May. 16, 2012 (China Knowledge) - PetroChina Co Ltd<601857><0857>, China's largest oil producer, will launch a liquid natural gas project in Canada under the cooperation with Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Korea Gas Corp (Kogas) and Mitsubishi Corp, said Kogas.

The new facility, located at Kitimat, British Columbia of Canada, is designed to have combined annual capacity of 12 million tons, and the total capacity would be expanded to 24 million metric tons eventually.

With an estimated investment of around C$12 billion or US$12 billion, the LNG project will be involved in construction and operation of LNG production, storage and port facilities.

Shell will hold a 40% stake in the new project, while PetroChina, Kogas and Mitsubishi will each carry a 20% stake.

The proposed project, which is still waiting for approval from regulators, is expected to start construction in 2015 and go into operation before 2020.