THE British Columbia provincial government and Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petro-nas) have agreed to work together to advance the latter’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal and facility project in Canada.
This mutual understanding was achieved following a meeting between Petronas president and chief executive officer Tan Sri Shamsul Azhar Abbas and British Columbia provincial government leaders, including Premier Christy Clark, early this week.
“The premier and Tan Sri Shamsul Azhar Abbas had a cordial meeting, where both sides agreed to work together to move forward on Pacific NorthWest LNG,” said Sam Oliphant, the press secretary at Clark’s office, in response to Business Times’ email query.
However, Oliphant did not disclose the outcome of the meeting between Shamsul Azhar and the British Columbia government leaders, including on issues pertaining to LNG tax, delays in the approval process and lack of appropriate incentives.
The meetings were held days after Shamsul Azhar, in comments published by Financial Times last week, said Petronas was considering to call off the C$10 billion (RM29.2 billion) Pacific NorthWest LNG project because of regulatory delays, a lack of incentives and a proposal by the provincial government to impose an LNG tax.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that talks between British Columbia and Petronas were progressing as the Canadian province was planning to unveil a tax regime for the LNG industry by the end of this month.
It was learnt that apart from Petronas, there are 18 groups considering investments in LNG projects in British Columbia, although none has made a decision.
Petronas is leading the Pacific Northwest LNG project near Prince Rupert, British Columbia, in which it holds a 62 per cent stake.
Its partners include China’s Sinopec with a 15 per cent stake, Japex Montney (10 per cent), Indian Oil Corp Ltd (10 per cent) and Brunei Petroleum (three per cent).
Pacific NorthWest LNG is a proposed natural gas liquefaction and export facility on Lelu Island within the District of Port Edward on land administered by the Prince Rupert Port Authority.
The facility would liquefy and export natural gas produced by Progress Energy Canada Ltd in northeast British Columbia.
Pacific NorthWest LNG has contracted with Canadian company TransCanada Pipeline Ltd to design, construct and operate a new natural gas pipeline that will transport British Columbia natural gas to its LNG facility.