Petronas Canada LNG project chief sees investment decision in months

By Julie Gordon
CALGARY, Alberta, April 29 (Reuters) - Petronas PETR.UL
and its partners hope to make a final decision within months on
whether to build what could be Canada's first liquefied natural
gas export project, though further delays to the environmental
review could push that timeline back, the project chief said
late on Thursday.
"Depending on the timing of the CEAA (Canadian Environmental
Assessment Agency) decision, we would hope that by late summer
or early fall we would be in a position to follow up on (a final
investment decision)," Michael Culbert, president of Pacific
NorthWest LNG, said in a phone interview. Petronas, Malaysia's
national oil and gas company, owns a 62 percent stake in the
company.
Long considered a front-runner in the race to build Canada's
first LNG export project, the consortium behind Pacific
NorthWest pledged last June to start construction as soon as it
was approved by regulators, eyeing the end of 2015.
But nearly a year later, the environmental review is still
underway and LNG prices have plunged, hitting project economics.
And Petronas has said it plans to cut spending by roughly $12
billion over the next four years, as it deals with the impact of
lower oil prices.
Culbert was speaking ahead of senior management changes
announced on Friday by Pacific NorthWest and Progress Energy
Canada Ltd, another Petronas subsidiary.
Petronas Vice President Adnan Zainal Abidin, who has decades
of construction experience, will take over as president of
Pacific NorthWest.
Culbert will remain as CEO of Progress Energy Canada, the
company's upstream arm, while also taking on the new role of
Petronas' Country Chair for Canada.
Culbert said whether the project goes ahead or not depends
largely on final conditions imposed by Canada's environmental
regulator.
"It's fair to say that some of the conditions were not
realistic for a construction project of this magnitude," he
said, referring to a draft review released in February. He noted
that the final measures would need to be carefully weighed
before a decision could be made.
Pacific NorthWest is now working to answer the regulator's
final round of questions and Canada's ruling Liberals have
pledged that once addressed, the company would have its decision
within three months.
"As a human, we all want to see the finish line from time to
time. This finish line has continued to be somewhat evasive for
us," Culbert said.