Petronas to continue talks on Pacific NorthWest LNG as review continues

The Malaysian energy giant Petronas, which has ambitions for the development of an LNG Terminal facility at Lelu Island will continue to work with the federal government to investigate its options to move the project forward.

LNG World News, an online publication that watches developments in the energy sector has taken note of a Reuters report this week that highlights the latest in information notes on the topic from Petronas officials.

Reuters relayed a statement from a Petronas Vice President speaking to an industry conference last week,  which delivered an update of sorts as to the current status of the Canadian project.

"We will continue to work constructively with the Canadian government and regulators to see how we can move forward," Adnan Zainol Abidin, Petronas vice president of global LNG projects.

The Environmental Assessment process for the Pacific NorthWest LNG project was stopped just days short of the original timeline for completion, that after the CEAA requested a three month pause to seek out further information related to the proposed Lelu Island development.

That pause was granted by Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna last weekend, and will now see Pacific NorthWest officials offering up clarification on a number of concerns that the CEAA had following some late minute information from the company.

The CEAA identified four areas where more information from Pacific NorthWest LNG is required as part of the EA process, those include:

Effects of marine construction activities on fish and fish habitat and marine animals

Effects of marine structures on fish habitat including Flora Bank

Effects of construction noise and light on human health

Effects on current Aboriginal use of lands and resources for traditional purposes

While a final decision on the fate of the North Coast LNG project from the Federal Liberal Cabinet is now delayed until June at the earliest, Petronas continues to seek ways reduce its costs and generate revenues from its Kuala Lampur head office.

The latest round of cost reductions have identified three main ares of note, engineering and construction, drilling and completion, as well as operations and maintenance.

The company has also appointed a new advisor to the State owned oil company, the latest twist to some significant changes to the company's upper management levels in recent months.

That shift in corporate direction has made for much in the way of controversy of late in Malaysian political circles.

Some background on those developments can be found below:

Petronas expects to earn up to RM2b in 2016
Cost reduction saves billions for Petronas
Former Malaysian PM Abdullah named new Petronas adviser
In affront to Dr M, Badawi is named Petronas adviser
Former Malaysian PM Abdullah named new Petronas adviser
Tun Abdullah committed to take Petronas to higher level
Former Malaysian PM Abdullah Badawi replaces Mahathir as adviser to state oil giant Petronas

More items of note related to the Pacific NorthWest LNG project can be found on our archive page.