Petronas Carigali Canada Ltd. and Progress Energy Resources Corp. provided more details on their proposed Western Canada liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility, including its name, and said the project’s throughput could increase by 60% if regulators approve the companies’ proposed merger.

The project, called Pacific Northwest LNG, has entered the pre-front-end engineering design (Pre-Feed) phase, the partners said. It would be sited on Lelu Island in the District of Port Edward, British Columbia (BC). The partners expect to submit their project description to Canadian regulators early next year, said Progress CEO Michael Culbert.

The project would include two trains, or liquefaction plants, when initially constructed with planning for an potential third train. LNG throughput is currently intended to be about 3.8 million metric tons per year per train based on the joint venture that was announced by the companies in 2011 (see Daily GPI, June 3, 2011).

The companies made their merger proposal last June (see Daily GPI, June 29). In October the proposed deal failed to pass the “net benefit” test posed by Canada’s foreign investment review and approval legislation. The test, a long-standing Canadian requirement, says the government must be shown that a proposed foreign takeover will give the country more than it stands to lose. The companies said they would continue to pursue the deal (see Daily GPI, Oct. 23).

If the proposed acquisition of Progress by Petronas, which is currently being reviewed by the federal government, is approved, the throughput of natural gas at the facility is expected to increase by approximately 60% to 6 million metric tons per year per train, which would also result in enhancements to the productivity and efficiency of related upstream activities, the companies said.

A final investment decision for the project is still expected in late 2014, followed by the first LNG exports in 2018. Pacific Northwest LNG plans to open a Vancouver, BC, office in early 2013 and add to its staff.

The estimated investment in the facility is expected to be between C$9 billion and C$11 billion.

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