Clark supports $25 billion B.C. refinery deal

Premier Christy Clark says she has been working with B.C. media mogul David Black on his proposal to build a massive oil refinery near Kitimaton the north coast.

The $25 billion project will be subject to Clark's five conditions for allowing heavy oil pipelines in the provincethe same conditions she laid down forthe Enbridge proposal.

"The refinery in Kitimat could form part of the economic benefits needed to satisfy our fifth condition," Clark said in the legislature on Thursday, adding that the proposal would have to meet all the environmental conditions as well.

Clark did not mention the Enbridge plan on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Black announced that he has teamed up with a consortium of investors put together by Richard Cooke, the senior managing director of Switzerland-based Oppenheimer Investments Group, to finance the project.

The plant, which Black has proposed tobuild north of Kitimat, would refine oil from the Alberta oilsands shipped either by pipeline or rail.

Black's plan calls for reduced greenhouse gas emissions and less environmental risk from oil tanker shipping accidents due to the use of smaller vessels, Clark said.