OREANDA-NEWS. The second half of 2015 could clarify whether some North American LNG export projects will move forward in the current low oil-price environment.

All final investment decisions (FIDs) previously made by US LNG export projects were based on 20-year liquefaction capacity deals signed before oil prices plummeted. Benchmark US WTI futures are trading below $50/bl, their lowest levels since April.

US projects would sell LNG at prices linked to domestic spot gas prices, while most LNG contracts to Asia from other parts of the world are linked to oil prices. If oil prices are high and US gas prices are low, more customers would be willing to sign 20-year deals for US liquefaction capacity. Canadian projects would sell LNG at oil-linked prices, so their profitability would be directly related to oil prices.

The Pacific NorthWest LNG project on Lelu Island, British Columbia (BC) could be the first major Canadian project to make an FID. Pacific NorthWest, spearheaded by Malaysian state-owned oil and gas firm Petronas, made what it called a "conditional FID" in June. It said it was satisfied that the $36bn project would be economically viable and would make a binding FID after the BC approves proposed long-term royalty terms and the federal Canadian grants environmental clearance.

The project is targeting an FID in the latter half of the year, wither operations to start as early as 2019-20 with capacity of 13.1mn t/yr, equivalent to 1.75 Bcf/d (50mn m?/d) of gas.

In addition, two small projects in BC that would not need large new pipelines have said they plan to make an FID late this year.

They are the Woodfibre LNG project, which would have capacity of 1.5mn-2.1mn t/yr, and the floating 550,000 t/yr Douglas Channel LNG project.

In the US, Cheniere Energy plans to make FIDs this year on train 6 at Sabine Pass, Louisiana, and train 3 at Corpus Christi, Texas. But it needs to sell 3mn t/yr of capacity for each 4.5mn t/yr train, and so far no deals have been announced.

The 2.5mn t/yr Elba Island project in Georgia plans to make an FID late this year and start operating in late 2017. The project is owned by Kinder Morgan and Shell owns all the capacity.

The 8mnt t/yr Magnolia LNG project in Louisiana has signed preliminary contracts for 7mn t/yr and said it plans to make an FID this year, but it is unclear it if will finalize some contracts and get all regulatory approvals in time.