The project was planned to have an annual exporting capacity to 24 million tonnes of LNG. The construction on the Aurora LNG was anticipated to start in 2020.
Nexen Energy, the Canadian a unit of CNOOC, said that the project partners have made a strategic decision to end the Aurora LNG feasibility study and will cease all investigation activity, effective immediately.
CNOOC holds 60% stake in Aurora LNG through its subsidiary Nexen. In 2012, CNOOC bought Nexen in a deal worth $15.1bn.
A decision to abandon the project comes four years after Aurora LNG had started a feasibility study on liquefying and shipping LNG from the northwest coast of British Columbia to Asian markets.
In its feasibility study, Aurora LNG has identified that the current macro-economic environment in not supportive to achieve the project partners’ vision of developing a large LNG business at the proposed Digby Island site.
Nexen said: “While disappointed in this outcome, Aurora LNG is proud of its work in northwest British Columbia over the past three years and the relationships it has built with local community members, Indigenous groups, stakeholders and government.
“The partners’ are committed to a responsible and orderly conclusion of their activities in the Prince Rupert region.”
The company said that the partners will continue their upstream operations at Horn River natural gas assets in northeast British Columbia.
Nexen and partners intend to monitor the North American gas market to weigh upstream and downstream investments.
In July, Malaysia’s Petronas had scrapped plans to develop the $29bn Pacific NorthWest liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in western Canada, citing weak gas prices.
Image: The project was planned to have an annual exporting capacity to 24 million tonnes of LNG. Photo courtesy of akiraone/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
