Shell and partners have announced a go-ahead decision on this project. They say it is $25 to $30 billion capital investment. That would be U.S. dollars which may explain why we are seeing a $40 billion figure in the Canadian news. It appears that a $6.2 billion pipeline to be build by TransCanada will be in addition to the $40 billion (but I am not 100% clear on that). There was no indication that this includes spending on the gas exploration and extraction (much of the gas may come from existing production).
This is a HUGE project. I understand it will be the largest capital project, in dollars, ever to be built in Canada and by quite a large margin. I understand there will up to 10,000 workers during construction including one large work camp to accommodate 7500 workers in single rooms.
This project is definitely positive for the economy of B.C. and I suspect there would be significant benefits to Alberta as well. And there will likely be components sourced all over Canada. I understand though that the steel will come for over-seas and perhaps much of the components will as well. But in any case this project is absolutely huge. Benefits will flow to many parts of the economy.
I was disappointed to hear people on Edmonton talk radio this morning complaining that B.C. was hypocritical in supporting this while opposing the TransMountain pipeline. That is probably true. Nevertheless, those who support resource development should be glad that B.C. is open for business at least for this project.
I must admit when I first heard about various $35 billion LNG projects for B.C. I said the amount was far too high and I thought it would never happen. And certainly I thought multiple such mega projects would never happen (I still doubt we will see a second $40 billion project). I am happy to be proven wrong here and I welcome this investment.