Petronas abandons Canadian LNG

British Columbia's gas export dreams took another hit with the axing of the Pacific NorthWest project

When Petronas, Malaysia's national oil company, first proposed a massive C$36bn ($28.64bn) liquefied natural gas project on Canada's west coast in 2012, it looked like a sure bet. Prospects for global LNG appeared bright and Canada, with abundant supplies of unconventional gas and declining exports to the US, seemed a logical choice for large-scale exports. Petronas enrolled high-profile buyers in Japan's Japex, China's Sinopec, Indian Oil Corporation, and PetroleumBrunei as partners in an ambitious consortium known as Pacific NorthWest. The idea was to export 3.2bn cubic feet of gas per day—or a fifth of Canada's daily output—from the British Columbia coast to energy-hungry markets in Asia.