Malaysia’s Petronas is lining up Asian energy players to help build a Canadian liquefied natural gas megaproject, but there is a catch. Before anyone joins the ownership team, the prospective partners must sign long-term contracts to buy LNG.

The state-owned energy giant is optimistic that it will find partners eager to participate in the massive development planned by Petronas-led Pacific NorthWest LNG LP. Petronas has a 90-per-cent stake in Pacific NorthWest, while Japan Petroleum Exploration holds a 10-per-cent interest.

Malaysia’s Petronas is lining up Asian energy players to help build a Canadian liquefied natural gas megaproject, but there is a catch. Before anyone joins the ownership team, the prospective partners must sign long-term contracts to buy LNG.

The state-owned energy giant is optimistic that it will find partners eager to participate in the massive development planned by Petronas-led Pacific NorthWest LNG LP. Petronas has a 90-per-cent stake in Pacific NorthWest, while Japan Petroleum Exploration holds a 10-per-cent interest.

A condition of becoming a co-owner is to agree to take delivery of LNG in Asia. “When you look at our project, our partners will be fully integrated and have a physical need for LNG,” Pacific NorthWest president Greg Kist said in an interview.

“All of our LNG volumes will be committed to partners who will buy their proportion, and that creates an alignment of interests.”

The multibillion-dollar plans include transporting natural gas in northeastern British Columbia to remote Lelu Island in the northwest part of the province.

Asia is a great potential market. In future, people will still buy  gasoline and gas to fill up their tank in the ‘s

sourcehttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/petronas-moves-to-secure-asian-market-with-natural-gas-megaproject/article15480512/

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