{"id":6620,"date":"2023-07-18T12:01:35","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T12:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roydadnaft.ir\/English\/?p=6620"},"modified":"2023-07-18T12:07:54","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T12:07:54","slug":"canada-could-be-an-lng-superpower-the-trudeau-government-would-rather-not-talk-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roydadnaft.ir\/English\/6620\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada could be an LNG superpower. The Trudeau government would rather not talk about it"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Canada is poised to become one of the world\u2019s largest exporters of liquefied natural gas, on paper at least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The International Gas Union\u2019s\u00a0annual LNG report, released last week, says that Canada has the planet\u2019s second-largest pipeline of LNG projects at the \u201cpre-final investment decision\u201d phase. One-quarter of all new liquification capacity on the drawing board is in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If all these projects were built, Canada would be exporting three times as much LNG as last year\u2019s largest exporting country, Australia, where LNG exports were worth\u00a0$83.4-billion in 2022.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, Canada is poised to become one of the world\u2019s largest exporters of LNG \u2013 but that\u2019s old news. Canada has been poised, like a sprinter stuck in the blocks, for a very long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Way back in 2012, British Columbia aimed to have its first LNG plant up and running by 2015<\/a>, with two others on stream by 2020. All those targets have been missed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada\u2019s LNG exports were zero then, and they\u2019re zero today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, others are off and running. To feed gas demand from Europe and especially Asia, there are dozens of LNG projects under construction or set to begin, from Congo to Qatar \u2013 and, above all, in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 2016 and 2022, our neighbours vaulted from no exports of LNG to <\/strong>second place on the world\u2019s league tables. They will be the No. 1 exporter this year. The U.S. did it by building, or rather allowing private industry to build, pipes carrying gas to the Gulf of Mexico, and LNG facilities to liquefy the gas so it can be sent abroad by ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Canada? One facility, LNG Canada<\/a> in Kitimat, B.C., is under construction. Phase 1 is expected to open in 2025, exporting 14 million tonnes of LNG a year. (To put that in perspective, Australia exported 81.4 million tonnes last year.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project is an economic juggernaut, with estimated costs, including the Coastal GasLink pipeline, of $48.3-billion. There are 6,500 workers currently on site. Phase 2, which has not yet been given the green light, would add another 14 million tonnes<\/a> of export capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond that, however, Canada has lots of plans on drawing boards, but no shovels in the ground. What\u2019s the hold up?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of it is economics: the route <\/strong>from the gas deposits of the Western U.S. to the Gulf Coast is a flat run across mostly desert. The geography of the Interior of B.C. is more challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a big part of our challenge is something else. It\u2019s Canada\u2019s inhospitable political geography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Canada became a major LNG supplier, that would mean tens of billions of dollars in construction activity, and hundreds of billions of dollars worth of exports in the coming decades. Since gas is about half as carbon intensive as coal, sending gas to countries reliant on coal \u2013 much of Asia \u2013 would also reduce emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Trudeau government and B.C.\u2019s New Democratic government are all kinds of uncomfortable when talk turns to LNG. It\u2019s off brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ottawa\u2019s discomfort was on full display last week at LNG2023, the global industry\u2019s largest conference. It was to have been held last year in Russia but was postponed, and moved to Vancouver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who was the government of Canada\u2019s keynote speaker at a flagship event dedicated to a Canadian industry with the potential to grow into one of the world\u2019s biggest? Not the Prime Minister. Not the Natural Resources Minister. The Tourism Minister, Randy Boissonnault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That speaks volumes. So did what Mr. Boissonnault said, and didn\u2019t say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the plus side, he had a sentence about how \u201cthe development of an at-scale, LNG economy is a strategic priority for Canada.\u201d It\u2019s good to hear. It\u2019s also hard to believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the words Mr. Boissonnault was asked to read on behalf of the government were about anything but supporting LNG. He talked about subsidies for clean technology and clean manufacturing, name-checked critical minerals and referenced four energy projects in light of Indigenous reconciliation, of which only one had to do with gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was rather like getting up in front of the Canadian Cattle Association and having a lot of say about chicken. And pork. And tofu. Lots of tofu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada doesn\u2019t have to build an LNG industry. But we need to be honest about the benefits of doing so; the costs of not doing so; and the degree to which we may be putting roadblocks in front of the industry, particularly by demanding that future projects have zero greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The industry has to be subject to reasonable environmental conditions. But there\u2019s no logic in subjecting it to unreasonable conditions that can\u2019t be fulfilled except through cancelling projects or reducing output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A report from S&P Global says Canada\u2019s oil sands will have to\u00a0reduce production\u00a0to meet 2030 emissions reduction targets, and the situation for some proposed LNG projects is related but far worse, as they\u2019re being told to meet a net-zero target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It feels like a potential industry is being given an ultimatum it cannot meet. There simply isn\u2019t enough unused hydroelectricity in B.C. to power all the LNG projects on the drawing board, and there likely never will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A successful LNG export sector, its revenues financing governments and a higher national standard of living, should be a goal of Canadian policy. Instead, it\u2019s being treated like an inconvenience and an embarrassment.<\/p>\n

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