VANCOUVER – B.C. newspaper mogul David Black says a group of U.S. investors has committed funding for his plan to build a $25-billion oil refinery near the city of Kitimat on the province’s northern coast.
Speaking in Vancouver, Black says details still have to be worked out, but a memorandum of understanding has been signed and he insists it’s “100 per cent.”
He says he expects to announce more details about the investors in the coming weeks.
Black’s plan is for a refinery to process oil from the proposed Enbridge (TSX:ENB) Northern Gateway pipeline, and he says the facility could be in service by 2020.
Councillors in Kitimat, the proposed western destination of the Alberta-to-B.C. pipeline, have already said they could support Black’s refinery plan – if the development meets certain conditions.
Kitimat Mayor Joanne Monaghan says if Black’s refinery is environmentally safe and survives a review process, her council would condone it.