AmericasGas

BC and Petronas-led group take a step towards possible $36bn LNG project

Vancouver: British Columbia reached a preliminary deal on Wednesday which could pave the way for a $36 billion project to ship liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Canadian province to markets in Asia.

The other signatories to the agreement were a group of companies led by Malaysia’s state oil giant Petronas.

Wednesday’s deal covered aspects of taxes and royalties related to the proposed Pacific NorthWest LNG project, to chill and ship western Canadian natural gas to Asia. It envisages a natural gas liquefaction and export facility on Lelu Island within the District of Port Edward on land administered by the Prince Rupert Port Authority.

It is one of 19 LNG projects proposed in British Columbia.

Last week, the project suffered a setback when a Canadian aboriginal community, the Lax Kw’alaams band, rejected a compensation offer of almost $1bn for some of their ancestral lands which would form part of the shipping terminal site.

The indigenous group voted the offer down because of concerns about the project’s possible negative impact on the environment.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
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