KUALA LUMPUR (March 15): Petroliam Nasional Bhd’s (Petronas) 25%-owned associate LNG Canada will ship its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo before the end of this year, as it looks to increase its global LNG production capacity to 55 million tonnes per annum by 2030.
"I am expecting to see the first LNG cargo to come from Canada at the end of this year," Petronas president and group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz told a media briefing on Friday.
Petronas currently has a global LNG production capacity of over 40 million tonnes per annum.
Through its wholly-owned entity, the North Montney LNG Ltd Partnership, Petronas acquired the 25% stake in LNG Canada in 2018. Besides Petronas, other shareholders of LNG Canada include Shell Canada Energy (40%), PetroChina Canada Ltd (15%), Diamond LNG Canada Ltd (15%) and Kogas Canada LNG Ltd (5%).
Meanwhile, Taufik foresees that the global demand for LNG will pick up in the near term as Petronas continues to look for various opportunities in the Atlantic and also in Asia to further expand its LNG portfolio.
"Gas, to many markets, particularly in Asia Pacific, will see an uptick in demand by 2%-3% every year. We see that for some, it may well be that it is not a transition fuel, it could well be a destination fuel that would be part of that energy mix for the foreseeable future," he said.
Earlier during the group's announcement of its annual financial results, Taufik said that Petronas' domestic capital expenditure increased by 41% in FY2023 against FY2022, mainly for open investments in the Petronas nearshore floating LNG project in Sabah and the Kasawari Gas Field Development and Carbon Dioxide Sequestration Facilities in Sarawak.
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