The developers of the proposed Kwispaa liquefied natural gas export facility in British Columbia have halted work on the project.

Steelhead LNG, which had been collaborating on the project with the Huu-ay-aht First Nations, did not provide a reason for stalling on to the scheme at Sarita Bay on Vancouver Island.

In an open letter following the announcement, the self‐governing treaty nation, Huu-ay-aht First Nations said: “Huu‐ay‐ aht First Nations was notified by Steelhead LNG that it has ceased current project work on the Kwispaa LNG project.

“We are deeply disappointed, and over the coming weeks your government will evaluate the implications of this decision by Steelhead LNG, identify all go‐forward options, and assess how best to advance the interests of our citizens.”

Steelhead LNG has yet to release any additional information.

The Kwispaa project, formerly known as Sarita LNG, was licensed to export up to 24 million tonnes per annum of LNG for 25 years. According to a previous statement, Steelhead had been anticipating taking a final investment decision in 2020.

Phase one initial production of 12 million tpa, equivalent to 1.9 billion cubic feet per day of gas, was expected to begin in 2024.

Last year, South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries was awarded the front-end engineering and design contract for two hulls for Kwispaa, which would have been the world’s first at-shore liquefied natural gas (ASLNG) project.

In addition, TechnipFMC, a consortium of Black & Veatch, Samsung Heavy Industries and PCL Industrial Management, and a pairing of McDermott International and China’s Offshore Oil Engineering Company (COOEC) had been vying for the FEED contract for the C$18 billion (US$13.9 billion) facility.

At the end of December, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency started a federal environmental assessment for Kwispaa, and invited the public and indigenous groups to comment on which aspects of the environment may be affected by the project and what should be examined during the environmental assessment.

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Steelhead halts Kwispaa LNG