Apache’s Kitimat exit needs to be heeded: Is Christy Clark’s golden goose of LNG now merely a pipe dream? -- By Deborah Yedlin, Calgary Herald - Vancouver Sun - August 13, 2014 Is Apache Corp.’s decision to pull out of a liquefied natural gas project at Kitimat a leading indicator on the fate of the costly mega projects, not to mention a blow to a government that sees a thriving LNG sector as a long-term economic driver in that province? One can’t help but think so. Apache, with a market value of about $35 billion US isn’t exactly a small player on the global energy stage. And the irony is that it was one of the first to the LNG game in B.C., buying 51 per cent of the project from Galveston LNG for $150 million in January 2010. But Kitimat isn’t the only LNG project Apache has decided to jettison. It’s also stepping away from the Wheatstone project, another Chevron-led project that includes the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co. as another partner. To be sure, Apache was under pressure from one of its shareholders, Jana Partners, to abandon the long-haul, expensive project. And while that raises questions about the disconnect between market expectations and the long-term cycle of the oil and gas business, Apache’s exit from the Kitimat project should not be taken lightly. Rather it should be seen as a sign that Canada won’t be the player in the LNG world that B.C. Premier Christy Clark expects. Kitimat was the most advanced of the three front-runners in terms of having received regulatory approvals, the other two being Pacific Northwest LNG and LNG Canada. Now, with the exit of Apache and in the absence of another buyer to take its share, a final decision on the project is inevitably delayed. ... vancouversun/news/Apache+Kitimat+exit+needs+heeded/10115824/story.html
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 07:55:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015