| Canaport | |
| Country: | Canada |
| Location: | Saint John, New Brunswick |
| Opened: | 1970 (crude oil terminal), 2008 (LNG terminal) |
| Owner: | Irving Oil |
| Type: | deep-water crude oil receiving terminal liquified natural gas terminal |
| Berths: | 1 mono-buoy for crude oil supertankers 1 jetty for LNG tankers |
| Website: | Canaport (crude oil) http://irvingoil.com/operations_and_partners/operations/supply/ Canaport LNG http://www.canaportlng.com |
Canaport is a Canadian marine crude oil receiving terminal located on the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at Mispec Point, approximately 9km (06miles) southeast of the city of Saint John, New Brunswick.
Commissioned in 1970, Canaport was the first deep-water crude terminal in the Western Hemisphere able to receive supertankers. Canaport was built by Irving Oil, which has continuously owned and operated the facility throughout its existence. The terminal is currently configured exclusively as a crude receiving terminal in order to supply the Irving Oil Refinery, which was itself constructed in 1960.[1]
Canaport consists of the following infrastructure:
The terminal was originally designed to have 5 storage tanks measuring 200feet in diameter. The owner of Irving Oil, K.C. Irving modified the terminal's design to include 6 tanks so each tank could each have a single letter that when combined would spell I-R-V-I-N-G when viewed from the water.[2] Subsequent expansions of the refinery in the 1970s, 80s and 90s resulted in the construction of additional storage tanks.
The Canaport LNG terminal is a liquified natural gas (LNG) receiving and regasification terminal located adjacent and immediately east of the Canaport crude receiving terminal. Commissioned in 2008, it is Canada's first LNG terminal and the first LNG terminal built in eastern North America in 30 years. It is capable of receiving the largest LNG tankers in the world.[3]
Canaport LNG has a nominal capacity of handling 1200000000cuft of LNG per day, enough to heat 5 million homes. Regasified LNG from the Canaport LNG terminal is capable of supplying 20% of the natural gas demand in the northeastern United States and Canada.[3]
In 2001 Irving Oil applied for a permit to add liquified natural gas (LNG) to its Canaport deep-water crude receiving terminal. The permit was granted in April 2004 and Irving Oil entered into a partnership with Repsol S.A. to develop Canaport LNG; Irving Oil owns 25% of Canaport LNG while Repsol S.A. owns 75%. Construction of the LNG terminal started in September 2005 and the facility was commissioned in 2008 and received its first shipment of LNG in June 2009.[3] Repsol acquired Irving's share in the LNG terminal in August 2021.[4]
Canaport LNG consists of the following infrastructure:
The construction of the Canaport LNG was coincident with construction of the Brunswick Pipeline which transports the natural gas from Canaport LNG to markets.
In 2021, Canaport LNG was re-named to Saint John LNG following the purchase of the Irving interest by the Repsol partner. Saint John LNG is now fully owned by Repsol subsidiaries.[6]
In 2005, Irving Oil received a controversial tax break from the City of Saint John to develop the Canaport LNG terminal; it was apparently negotiated one-on-one with the city's then-mayor Norm McFarlane. The tax concessions have cost the City of Saint John approximately $75 million over ten years, with a potential total loss of over $180 million.[7] [8] Saint John Common Council's reconsideration of this tax concession in 2015 resulted in warnings from Irving Oil, including editorials published in the Telegraph-Journal arguing against re-opening the deal.[9]
In September 2013, nearly 7,500 songbirds were killed when they flew into a gas flare at the plant. The incident was caused by a "combination of nocturnal flaring and unsettled [foggy] weather conditions during peak migration periods [which] created the potential for a significant bird mortality event." The owners were eventually fined $750,000 for the offence. Soon after the incident, the plant completed a $45 million upgrade which significantly reduced the amount of flaring which takes place at the plant.[10]
Irving Oil has announced plans to build a new $300-million terminal at Canaport to export the oil from the proposed Energy East pipeline.[11]