Veresen Inc. T.VSN.DB.B

Jordan Cove may never get built

[righand2]

The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday edition that Veresen has again pushed back a sanctioning decision for a liquefied natural gas project on the coast of Oregon. The Post's Geoffrey Morgan writes that if built, the $6-billion (U.S.) Jordan Cove LNG project would be the most ambitious and most expensive project Veresen has undertaken. The Calgary company is expected to spend $98-million (U.S.) on Jordan Cove LNG in 2016, and a final investment decision is now expected in the second half of 2016. Veresen had previously hoped to reach a decision on Jordan Cove in the middle of 2016, after pushing the decision back from late 2015 as a result of delays with permits from the U.S. government. The company now expects to receive approvals for Veresen's LNG project and connecting pipeline by the end of December. AltaCorp analyst Dirk Lever said Veresen will need "a partner or partners" to help finance the project. "My suspicion is that part and parcel of signing up the long-term off-take agreement is also somebody coming in and saying, 'We'll take a piece of the project,' because if they're very high credit quality, that would make a huge difference," Mr. Lever said. "This is a company that can't do it on its own."