OTTAWA: LNG Canada has short-listed two international consortiums for the design, procurement and construction of its proposed liquefied natural gas plant in Kitimat. But before Shell and its partners make a final investment decision – expected in the second half of this year it needs Ottawa to exempt the project from trade duties on prefabricated steel from China and Spain, or the project may be a no-go. LNG Canada announced February 2 that it has short-listed two major international engineering and construction consortiums for the design, procurement and construction for an LNG plant in Kitimat. I think the fact that we are at this second short-listing is an indication we are serious about doing this thing,” Susannah Pierce, LNG Canada’s director of external relations. The announcement came just days after Premier John Horgan returned from Asia, where he met with a number of the companies involved in the consortium. LNG Canada CEO Andy Calitz also was in on some of those meetings, Pierce confirmed. In 2016, LNG Canada delayed a final investment decision it had been expected to make that year, and its lead contractor cancelled the bidding process for prefabricated LNG modules. The company went back to the drawing board, and asked fabrication yards in Asia to come up with some better prices, in an effort to get capital costs down. The project would have a total capital cost of about $40 billion, including the LNG plant in Kitimat, a new gas pipeline and upstream natural gas assets. LNG Canada has now shortlisted two consortiums to handle the design, procurement and construction: TechnipFMC plc-KBR, Inc. and JGC Corp.-Fluor Corp. I think the fact that we went back to market was really because we believe that there needed to be, and there could be, significant reductions in the overall cost of constructing this project,” Pierce said But any savings the company might realize through a second bid will be blown entirely out of the water by duties that Canada applied to prefabricated steel imports last year.
Gold price jumps Rs5,700 per tola
KARACHI: Gold prices surged in both international and domestic markets, with the price of gold rising by $57 per ounce...
