Petro-Canada Reconsiders Its Plans Because of Russia's Decisions

The Calgary integrated oil company Petro-Canada said last month it was reconsidering a $1-billion regasification plant in Gros Cacouna, Que. after Russia's Gazprom decided to scrap a planned $3.5 billion LNG project in the Baltic Sea which would have helped supply the Canadian plant via the now cancelled pipeline.

One alternative could be to use the natural gas discoveries Petro-Canada already owns in Trinidad and Tobago, though analysts have said it could take a long time for those to come on stream.

A Petro-Canada spokesman in Calgary told The Canadian Press on Wednesday that the Eastern Access pipeline along the St. Lawrence had been halted due to "mismatched timing that stems from the Baltic decision last month."

Petro-Canada and TransCanada had been hoping to start building the link next year and have it operating by 2010 to carry gas supplied by the Gazprom LNG plant on the Baltic Sea near St. Petersburg, Russia.