Pieridae still plans FID on Nova Scotia LNG export plant by late June

(Reuters) - Canadian energy company Pieridae Energy Ltd said on Thursday it continues to work toward making a final investment decision (FID) by June 30 to build its proposed Goldboro liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Nova Scotia.

That would allow the $10 billion project to produce first LNG in 2025-2026.

Pieridae has a 20-year agreement to sell all the LNG from Goldboro's first liquefaction train - about 5 millions tonnes per annum (MTPA) or 0.66 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas - to German utility Uniper SE.

Pieridae said engineering firm Bechtel Corp plans to deliver a fixed-price proposal to build the plant by the end of May.

A year ago, Pieridae said it would delay making a FID until after Sept. 30, 2020, as government efforts to curb the coronavirus outbreak cut global economic growth and energy demand.

Pieridae is one of several companies developing North American LNG export plants that have delayed projects in recent years as global gas prices dropped to their lowest levels in years in an oversupplied market in 2019, and then plunged to record lows in 2020 with the coronavirus-induced collapse in demand.

There are currently 13 projects in North America, including Goldboro, that have said they plan to make FIDs in 2021. Analysts, however, expect only one or two projects will actually go forward this year. One project many analysts expect to go forward this year is Venture Global LNG's Plaquemines plant in Louisiana.

Goldboro is designed to produce about 10 MTPA. Pieridae plans to source the gas for Goldboro from its production in Alberta and transport it via existing pipelines, including the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline from New England to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which passes near the Goldboro site.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Marguerita Choy)