Goldboro LNG plant proponent wants to sell permits to Irish ocean energy company

The Alberta-based energy company that abandoned plans to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore is looking to sell its permits, potentially bringing an end to a 12-year saga in Goldboro, N.S. 

Pieridae Energy filed a request to Nova Scotia's utility and review board this week asking to transfer its permit to the Simply Blue Group, which is a sustainable ocean-energy developer based in Cork, Ireland.

The sale would breathe new life into the more than 108 hectares of undeveloped coastal industrial land that Pieridae initially set its sights on in 2012.

Simply Blue focuses on developing sustainable energy from the ocean through things such as offshore wind and wave energy, according to its website. 

Sam Roch-Perks, the company's co-founder, is listed as the director of an unnamed company that was incorporated in Nova Scotia last December. 

The company declined an interview request. 

Pieridae's proposed LNG plant

Pieridae's decision to sell its Goldboro subsidiary, associated assets, licences and permits that include the undeveloped coastal land was disclosed in financial results released last November. 

The company had planned to build a land-based facility that would have brought in natural gas from across North America and a marine terminal to ship 10 million tonnes per year to Europe.

The site would also have had storage capacity for 380,000 cubic metres of LNG.

Company sought $925M from Ottawa

Pieridae had requested $925 million in funding from the federal government in 2021, according to a presentation leaked by environmental groups.

The request wasn't approved and the company paused the Goldboro project later that year citing cost pressures.

Early last year, Pieridae told U.S. regulators it had spent $41 million Cdn on its Goldboro project as it sought permission to export U.S. natural gas.