Premier sees Petronas LNG decision this year

Premier Christy Clark says she is “confident” Petroliam Nasional Bhd. will decide this year to proceed with its $10-billion liquefied natural gas terminal in B.C. “I do feel very confident about that,” Clark told reporters on Thursday after a speech to business leaders in Vancouver. “I don’t want to put a timeline on it because that is up to them. But I know that their hope is that they can get a final investment decision before year-end.” Clark met with Shamsul Azhar Abbas, the chief executive officer of Petronas, earlier this week to discuss the company’s invest- ment in the province’s nascent liquefied natural gas industry. The meeting came just days after Shamsul, in comments published by the Financial Times of London, threatened to call off the planned Pacific Northwest LNG project because of regulatory delays, a lack of incentives and a provincial plan to impose a LNG tax. “We did have a really productive meeting,” Clark said. “Both sides really want to make this project a success. We’ve got some negotiating ahead of us. We’re right in the midst of that now, and I’m very confident we are going to conclude that negotiation suc-- cessfully.” Petronas is among a handful of energy companies considering exporting natural gas from B.C. They are pressing the province and the federal government for attractive financial terms and concessions to help justify the billions of dollars of investment needed to supply Asian markets with Canadian natural gas. “We are moving as quickly as we can,” she said, adding the province has met all its deadlines and is being consistent in the rules that it sets.