Report: Canada faces lawsuit over PNW LNG approval

October 26, 2016

The Canadian government is reportedly facing a lawsuit from aboriginal and environmental groups fighting to cancel the approval of Petronas-led Pacific NorthWest LNG project in British Columbia.

As the project operator and the majority stake owner in the project, Petronas will be named in the lawsuit as an associated party, Reuters reports, citing aboriginal and environmental groups representatives.

The C$36 billion (US$27.25 billion) project has been granted the long-awaited approval by the Canadian government in September, with 190 legally binding conditions attached to it.

The representatives said that the lawsuit will be filed at the Federal Court in Vancouver, adding that it is believed that the environmental assessment process was flawed and that it failed to review the project’s impact on the climate.

When issuing the approval, the government noted that the project will have a maximum cap on annual project greenhouse gas emissions of 4.3 Mt of CO2e per year, 900,000 tons less than what had initially been proposed by the proponent.

The proposed facility will comprise an initial development of two LNG trains of approximately 6 million tons per annum each, and a subsequent development of a third train of approximately 6 mtpa.

Petronas, Sinopec, JAPEX, Indian Oil Corporation and PetroleumBRUNEI are all shareholders in Pacific NorthWest LNG and the associated natural gas supply.

Earlier this month, the National Energy Board approved Pacific NorthWest LNG’s application to amend the term of the liquefied natural gas export license from 25 to 40 years.

Petronas is currently reviewing the LNG market outlook and overall project commerciality before it develops the proposal for the final investment decision. The company intends to review the impacts on the overall cost structure and schedule of the project.

The company intends to review the impacts on the overall cost structure and schedule of the project, and the imminent lawsuit could cause further delays.

LNG World News Staff