Victory

The future of a major LNG project in Kitimat has been thrown into uncertainty, after one of its main backers has decided to walk out. Houston-based Apache Corporation says it will leave Kitimat LNG, which was a joint project with Chevron. "Consistent with the company's ongoing repositioning for profitable and repeatable North American onshore growth, Apache intends to completely exit the Wheatstone and Kitimat LNG projects," the company announced today in its second quarter report. The news comes only one month after Premier Christy Clark took a tour of the Kitimat LNG site, and took photos with workers to promote the project. Even though the BC government has ambitious plans to build several LNG terminals in the province, with three built by 2020, some experts have warned that the proposals could be undermined by much nimbler global competitors and sinking gas prices in Asia. To date, Kitimat LNG is the only LNG export facility (of 16 proposed) that has been granted an environmental assessment certificate by the province. "While today’s news that Apache intends to leave the Kitimat LNG project changes the ownership structure of that particular proposal, we remain committed to developing a competitive liquefied natural gas export industry in British Columbia," the Premier's office told The Vancouver Observer.