Two of the five partners in a liquefied natural-gas project have given their approval for plans to build an export terminal in British Columbia as the LNG Canada consortium edges closer to deciding whether to forge ahead.
PetroChina and South Korea’s Kogas said Friday in separate announcements that they approved plans for LNG Canada, a project that would see a terminal built in Kitimat. TransCanada Corp. also proposes to construct a natural-gas pipeline from northeast B.C. to the coastal export site in Kitimat.
PetroChina owns 15 per cent of LNG Canada and Kogas holds a 5-per-cent stake. Royal Dutch Shell PLC (40 per cent), Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas (25 per cent) and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. (15 per cent) have yet to make their respective final investment decisions.
“The investment in the first phase of the construction of the Canadian LNG project has a total equity investment of US$3.46-billion," PetroChina said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, referring to its share in the consortium.
Plans call for up to $40-billion to be invested, including TransCanada’s 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline route.
China had been seen as a weak link after having the most concerns, said one official close to the LNG Canada project. He said Ottawa is continuing to work with B.C. and the consortium on financing of some key infrastructure improvements that would serve both the project and the broader community of Kitimat, including upgrades to bridges, the electricity transmission system and a regional airport.
Susannah Pierce, director of external relations for LNG Canada, said in an interview that there are still some hurdles ahead for the partners to consider, including an Indigenous protest camp along TransCanada’s planned Coastal GasLink route, and an effort by an environmentalist to send the pipeline proposal to the National Energy Board for a new review.
But she said the final investment decision may not wait until all those questions are settled. “In the life cycle of a project, when you start it you have a whole bunch of uncertainties, and as you go through, you try to get the uncertainty to a manageable level,” she said. “For any new challenge, you have to look at it and ask, is this manageable?”
She said the plan is to wait for unanimous approval from all five partners. “Each of them will need to make a final decision," Ms. Pierce said. “If we get to the point where we can get unanimous support, then off we go.”
Shell Canada spokeswoman Tara Lemay confirmed that each of the five co-owners are required to conduct their own reviews. “A go/no-go decision on LNG Canada is only final once all of the joint venture participants have made their decisions,” she said from Calgary.
Earlier this week, The Globe and Mail learned that Ottawa has told LNG Canada that it agrees the Kitimat terminal will need to be constructed from imported LNG modules, a position that, if endorsed by federal agencies, would avoid substantial tariffs.
With a report from Xiao Xu