A third major international energy company has come on board as a partner in and customer of the Pacific NorthWest LNG terminal proposed for Lelu Island.
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., India's largest company by sales which ranks 88th in Fortune magazine's Global 500 list, has signed an agreement to acquire a 10 per cent stake in the terminal and the gas reserves owned by Progress Energy in Northeastern B.C. As well as the ownership stake, Indian Oil Corporation has agreed to purchase 1.2 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas from the terminal per year for 20 years, equivalent to 10 per cent of the facility's production.
The deal with Indian Oil, which is working on a five million tonne per annum regassification plant in Tamil Nadu, further expands on international interest in the project with Japex of Japan also acquiring a 10 per cent interes and Petroleum Brunei having a three per cent stake in the project.
"We are assembling an industry-leading project and our growing partner list adds momentum to building an exciting new energy export sector for Canada," said Pacific NorthWest LNG president Greg Kist.
The three partnering agreements leave Petronas of Malaysia with a 77 per cent ownership stake in the project. However, the company said it is continuing to look for more partners and potential customers to secure markets for the gas.