Tilbury Island LNG Terminal

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Tilbury Island LNG Terminal is an operating LNG terminal in Delta, British Columbia, Canada. Expansions to the facility have been proposed.

Location

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Project Details

Tilbury Island LNG Terminal

• Owner: FortisBC
• Parent: Fortis Inc.
• Location: Tilbury Island, Delta, British Columbia, Canada
• Coordinates: 49.14251084, -123.03408252 (exact)
• Capacity: 120,000 cubic meters per day (0.03 mtpa)
• Status: Operating
• Type: Export
• Start Year: 1971
• Associated Infrastructure: Tilbury Marine Jetty LNG project

Phase 1 Expansion

• Owner: FortisBC
• Parent: Fortis Inc.

• Location: Tilbury Island, Delta, British Columbia, Canada
• Coordinates: 49.14251084, -123.03408252 (exact)

• Capacity: 0.9 mtpa

• Status: Proposed

• Type: Export

• Start year: 2026

• Associated infrastructure: Tilbury Marine Jetty LNG project

Phase 2 Expansion

• Owner: FortisBC
• Parent: Fortis Inc.

• Location: Tilbury Island, Delta, British Columbia, Canada
• Coordinates: 49.14251084, -123.03408252 (exact)

• Capacity: 2.5 mtpa

• Status: Proposed

• Type: Export

• Start year: 2028

• Associated infrastructure: Tilbury Marine Jetty LNG project

Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcfd = billion cubic feet per day

Background

Tilbury Island LNG Terminal is an export terminal in Delta, British Columbia, Canada. The facility has been operating since 1971 and has a liquefaction capacity of 120,000 cubic meters per day (0.03 mtpa). The facility is owned by FortisBC, a subsidiary of Fortis Inc.

Phase 1 and Phase 2 expansions to the facility have been proposed. Phase 1, set to come online in 2026, would expand the facility's liquefaction capacity by 0.9 mtpa. Phase 2, set to come online in 2028, would expand the facility's liquefaction capacity by 2.5 mtpa. As of May 2022, both expansion projects are in the permitting process.

The facility would provide LNG to the proposed Tilbury Marine Jetty LNG project, which is co-owned by FortisBC and Seaspan

Tilbury Marine Jetty LNG Project

The Tilbury Marine Jetty LNG Project is a marine jetty project in British Columbia, Canada that was first proposed in 2015. The jetty would receive its LNG from the adjacent Tilbury Island LNG Terminal. The facility would have an export capacity of 3 mtpa, and is expected to cost CAN$150 million to build. A subsidiary of US-based WesPac Midstream is undertaking the jetty project, which would allow LNG carriers to load LNG for transport to “regional and offshore markets” and to fuel marine vessels such as BC Ferries. The project backers aim to sell 3 million metric tons per year from the facility. FortisBC had inked an 800,000-metric-ton-per-year LNG export agreement with Hawaiian Electric, but the deal fell through in mid-2016, likely affecting the finances of the jetty project. As of early 2017 FortisBC stated that it was seeking other export partners.

A provincial environmental review began in March of 2019.

In 2021 the project was renamed the Tilbury Marine Jetty project and the project proponent Westpac Midstream-Vancouver LLC was replaced by the Tilbury Jetty Limited Partnership, a partnership between affiliates of FortisBC and Seaspan.

As of September 2021, the project is undergoing an environmental assessment and is under review by the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office (BC EAO) as well as under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act by the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.

In January 2023, the Snuneymuxw First Nation and FortisBC signed an agreement to collaborate on the development of the project. The agreement "respects Snuneymuxw's rights in relation to the potential project impacts and represents a commitment to share benefits related to the Tilbury Projects, and states that "Snuneymuxw has committed to supporting Tilbury Projects and participating in regulatory processes..." The agreement does not indicate that Snuneymuxw will take a stake in the project.

Opposition

In July 2022, the Vancouver Sun reported that Metro Vancouver's climate action committee recommended the regional board oppose the expansion project proposal under consideration by the B.C. Environmental Office “because of overall concerns related to upstream and downstream greenhouse-gas emissions and inconsistency with Metro Vancouver climate targets.”

In January 2023, The Globe and Mail reported that the project had "emerged as a battleground over whether governments that have pledged to fight climate change should approve new projects to export liquefied natural gas," with environmental groups including Wilderness Committee and Stand.earth opposing it.