A proposed new natural gas processing plant 75 kilometres northwest of Fort St. John and 30 kilometres southwest of Wonowon, B.C. is now open to public comment under the BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO).
Pacific Canbriam, a private oil and gas company focused on B.C.’s Montney formation, operates the Altares processing plant, which has a processing capacity of 330 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.
The company is now planning to build a new natural gas processing plant in a region called Kobes.
Pacific Canbriam is the producer that will supply the Woodfibre LNG project in Squamish with natural gas. The company was formed in 2019, when Canbriam Energy Inc. was acquired by Pacific Oil & Gas Ltd. -- the company developing he Woodfibre LNG project in Squamish.
The proposed Kobes plant, 30 kilometres southwest of Wonowon, B.C., doesn’t meet the thresholds that would automatically trigger an environmental assessment.
But because the plant would produce more than 125,000 tonnes of greenhouse gasses per year, the EAO is required to seek public feedback on the project to determine whether an environmental assessment should nevertheless be required. The public comment period runs until October 10.
In a project notification filed with the BC EAO, Pacific Canbriam says the Kobes facility would be built in two phases, each of which would have a capacity to process 185 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd) of raw gas, or a total 370 MMscfd with the completion of phase two.
The plant would produce natural gas, condensate and other natural gas liquids.
The company notes that there is no grid connection, so the the facility would be designed to operate with power from natural gas fired turbines. However, it notes that “options for grid-connection are being evaluated.”
"Phase Two is currently contingent on line power," the company says in its project notification.
According to the company's plans, construction would start on the plant in 2027 and would be commissioned in 2028.
