Oil and Gas

Shell delays LNG project in Lake Charles News represents second delay on one of oil giant’s LNG projects in a month.

The Northwest Seaeagle is one of Shell’s many LNG carriers.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC is deferring a final investment decision this year on a big facility to export liquefied natural gas from Lake Charles, citing a current oversupply of the fuel and affordability of the project amid lower oil prices, the company’s chief executive said Thursday.

It is the second delay Shell has made to a big LNG project. Earlier this month the Anglo-Dutch oil giant — which manages more than 40 LNG carriers, one of the largest LNG fleets in the world — said it was delaying a final investment decision on an LNG export project in Kitimat in Canada.

“This is not the moment to commit to large-scale capital outlays, even though the fundamentals of these projects in their life cycle still look good,” Ben Van Beurden said on a conference call, MarketWatch reports.

Shell’s Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said gearing at the company, which in February completed a roughly $50 billion acquisition of BG Group PLC, could increase further to its 30 percent limit if oil prices don’t rise from current levels.

Read the MarketWatch story here.