Four LNG projects will be built in B.C., but not in the order you expect: analysts
CALGARY – A new report “dissents” from bearish predictions that no LNG terminals will be built on Canada’s West Coast, and instead says that four natural gas export facilities could be green lighted in the coming years.
The report by AltaCorp Capital, released Monday, predicts that AltaGas Ltd., Shell Canada Ltd., Petronas and Exxon Mobil Corp. will build massive facilities to super cool natural gas for export from the B.C. coast in the coming years, though not in the order that many industry observers have come to expect.
“While this may appear to be hopelessly optimistic, we would argue that the smaller Douglas Channel LNG project… is on track for a positive (final investment decision) by the end of 2015,” AltaCorp Capital analysts said.
Executives at AltaGas, which is leading the $500-million Douglas Channel proposal, have previously defied predictions that no liquefied natural gas terminals would be built in B.C. and recently said the company’s facility would be complete by 2018.
That timeline, and AltaCorp.’s predictions, would mean that Douglas Channel would be the first LNG project to be built in the province – leapfrogging Petronas’ larger $36-billion Pacific Northwest LNG project.