Cedar FLNG Terminal
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Cedar FLNG Terminal is a proposed floating LNG terminal in British Columbia, Canada.
Location
Project Details
- Owner: Cedar LNG Partners LP[1]
- Parents: Haisla Nation (50.1%), Pembina Pipeline Corp (49.9%)[2] [3]
- Location: Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada
- Coordinates: 54, -128.7 (approximate)
- Capacity: 3.3 mtpa[3]
- Status: Construction[4]
- Cost: US$4 billion[5]
- Type: Export
- FID status: FID (2024)[3]
- Formerly Pre-FID (2023)[6]
- Start Year: 2029[7]
- Associated infrastructure: Coastal GasLink Pipeline
Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcfd = billion cubic feet per day
Background
Cedar FLNG Terminal is a proposed LNG terminal in British Columbia, Canada.[8]
Backed by the Haisla Nation, the still-speculative Cedar FLNG project would build several floating LNG plants at Bish Cove on the northern Douglas Channel, close to Kitimaat Village. The project backers have submitted applications for three LNG terminals at this location: Cedar 1, Cedar 2, and Cedar 3. The NEB granted an export license for 6.4 million metric tons per year from Cedar 1, but deemed the export license applications for Cedar 2 and Cedar 3 incomplete. Project backers have not settled on a pipeline route to supply the project but say they have entered the “advanced stages of negotiating and drafting definitive agreements with the major gas producers and pipeline transmission companies.” If the project does not pan out, the Haisla will still have some stake in LNG development through their benefits agreement with the backers of Kitimat LNG, according to the 2018 report, "Update: Mapping BC’s LNG Proposals."[9]
In May of 2018, Cedar LNG Export Development Inc. filed three applications for LNG export licenses, suggesting that the project is still underway.[10]
A detailed project document published in December 2019 confirms the promoter's intentions to receive gas supplies from the under construction Coastal GasLink Pipeline: "Subject to the negotiation of certain agreements, Cedar intends to receive feed gas from the Coastal GasLink pipeline at a meter station within the vicinity of Kitimat. Natural gas will be delivered to the Cedar LNG Project Area by a 20-inch diameter, approximately 8 km long pipeline."[11]
In January 2020, the British Columbia (BC) environmental agency took over project oversight. The federal counterpart, the national Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC), stepped aside. The switch includes a strengthened native say in the project, from setting application requirements to establishing approval conditions. Federal officials maintain the right to participate in the case, and the national environment minister must approve the project. The increased native role in decision making obeys the IAAC’s mandate and BC's legislation that adopts principles of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).[12]
In June 2021, the Canadian company Pembina Pipeline Corp. agreed to buy a 50% stake and to partner with the Haisla Nation on the proposed Cedar LNG project. Pembina will become the operator of the project, which has secured its LNG export license and is undergoing environmental assessments by the provincial and federal governments. A final investment decision (FID) on the facility is planned in 2023, and it's projected the floating terminal could begin operating in 2027.[2]
Following an application by the Haisla Nation and Pembina in April 2022 for a four-year Canadian export license extension, in September 2022 the Canada Energy Regulator approved the application and reset the license deadline for starting deliveries at the floating terminal to May 2030. With a formal public comment stage on the project conducted by the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office concluded over the summer, and the promoters also acknowledging difficulties in advancing the project beyond the proposal stage, the projected start date would now appear to be delayed until 2029 at the earliest.[7]
In March 2023, Cedar FLNG Terminal received environmental approval and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with ARC resources for a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) for 1.5 mtpa LNG over a 20-year duration.[6]
In August 2023, Cedar FLNG Terminal delayed its planned FID from Q3 to Q4 of 2023.[13]
In January 2024, it was reported that Samsung Heavy Industries had been contracted for a US$1.5 billion job to build a FLNG for North America. Offshore magazine suggested that the order is most likely for the Cedar FLNG Terminal project.[14]
In June 2024, Haisla Nation and Pemina took a positive FID on the project.[3] The developers have not signed any long-term sales agreements.[15]
As of November 2024, the facility was reportedly under construction.[4]
In December 2024, Steelhead LNG launched a legal challenge against Pembina and ARC Resources, alleging that they improperly exploited information provided to ARC Resources around the development of LNG facilities in British Columbia, and seeking to suspend ARC Resources' involvement in the project. Steelhead LNG previously claimed that Cedar LNG and Samsung Heavy Industries had infringed on its patent for FLNG technologies.[16]
According to the 2025 GIIGNL report, the facility is now scheduled to begin operating in late 2028, whereas it had initially been planned to start in 2029.[15]
In May 2025, Pembina's CEO Scott Burrows said that the company had seen enough demand that it was considering developing a second phase.[17]
In June 2025, Samsung Heavy Industries began to fabricate the floating LNG vessel for the facility.[18]
Financing
IJGlobal reported that a US$4.583 billion lending package for the Cedar LNG project reached financial close in June 2024. The participating financial institutions included South Korea's export credit agency (ECA) and an array of international commercial banks primarily from Canada, China, and Japan.[19] Canada's ECA, Export Development Canada, was criticised by environmental groups for its participation in the financing with a loan of up to CAD 500 million.[20]
The international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, which advised the participating banks, said that the Cedar LNG financing structure followed "recent precedent US Gulf Coast LNG transactions, utilizing a banks/bonds financing plan infrastructure, with an expectation that the commercial bank debt comprising the construction/term loan will be refinanced through the issuance of long-term bonds in the debt capital and private placement markets."[21]
In March 2025, the government of Canada announced a contribution agreement under the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) of up to $200 million.[22]
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ Cedar LNG Project. Government of Canada. Accessed May 2022.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Julie Gordon, Pembina Pipeline to buy 50% stake in Canada's proposed Cedar LNG, Reuters, Jun. 8, 2021
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Staff, LNG Prime (2024-06-26). "Haisla Nation, Pembina take FID on $4 billion Cedar LNG project". LNG Prime. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Natural Gas Intelligence. Cedar LNG Construction Underway With Offtake Contracts Expected in Early ‘25, Says Pembina Exec. November 12, 2024.
- ↑ Cedar LNG Announces Positive Final Investment Decision, Pembina, Jun. 25, 2024
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 GIIGNL. The LNG Industry: GIIGNL Annual Report 2023. July 14, 2023.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Gordon Jaremko, Cedar LNG Granted Extension to Build BC Terminal by Canada Regulators, Natural Gas Intelligence, Sep. 1, 2022
- ↑ Cedar LNG Terminal, Company, accessed April 2017
- ↑ "Update: Mapping BC's LNG Proposals", Sightline Institute, January 2018
- ↑ Brent Jang, Texas-based company seeks B.C. LNG export licence, The Globe and Mail, May 12, 2018
- ↑ Detailed Project Description: Cedar LNG Project Liquefaction and Export Terminal, Cedar LNG, Dec. 6, 2019
- ↑ Gordon Jaremko, BC's Native-Owned Cedar LNG to Include Bigger Role for Native Oversight, Natural Gas Intelligence, Jan. 28, 2020
- ↑ LNG Prime Staff (2023-08-04). "Canada's Pembina targets Cedar LNG FID in Q4 2023". LNG Prime. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
- ↑ "Samsung Heavy Industries inks $1.5B FLNG order". Offshore. 2024-01-05. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 https://giignl.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/GIIGNL-2025-Annual-Report-1-1.pdf
- ↑ Cavcic, Melisa (2024-12-25). "Canada's $4 billion LNG project facing another legal challenge". Offshore Energy. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ↑ Staff, LNG Prime (2025-05-12). "Pembina CEO sees enough demand for Cedar LNG expansion". LNG Prime. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ↑ Bosworth, Alan. "Samsung Heavy Industries begins work on Cedar LNG's floating facility". Baird Maritime / Work Boat World. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ↑ Cedar Floating LNG Terminal, IJGlobal Transaction Data, last updated Jul. 3, 2024
- ↑ Marybeth Collins, EDC Faces Backlash Over $500 Million Funding for Cedar LNG Project, Environment+Energy Leader, Jun. 28, 2024
- ↑ Cross-border team closes first-of-its-kind senior debt project financing for Cedar LNG, Norton Rose Fulbright press release, July 2024
- ↑ Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development. "Government of Canada announces support for Cedar LNG". www.canada.ca. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
