Pacific NorthWest LNG may be welcoming its fourth international off-take partner in the near future, if recent reports are true.
Reuters, an international news agency headquarter in the U.K., recently reported that Chinese petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group Sinopec is looking to buy a 15 per cent stake in the proposed Pacific NorthWest LNG project on Lelu Island in Port Edward. The March 18 article said the information came from "three sources with knowledge of the matter".
Pacific NorthWest LNG isn't confirming or denying information in the story.
"We are not in a position to comment as any discussions with potential off-take partners are subject to confidentiality agreements," Spencer Sproule, Pacific NorthWest LNG senior advisor of corporate affairs, said.
If correct, Sinopec would become the fourth international energy company to become a partner of the project, after Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. signed a deal to acquire a 10 per cent stake in the terminal earlier this month, as well as gas reserves owned by Progress Energy in Northeastern B.C.
Under the current partnering agreements, Petronas has a 77 per cent stake in the project, with Indian Oil and Japan Petroleum Exploration both holding 10 per cent and state-run PetroleumBRUNEI having the remaining three per cent stake.