BG Group to Delay LNG Terminal on Canada's Pacific Coast

British oil and gas producer BG Group Plc (BRGXF) will delay until the next decade a proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal on Canada's Pacific coast, the Wall Street Journal reported, quoting the head of the company's Canadian unit.

"We'd always said (construction would begin) as early as 2016, but we now recognize it'll likely be later, with commercial operations likely beginning early in the next decade," BG Canada President Madeline Whitaker said in an interview with the Journal.

Kim Blomley, a spokesman for BG Group, said he could not immediately confirm if the project had slipped into the next decade, but he noted comments by interim Executive Chairman Andrew Gould during a post-earnings conference call on Tuesday.

"We're pausing on Prince Rupert to see how the market evolves particularly in function of total supply that will come out of the U.S.," Gould said during the call.

"We will continue to work on the project but not at the same rhythm as perhaps we were working in 2014."

Canada's National Energy Board granted LNG export permits to four planned projects on the Pacific coast in December last year, including BG Group's Prince Rupert project.

Whitaker said the delay resulted from shifting market conditions, including a flood of LNG expected to hit global markets from places such as the United States, where BG has agreements to market gas from two LNG facilities.

BG Group, Britain's third-largest energy company, reported a worse-than-expected 26 percent fall in third-quarter operating profit, mainly due to a sharp decline in production in Egypt and a steep drop in oil prices.

(Reporting By Manya Venkatesh in Bangalore)