Japan to take 10pc stake in Canada shale project

TOKYO: Japan Petroleum Exploration (Japex) is taking a 10 per cent stake in an integrated shale gas development and liquefied natural gas (LNG) project being planned by Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) in Canada's British Colombia province.

Japex said yesterday it is considering marketing its LNG offtake from the 12 million tonnes per year (mtpy) Pacific Northwest LNG project worth 1.2 mtpy in Japan, the world's largest importer of LNG, which has been increasingly reliant on LNG since the Fukushima disaster in 2011 knocked out much of its nuclear power capacity.

Japanese firms have been investing in shale gas projects in North America to export cheaper LNG to Asia. Asian LNG long-term prices are typically oil-linked, making them pricier than LNG from the US, where the country's shale gas boom has helped lower natural gas prices.

Japex declined to comment on the value of the deal, which involves a 10 per cent stake in a shale gas block in North Montney region, which is currently selling gas in Canada, and a stake in a liquefaction plant in Lelu Island near the Port of Prince Rupert on the country's Pacific coast.

Petronas, which will hold the remaining 90 per cent of the project, is set to make a final investment decision to build the LNG plant, comprising two plants with capacity of six mtpy each at a cost of C$9 billion to C$11 billion (RM27 billion to RM33 billion) at the end of 2014, with commercial launch at the end of 2018.

Petronas is expected to sign a contract with TransCanada soon so that the Canadian firm could build a 750km pipeline between the shale gas block and LNG plant, Japex said.

Asked whether Japex plans to use Henry Hub gas prices in North America, Mitsuru Saito, Japex's managing director, told a media briefing it is considering using a mix of price-setting benchmarks to realise stable but less costly LNG prices, but declined to comment on a rough price target.

By 2018, Japex and Petronas aim to more than double output from the North Montney shale gas block, which contains several dozen trillion cubic feet of gas, enough to provide feedstock for the 12 mtpy LNG plant for 20 years, Saito said. Reuters