Tourmaline Oil Joins Proposed Pacific LNG Terminal in Major Boost to Project

Tourmaline said late Aug. 2 that it’s joining Rockies LNG, a group of producers working on the 12 million-metric-ton-per-year Ksi Lisims project on the northern edge of British Columbia’s Pacific coast. Rockies LNG’s members produce a combined 5.6 billion cubic feet per day, about a third of the country’s output. The Nisga’a Nation indigenous group and Texas-based Western LNG also are involved.

“We are the largest gas producer and a low-cost potential supplier, and we’re investment grade,” Tourmaline chief executive officer Michael Rose said of his company’s contribution to the Ksi Lisims project on a call with analysts on Aug. 3. “We’re excited, and we’re going to do everything we can to drive that project to fruition.”

Canada’s Montney shale formation — stretching from Alberta into British Columbia — is one of the largest gas resources in North America, with the potential to produce almost 450 trillion cubic feet of gas. Tourmaline produced the equivalent of about 495,900 barrels of oil per day in the second quarter, a figure that was reduced by about three per cent because of fires in the area.

The Shell PLC-led LNG Canada project, also in British Columbia, is on track to begin shipping cargoes by the middle of the decade. The plant is estimated to cost $40 billion, and its first phase is expected to produce about 14 million metric tons a year.