Asian energy groups join Shell in $14bn Canada LNG project

TOKYO -- Malaysia's Petronas will join PetroChina, Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. and Korea Gas in a $14 billion Canadian liquefied natural gas joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell, the companies said Tuesday, in a project seen helping provide Asia with stable supplies of the fuel.

The LNG Canada plant, to be located in the British Columbia municipality of Kitimat on the country's Pacific Ocean coast, will serve as Canada's first major export base for the fuel. Production is expected to start in the mid-2020s, with an annual capacity of 14 million tons -- equivalent to nearly one-fifth of import volumes in Japan, the world's biggest LNG consumer.