Encana and CNPC sign HoA to develop shale gas assets in British Columbia

摘要

Canada’s largest gas producer, Encana and state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) on Thursday that outlines the framework for a potential joint venture to develop Encana’s shale gas assets in the Horn River and Montney shale plays in northeast British Columbia.The CNPC agreement is the second agreement made by Encana this year with an Asian partner. Korea Gas signed a $1.1 billion deal in March with EnCana for a 50% stake in three natural gas fields in Canada.China is keen to expand its two-way trade with Canada, particularly in the energy field, with Chinese president Hu Jintao announcing on Friday, during his meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, that China plans to double trade with Canada to $60 billion by 2015.“Under a potential joint venture, Encana would be the operator of all developments, meaning it would drill and complete the wells,” Encana said in a release, “and build the processing facilities and pipelines and conduct all field work for the joint venture. CNPC would invest capital to earn an interest in the assets and gain an advanced understanding of unconventional natural gas development through an ongoing sharing of technical knowledge.”“The joint venture is expected to develop existing Encana lands at a rate that would be faster than would be achieved without the additional investment.”Randy Ersman, Encana’s CEO said the company was looking for potential partners to aid in development of the company’s unconventional gas assets with plans to double gas production within five years.The Kogas/Encana fields will be jointly developed over the next five years with the aim of producing 50 Bcf of gas in 2017 for export as LNG from the Kitimat liquefaction plant on Canada’s Pacific coast. Apache will operate the project and plans to finance the project’s front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase. The group is to make a final investment decision (FID) in 2011, with first LNG shipments planned for 2014. Spain’s Gas Natural has signed an MoU to take 1.6 mtpa of LNG from Kitimat. (see Gas Matters Today March 1) –TR