transportation sector, industries,remote communities and marketplace in British Columbia and other regional markets. The expansion is designed to produce 0.25 million tonnes (Mt) of natural gas annually.
It is scheduled to commence production in the third quarter of 2016. It is estimated to provide $4m in a year to the government through taxes and will also bring job creation and economic benefits to the community of Delta in British Columbia. It will also help the BC region to achieve energy objectives defined under the Clean Energy Act.
Tilbury LNG project history Saint John Refinery Located in Saint John city of New Brunswick province, it is Canada’s biggest oil refinery with a capacity to produce around 300,000 barrels of refined products per day. Tilbury Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility was constructed in 1971 and began supply of LNG for remote communities in 1997, it also began supplying natural gas for the transportation sector in 2009. It currently supplies natural gas to local and remote communities such as Inuvik and Whitehorse in the US and also ships LNG to Vancouver Island for use in the transportation industry.
Expansion for the facility was approved in November 2013 and is expected to be completed at a cost of about $400m.
Expansion of Tilbury LNG facility
The expansion will add a new one billion cubic feet full-containment storage tank and a new liquefier to the existing LNG facility. The tank will offer 46,000m³ of LNG storage, while the liquefier will increase the liquefaction capacity to 1,740m³ a day.
The expanded liquefaction plant will be powered by electric drives and the LNG facility will be equipped with air conditioning system to eliminate the need for cooling water. Processing and transportation of LNG at Tilbury plant “The existing facility has storage capacity of 17 million cubic metres.”
Conversion of natural gas into LNG includes a process of reducing the volume by about 600 times. The LNG is cooled to a low temperature of -162°C to convert it into liquid form. LNG from the Tilbury facility is transported using ISO-containers, tank trucks and mobile refuellers.
The ISO containers are reinforced for safety and vacuum-insulated between the inner and outer shell. The existing facility has storage capacity of 17 million cubic metres and can liquefy 120,000m³ of natural gas per day. It supplies LNG to a number of transportation customers that include Vedder Transport, Arrow Transportation Systems, and Denwill Enterprises.
LNG is used for supplementing Lower Mainland gas supply during periods of peak demand. Construction of Tilbury LNG plant Construction on the LNG facility expansion began in October 2014 and is expected to take more than two years to complete. LNG supply to transportation customers is expected to begin by November 2016.
Around 150 skilled workers are being employed in the construction. Contractors involved
Bechtel was awarded the engineering, project management, and construction (EPC) contract for the construction of the Tilbury Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility, in July 2014. The contractual scope also includes the start-up and commissioning of the new liquefaction facility. Chart Energy & Chemicals was awarded a $40m contract by Bechtel to offer its proprietary IPSMR® liquefaction technology and C450IMR LNG standard liquefaction plant equipment for the LNG expansion project, in July 2014.
