KINIBIZ A project that began in 2012 with the US$5 billion (RM18 billion) purchase of Canadian oil & gas company Progress Energy Resources is now a potential US$30 billion (RM109 billion) albatross around Petronas’ neck.

The Canadian investment (one of the biggest in Petronas’ 41-year history) was hailed in 2012 as a project that would rejuvenate Petronas and catapult it to the upper echelons of major oil and gas players. Now, the project is hanging by a thread.

Petronas’ Progress Energy acquisition was closely linked with the Pacific NorthWest LNG project in British Columbia, which is now in limbo.

Petronas has a 62 percent stake in Pacific NorthWest and it includes plans for a LNG terminal which will enable Petronas to sell and transport Progress Energy’s shale gas assets from British Columbia to lucrative Asian markets. Without the all-important export terminal, Petronas’ Progress Energy purchase diminishes in value. Overall, the project is estimated to cost Petronas US$30 billion over 25 years.

Although Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin, Petronas’ new president and Group CEO, assures that the Pacific NorthWest project’s final investment decision (FID) will be decided soon after numerous delays, an air of uncertainty still hangs over the troubled project.

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This article was written by Khairul Khalid.