Exxon advances application for $21 billion Canadian LNG project

By REBECCA PENTY

Bloomberg

Undeterred by the collapse in crude prices, Exxon Mobil Corp. is pushing ahead with plans to spend as much as a C$25 billion ($21 billion) on a project to export LNG from Canada.

The company, along with Canadian affiliate Imperial Oil Ltd., is seeking to build a facility on the Pacific Coast that would initially liquefy and export 15 million metric tons of LNG a year, according to an environmental review application submitted last week to the British Columbia provincial government.

Exxon’s WCC LNG Project Ltd. is among 18 export facilities that have been proposed for Canada’s Pacific Coast, cooling gas from British Columbia for shipment by tanker to Asian markets. Petroliam Nasional Bhd. last month deferred a decision to build its C$36 billion LNG project in Canada, citing low oil prices. BG Group Plc has also delayed its proposal.

Global oil prices have fallen by more than 55% since June amid a supply glut and waning demand forecasts. In Asia and other large LNG markets, prices usually are indexed to crude oil. Exxon, with LNG investments from Qatar to Papua New Guinea, has an edge over competitors because of its experience from gas production to LNG marketing, the company said.

Construction would start in 2017, with first shipments in 2024 for the proposal. As many as 6,000 workers would be on site at the peak of construction for the first phase.

WCC LNG was initially scheduled to begin exports in the 2021 to 2023 timeframe, according to a June 2013 filing with Canada’s National Energy Board.

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