(Bloomberg) -- Pembina Pipeline Corp. said costs on the Cedar LNG project have escalated to $3.4 billion as the company works toward a final investment decision by the middle of this year. 

The cost for Cedar LNG — a British Columbia liquefied natural gas plant planned in partnership with the indigenous Haisla Nation — is up from a previous estimate of about $2.4 billion. The capital cost includes $2.3 billion under a fixed-price, lump-sum agreement, Pembina said Thursday.

Cedar LNG is one of four major gas-exports projects progressing on the Canada’s Pacific Coast, including the Shell Plc-led LNG Canada, which is set to begin operation next year. Dozens of other proposals have either been canceled or failed to move ahead, often due to high costs of building such projects in BC, keeping the country’s gas producers largely dependent on exports to the US. 

Pembina said Cedar LNG would provide it with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $200 million to $260 million. A final investment decision is expected by the middle of the year. 

Pembina also announced the signing of a 20-year liquefaction tolling agreement with Canadian gas producer ARC Resources Ltd. for 1.5 million metric tons a year, plus an identical bridging agreement for an equal volume with Cedar LNG. 

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