Petronas is not considering sale of proposed LNG terminal, B.C. government says

The British Columbia government says the main stakeholder in a proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal is not considering selling its stake in the multibillion-dollar project.

The Ministry of Natural Gas Development says in an email it spoke with Petronas and was reassured about the Pacific NorthWest LNG project after a news report indicated the Malaysian state-owned oil firm was pondering selling its stake.

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The federal government gave conditional approval earlier this week to the $36-billion venture, which is located on Lelu Island near Prince Rupert on B.C.'s northern coast.

The facility is designed to ship 19-million tonnes a year of liquefied gas over the next quarter century, though low commodity prices have delayed forward movement on the project.

The provincial government says it expected Petronas to issue a statement.

Earlier, Reuters issued a report, citing three unnamed sources, thatPetroliam Nasional, or Petronas, wasweighing options for the project as its finances have been squeezed after crude oil prices havecollapsed by more than 50 per cent since mid-2014.LNG prices for delivery into the main markets in northeast Asia have slumped more than 70 per cent over nearly the same time period.