Shell Applies for $35 Billion LNG Terminal in Western Canada

Douglas Channel, image (c) LNG Canada

Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) — A Royal Dutch Shell Plc-led group applied to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on Canada’s Pacific Coast to ship the fuel to Asia, estimating it will spend as much as C$40 billion ($35 billion).

LNG Canada, 50 percent owned by Shell, today said it submitted plans for its proposed liquefaction terminal in Kitimat, British Columbia, to the province for a 180-day environmental review. The estimated cost of C$25 billion to C$40 billion doesn’t include a gas pipeline, LNG Canada said.

“We’re clearly continuing to move the project forward, but the market is always going to be a key criteria for us when we reach that final investment decision,” Susannah Pierce, LNG Canada’s director of external affairs, told reporters on a webcast.

The project is among 18 LNG developments on the drawing board in British Columbia, proposing to supply expanding energy markets in Asia with natural gas from the province and neighboring Alberta.

British Columbia last month cut by half a planned levy on the multibillion-dollar LNG projects proposed by companies from Chevron Corp. to Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd. amid an energy price rout.

So far, none of the proponents have made a final investment decision to proceed.

“In order for us to get past that goal post, we’re really going to have to make the economic case,” Pierce said. “That’s in part why you see what’s happening among a number of other proponents.”

Competing Projects

BG Group, based in London, said last week it would slow development of its proposed $16 billion LNG project in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, on concern about competing sources of supply from proposed projects in the U.S. Houston-based Apache Corp. said in August it was exiting its Kitimat LNG joint venture with Chevron, which the City of Kitimat last estimated to cost C$4.5 billion.

Chevron spokeswoman Gillian Robinson-Riddell didn’t immediately return a call to comment on the costs.

In addition to Shell, companies involved in LNG Canada include PetroChina Co., Korea Gas Corp. and Mitsubishi Corp.

–With assistance from Rebecca Penty in Calgary.