Construction of Petronas-led LNG project in Canada to start in September

Construction of the $36bn liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal project in Canada is expected to start in September, British Columbia (BC) Finance Minister Michael de Jong has announced.

de Jong was quoted by The Malaysian Insider as saying: "The construction will begin soon this fall. All other prerequisites have been dealt with.

"Our central government environmental certificate is the remaining piece of this and we are working through that exercise. We are optimistic that in the very near future it will be concluded."

The environmental assessment by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency is expected to be undertaken in the coming weeks or months.

The Pacific NorthWest LNG project will be implemented by Petronas, Sinopec, JAPEX, Indian Oil and PetroleumBRUNEI at a cost of $11bn.

The project involves the construction of facilities in north-eastern BC to convert natural gas to LNG for export to Pacific Rim markets in Asia.

The LNG facility would be located on Lelu Island, in the District of Port Edward, and will primarily process and export natural gas to be produced by Progress Energy Canada.

First phase of the project includes construction of two liquefaction trains, two LNG storage tanks, marine infrastructure with two berths for LNG carriers, a material offloading facility as well as administration and auxiliary buildings, The Star reported.

During the initial phase, two LNG trains having capacity of six million tonnes per annum (MTPA) each will be built while later phase another 6 MTPA LNG train will be added.

Pacific NorthWest LNG project will process and export natural gas produced by Progress Energy Canada.

The detailed feasibility studies for the project were completed in November 2012.