From: Cliff Goudey Date: Thurs, May 18 2006 11:07 pm
Hi,

 If anyone is wondering about the significance of this news story, it is revealed in the last paragraph.

There is a limited supply of LNG that can be economically transported to the east coast.  There is a limited number of design/engineering firms capable of building an LNG terminal.  There is a limited amount of capital prepared to back such projects.  There is a limited volume of gas the northeast can absorb before prices drop to uneconomical levels.  There is a limit to the capacity of the Maritimes & Northeast
Pipeline system.  These are the reasons it's called a race.  Location is the defining factor on who wins.

Cliff

SNC-Lavalin group wins contract to build LNG terminal at Saint John, N.B. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/17052006/2/business-snc-lavalin-group-wins...
Wed May 17, 06:57 AM EST

MONTREAL (CP) - A partnership led by engineering firm SNC-Lavalin Inc. (TSX:SNC) has won the contract to design and build a liquefied natural gas import and re-gasification terminal in Saint John, N.B. - the first new LNG terminal on the East Coast of North America in decades.

The contract was awarded to SNC-CENMC GP by Canaport LNG Limited Partnership, the companies announced Wednesday. CENMC Canada Inc. is an affiliate of Saipem SpA.

Canaport said it has also completed agreements to transport natural gas from the Canaport LNG Terminal to markets in Canada and the northeastern United States via the Brunswick Pipeline and an expansion of the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline system in the U.S.

In addition, a contract for the terminal's offshore facilities, including the receiving pier, went to Kiewit-Weeks-Sandwell Partnership, a consortium of Peter Kiewit Sons Co of St. John's, N.L.;
Weeks Marine of Cranford, N.J.; and Sandwell Engineering of Vancouver.

Financial details were not disclosed in a release. 

The announcements come one day after Nova Scotia energy firm Emera (TSX:EMA) joined the race to profit from shipping gas from Atlantic Canada to New England.

The utility firm said Tuesday it will propose a 145-kilometre pipeline, just under a metre in diameter, between the Canaport site and Baileyville, Me.

At the Canaport terminals, liquefied gas from Trinidad will be converted back to gas at a terminal operated by Irving Oil Ltd. of New Brunswick and Spanish energy giant Repsol YPF, before entering the
Emera pipeline.

Liquefied natural gas is natural gas super-cooled to liquid form for transport by sea on giant tankers.

"This project marks a further milestone for SNC-Lavalin in the growing LNG market sector," Jean Nehme, senior vice-president and general manager of Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin's industrial division, said
Wednesday.

Site preparation, blasting and levelling construction work was completed earlier this spring at the Canaport site. The LNG terminal is scheduled to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2008.

"With today's announcements, we take two big steps towards increasing the security of energy supply to the northeastern region of North America and solidifying the New Brunswick energy hub," said Kenneth
Irving of Irving Oil.

The Canaport LNG terminal includes two LNG storage tanks, each with a nominal capacity of 160,000 cubic metres. The facility, next to Irving Oil's existing Canaport terminal, will have an initial send-out
capacity of one billion standard cubic feet per day of natural gas.

There's been a race on the East Coast recently to gain supply of natural gas, with two other projects in the works in Nova Scotia, and three along the coast of Maine.