The Globe and Mail: Petronas to Set Pace for B.C. LNG in 2015

Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas will set the tone in 2015 for British Columbia’s fledgling liquefied natural gas industry in what is shaping up to be a make-or-break year for the Pacific NorthWest LNG joint venture.

The Petronas-led Pacific NorthWest LNG project is widely viewed by industry analysts as the most promising among 18 proposals to export LNG from the West Coast to energy-thirsty customers in Asia.

Petronas and its four Asian partners decided in early December to indefinitely delay their final investment decision on whether to build an $11.4-billion B.C. export terminal.

But the project will gain a new lease on life if the consortium is able to reduce construction costs, secure aboriginal support and overcome environmental hurdles.

“We’re trying to be a first mover and be out in front of these other LNG projects because we know there will be competitive forces,” Pacific NorthWest LNG president Michael Culbert said in an interview.

The project, planned for Lelu Island in northwest British Columbia, finds itself in a race provincially against LNG ventures that are positioning themselves to vie for skilled construction workers.

Having a labour shortage would be a pleasant problem for the nascent B.C. LNG sector, which has yet to see any proponents make the decision to forge ahead.

Globally, British Columbia trails other countries in the LNG sector. New exports are set to hit the market over the next five years from rival producers such as Australia, the United States and Papua New Guinea. MORE