Interest building as Pacific NorthWest LNG announcement set to be delivered by Federal Cabinet

The target date has always been marked as the early fall of 2016 for the delivery of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency review process on the Pacific NorthWest LNG proposal for Lelu Island.

And as we head into the final week of September, where the inclinations of that federal body may be heading, seem to be sparking a fair bit of news as the deadline approaches.

A few reports over the weekend seem to be indicating that the CEAA will provide an outline to the Federal government that points towards some key environmental concerns related to the development.

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Some of those notes might be similar to a recent submission delivered to Catherine McKenna the Minster of Environment and the CEAA by the Pembina Institute, which reinforced its concerns over the environmental impact of the project and how it fits in with the increased vigilance that the Federal government has expressed on the theme of the environment.

Last week Deputy Premier Rich Coleman, who also doubles as the Liberal government point man when it comes to LNG development noted that even with a positive announcement from the Feds, which BC is still hoping to see delivered, there may be some fine tuning to be done on the financial end of the project with the Malaysian proponents.

Coleman who says that further discussions with Petronas officials are in the works for October, noted the financial issues still in play when it comes to the development in a Business in Vancouver article:

“We really need to figure out the numbers,”  ... “The numbers have really got to be tightened down. Because the price of gas in Asia right now is so cheap, because of the price of oil. Just about nobody is globally competitive on a long-term contract they signed before the market crash. “I know the number they have to get to in order to make it financially viable, I think they’re about 50 cents to a dollar away from that, but it’s a lot better than it was six months ago.”

That would seem to follow a theme of discussion from last month month, when Petronas officials observed that once they had received the Federal Government's decision on the proposed development they would reassess the financials related to it before announcing any Final Investment decision.

For residents of the North Coast looking for a little certainty on the LNG files currently still in motion in the region, the talk of reworking the financials and such, may mean more delays and yet more speculation when it comes to the launch of an LNG industry in the Northwest.

You can review a wide range of items we have collected over the last few years on the Pacific NorthWest proposal from our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review