Painted Pony Pete Ltd PDPYF

Ccord on BC LNG talks delay

[Tobuyornot]

Selloff reason perhaps?

West Coast LNG
Get down with LNG, yeah you know me. As reported in the Financial Post, British Columbia, which was widely expected to make public its fiscal terms for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry in November announced that it will postpone its release until Feb 2014. Rich Coleman, the province's minister of natural gas development, said Tuesday that project proponents are still evaluating whether a corporate income tax on LNG output is competitive with other LNG jurisdictions. "We were asked by the different proponents, because we got into pretty detailed conversations about all the technical aspects that affect the cost competitiveness worldwide, to take another month or so to look at the combined cost with other things that could affect the cost relative to an investment decision," Mr. Coleman told reporters from Vancouver. "I have always said that I would go back and circle back to the companies as we go through the process. That has proven to take a little longer than I thought it
would, simply because of the availability of people and technical teams to sit down with my folks." Mr. Coleman said the tax will likely be finalized by the end of the year and will likely be revealed when the province releases its budget in February. Mr. Coleman said the tax is on LNG output at the plant level, so it will also apply to gas making its way to the West Coast from Alberta and Saskatchewan. He said the two provinces are aware of the plans and there has been no negative feedback. Michael Culbert, president and CEO of Progress Energy Canada, owned by Malaysia's Petronas, said there is an "active dialogue" under way with the province and "it's more important to get it right." In other news Rich Coleman also noted that China's Sinopec Corp is in serious talks on a site for a potential LNG export terminal in British Columbia. The Chinese company had explored numerous sites in the province and had also entered partnership discussions with another company.