A subsidiary of CNOOC (China) and a unit of BG Group (United Kingdom) have signed an agreement to partner on the Prince Rupert LNG terminal project on Canada's West Coast. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The project, developed by BG Group (100%), would consist of two gas liquefaction trains with a capacity of 7 Mt/year each for a total capacity of 14 Mt/year and could later be expanded to 21 Mt/year. The project is currently under approval process and is not expected to start operations before 2020.
This acquisition of LNG assets in North America by an Asian company would follow Petronas (Malaysia) taking interest in the $11bn Pacific Northwest LNG project (stake partly sold to Indian Oil Corp., Petroleum Brunei and Japex). CNOOC is also developing a proposed LNG export terminal at Grassy Point in British Columbia (Canada), in partnership with Inpex and JGC. In Australia, the group acquired interests in BG Group's Queensland Curtis LNG project.