ExxonMobil pulls back from K82bil LNG gas project in Western Canada

Business

ExxonMobil Corporation recently pulled back from its US$25 billion (K82.6bil) liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project in western Canada from environmental assessment after thorough review of the project.
Proposed in 2015, the project was expected to be built by the company and its Canadian unit, Imperial Oil Ltd, at the north coast of British Columbia.
Canada’s LNG sector received encouraging news from Royal Dutch Shell plc and its partners in the LNG Canada project in October.
The US$40 billion (K132bil) project is expected to provide the country with its first-ever LNG export terminal.
However, ExxonMobil’s latest decision is a setback for the sector, which once received 20 proposals but now has only one confirmed project.
With countries looking for cleaner energy sources, global LNG demand is anticipated to rise 100 per cent to 550 million tons per annum (mtpa) by 2030, majority of which is expected to come from the northeast Asia. The West Coast Canada (WCC) LNG export project of ExxonMobil, with proposed capacity of 15 mtpa, was supposed to address this rising demand for LNG.
The project also had plans for capacity expansion up to 30 mtpa.
Notably, in order to boost LNG business, ExxonMobil has several other focus areas like its projects with Qatar Petroleum and the proposed expansion project in Papua New Guinea LNG operations.
The company has planned an aggressive exploration programme for developing the resources in PNG.
Moreover, the acquisition of InterOil gave ExxonMobil high-quality and low-cost resources in the region.