Resource World Magazine

54 www.resourceworld.com o c t o b e r / n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 4 * Resource World does not sell your information to third parties 709-700 W Pender st., vancouver bc v6c 1g8 canada Name aDDreSS CitY prov. poStaL CoDe pHoNe e-maiL online at www.resourceworld.com or phone 1.877.484.3800 SAVE 50% up to resource World (print and Digital edition) 1 Year ($19.95) resource World (Digital edition) 1 Year ($9.95) resource World (Digital edition) 2 Years ($14.95) resource World (print and Digital edition) 2 Years ($24.95) international resource World (print) 1 Year ($89.00) renew my subscription canadian subscribers please add applicable sales tax to reassure that their negotiators are con- tinuing to work on terms for a master development agreement. To its credit, the government has met every deadline Petronas has set. The two parties are set to meet again, with Premier Christy Clark and Coleman meeting with Abbas during the week this publication goes to press. "We know that we are getting to a spot competitively, globally, because every- body's told us that," said Coleman. "But [Abbas is] representing the inter- ests of Petronas as we go through this. We're going to represent the interest of British Columbia, to make sure BC gets its share of this opportunity." The BC government won't just let Petronas walk away. There's far too much at stake. Besides being a $10 billion invest- ment, the Pacific NorthWest LNG project represents a potential job creation of 330 long-term careers, along with an addi- tional 300 new local spinoff type jobs near the facility. The construction process is estimated to create up to 4,500 jobs at its peak activity levels. Losing even one prospective LNG project could trigger serious repercussions for the province's LNG plans. Having the frontrun- ner bow out prior to making the investment would send waves throughout the industry and possibly cause second thoughts among the 15 other projects' planners. Should Petronas decide to bail on BC, they would be the second to do so within the last year. During the summer, Apache [APA-NYSE] left Chevron [CVX-NYSE] alone with their own LNG project in Kitimat, BC. Christy Clark's government has major plans for LNG being a key economic driver in the coming decades, which is why she and her cabinet need to steer this ship correctly to port. At the moment, she's remaining cool and is confident that this is merely a public bargaining tactic. "We're negotiating and this is part of negotiations," said Clark on the day Petronas made its statement. "What Petronas is doing is standing up and trying to get the absolute best deal they can get for their shareholders… and we're trying to get the best deal for British Columbians. That's the process." Likely a suitable compromise will come out of this round of posturing. Petronas' actions away from the coast (within BC's gas-laden Montney formation) are indica- tive that they're in this for the long haul. According to the Mayor of Dawson Creek in northeast BC, Dale Bumstead, Petronas has been quite active north of his city, drilling on the lands they acquired from Progress Energy last year. "They're drilling and developing their field like crazy right now, because I believe they have a better idea of their international supply demand than anyone else in the region," says Bumstead. "I believe Petronas is well stocked with upstream resources from the Progress deal. They're getting ready to feed an LNG plant that might aver- age 1.6 to 3 billion cubic feet of gas per day." If economic activity, from the area the gas will be coming from, is any indica- tor, then there can still be some positivity about the future of LNG in the province. "Now as we see that new gas process- ing facilities are being built in and around Dawson Creek, there's a spin-off of eco- nomic opportunities for jobs in the service sector for our community," says Bumstead. "Companies like Spectra Energy [SE-NYSE], EnCana Corp. [ECA-TSX, NYSE], Murphy Oil [MUR-NYSE], and Arc Resources [ARX-TSX] are all building plants because they have to process the gas. That gas is going to go to the west coast." The outcome after the government introduces its newest LNG legislation on October 6 is still up in the air. However, knowing what's at stake, the primary players will, in the end, get BC's shale gas finally moving, and the collective benefit will be enormous. n

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