The B.C. government says the main stakeholder in a proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal is not considering selling its stake in the multibillion-dollar project.

The Ministry of Natural Gas Development says in an email it spoke with Petronas and was reassured about the Pacific NorthWest LNG project after a news report indicated the Malaysian state-owned oil firm was pondering selling its stake.

The federal government gave conditional approval earlier this week to the $36-billion venture, which is located on Lelu Island.

The facility is designed to ship 19-million tonnes a year of liquefied gas over the next quarter century, though low commodity prices have delayed forward movement on the project.

The provincial government says it expected Petronas to issue a statement.

The Canadian Press