Woodside Bails on Canadian LNG Project

Australian major Woodside Energy has pulled out of its plan of developing an LNG terminal at Grassy Point in Canada after letting its exclusive rights for the site expire on January 15, a spokesperson for the company said in an emailed statement March 8.

“The decision was made after careful consideration of our long-term development strategy in Canada,” the spokesperson said.

“We are grateful to all of those who have devoted time and resources to working with us as we have explored the feasibility of developing the Grassy Point LNG project,” she said.

The company is focusing its attention of the fellow Canadian Kitimat LNG project, in which Woodside has a 50% partnership with Chevron. However there have been reports this week from Canada that Chevron is looking to divest its Kitimat stake, with Malaysian state Petronas which had already divested from another Canadian LNG scheme - Pacific Northwest LNG - seen as a possible buyer; neither has commented.

Woodside gained the rights for the Grassy Point site from the Canadian government in 2014 to assess the feasibility of developing an LNG project.

The proposed Kitimat LNG project is for the construction of an export facility at Bish Cove. The proposed development comprises downstream infrastructure with initial capacity of up to 10mn metric tons per year and a 480km pipeline.