Pembina pauses development of Oregon Jordan Cove LNG plant

Canadian energy company Pembina Pipeline Corp paused development of its proposed Jordan Cove LNG export plant in Oregon, according to an appeals court filing.

In the filing, Pembina said it was assessing “the impact of recent regulatory decisions involving denial of permits or authorizations necessary for the project to move forward.”

The company asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to place the case in abeyance pending the outcome of that re-assessment.

Officials at Pembina were not immediately available for comment.

Others examples include TC Energy Corp’s $8 billion Keystone XL crude pipeline, Williams Cos Inc’s roughly $1 billion Constitution natural gas pipeline and Dominion Energy Inc’s $8 billion Atlantic Coast gas pipeline.

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved construction of Jordan Cove and its Pacific Connector gas pipeline in March 2020, but the project failed to receive water permits from Oregon.

Jordan Cove’s backers emphasized that its position on the U.S. West Coast put it closer to fast-growing Asian markets than Gulf Coast terminals, which have to send LNG through the sometimes-congested Panama Canal. They had hoped the project would be operational by 2025.

Jordan Cove is one of more than three dozen LNG export projects under development in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Analysts, however, expect only a handful of those projects to enter service over the next decade.

The Jordan Cove news followed an announcement from Annova LNG, another LNG developer, last month that it stopped development of its proposed Brownsville export plant in Texas due to changes in the LNG market.

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