Major Canadian Gas Producer Supports Pacific LNG Terminal

Tourmaline Oil Corp., Canada’s biggest natural gas producer, has committed to participate in a proposed liquefied natural gas export facility in the Prince Rupert area, giving the project an important push.

The company announced late Wednesday that it would be joining Rockies LNG, a group of producers working on the Ksi Lisims project in Wil Milit, north of Prince Rupert, with a capacity of 12 million tonnes per year. The companies involved in the Rockies LNG are responsible for over one-third of Canada’s daily output, or 1.7 billion cubic meters. Western LNG, headquartered in Texas, and the Nisga’a Nation are also participants.

Tourmaline has been a pioneer in finding alternative markets for Canadian gas production, which was previously underpriced due to a lack of export choices. The first large supply of Canadian gas targeted for markets outside of North America was sold by the company earlier this year.

“We are the largest gas producer and a low-cost potential supplier, and we’re investment grade,” said on Wednesday, Tourmaline CEO Michael Rose about the company’s contribution to the Ksi Lisims project. “We’re excited, and we’re going to do everything we can to drive that project to fruition.”

The Montney shale deposit in western Canada has the capacity to produce around 12.75 trillion cubic meters of gas and is one of the greatest gas resources in North America. In the second quarter, Tourmaline produced the equivalent of around 495,900 barrels of oil per day, a number that was lowered by about 3 percent due to wildfires in the area.

Shipments from the Kitimat facility of the LNG Canada project, supervised by Shell Plc, are expected to start around the second half of this decade. The first stage of the facility is anticipated to generate over 14 million tonnes of LNG tons per year at a cost of around $40 billion.