Shaun Polczer, CALGARY: Key developments have pushed the stakes higher for Canada’s emerging liquefied natural gas (LNG) export industry. In less than a week, national regulators have granted the country’s second long-term export licence, as heavyweights Shell and PetroChina announced a partnership to develop unconventional-gas assets in northeast British Columbia (BC).
Financial terms were not disclosed, but analysts suggested the PetroChina deal is worth about C$1 billion ($1 billion) for a 20% stake in Shell’s Groundbirch tight-gas play, with an assumption that the gas is to be exported to China, in the form of LNG.
Shell has reportedly bought land for a facility at Kitimat, a port on the BC coast, and has been courting potential partners for a multi-billion dollar export terminal, including South Korea’s Kogas and Japan’s Mitsubishi. At the same time, producers such as Shell are scrambling to develop the reserves needed to...