Apache Corp. (APA) is seeing high interest by potential buyers of natural gas from the proposed Kitimat LNG facility in British Columbia, a company executive said Thursday.

"We're in discussions right now," the executive said in a conference call with analysts. "These negotiations take a lot of time, but there's a lot of interest at the moment."

The proposed facility would liquefy natural gas produced at the nearby Horn River region in British Columbia and ship it to markets in the Asia-Pacific region. Last month, Encana Corp. (ECA), Canada's largest natural gas producer said it would acquire a 30% stake in the project, which is led by Houston-based Apache.

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