Canaport LNG is planning a $43-million upgrade to its natural gas terminal designed to make the facility more efficient and cut down on flaring.

Canaport LNG will start construction in April to reduce the amount of boil-off gas released to its flaring tower.

Fraser Forsythe, a spokesperson for Canaport LNG, said the project will last 18 months.

“It won't be in the order of what it was during construction of the project when we had 1,680 people on site — that was our max and we won't be anything like that,” Forsythe said.

“I would suggest that on average it would be 50 and it might peak at 100.”

Forsythe said an environmental impact assessment will not be needed because the provincial government has already approved the project under the existing operating licence.

“We submitted some documentation on the plan to the department and they came back and said we would not be required to do an EIA and that our existing approval to operate and the conditions of that approval project adequately,” Forsythe said.

In 2009, the Canaport terminal was evacuated because of a problem with the flaring system.

Canaport LNG is co-owned by Spanish energy giant Repsol and Irving Oil Ltd.