Northeastern B.C. sits on an ocean of natural gas. But so do Montana, North Dakota and New York State, so the U.S. doesn’t need Canadian gas.
That’s why the B.C. government put so much energy into opening up new markets for B.C. gas in Asia in its bid to to develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry.
But one by one, LNG proposals have been falling like dominoes as companies have shelved or deferred projects.
July 19, 2016 - The province has approved $120-million in tax breaks to 10 energy companies in exchange for continued spending on developing the industry’s infrastructure in northeastern British Columbia, Natural Gas Development Minister Rich Coleman said Tuesday.
Companies involved, which include Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Chevron Canada and the Cutbank Ridge Partnership — a joint venture of Encana Corp. and Mitsubishi Corp. — are expected to spend $185 million on 15 authorized pipeline or road-building projects.
LNG Canada joint venture participants – Shell, PetroChina, Mitsubishi Corporation and Kogas – have decided to delay a final investment decision on LNG Canada that was planned for end 2016.
How a discovery in South China Sea fuels further doubt around BC's stalled natural gas dreams.
Over the last few years, China has annoyed some of its neighbours by dredging islands out of the South China Sea and claiming the whole region as its property. These steps have not much alarmed the West, apart from a few pundits looking for the Next Big Enemy.
June 27, 2016 - If you ask the premier of British Columbia, Canada's largest resource project proposal now has a green light from the five First Nations groups it was legally required to consult.
The massive $36-billion liquefied natural gas terminal proposed by Pacific Northwest LNG already earned signed agreements (or preliminary agreements with conditions) from four of the five bands on BC's far northwest coast. It just needed consent from one more.
For more than 5,000 years, First Nations people have collected plants and harvested red cedar on Lelu Island, which sits where the Skeena River meets the Pacific Ocean near Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia.
Even a few short months ago, the idea that Alberta would be considered ahead of its neighbour to the west when it comes to environmental stewardship would have been laughable.
If anyone wondered where the sizzle over B.C’s 19 LNG projects went, consider the seismic shifts in global natural gas trade.
Even if a B.C. LNG proponent is able to successfully navigate Canada’s regulatory maze and accepts Canada’s track record of megaproject cost overruns and works through its formidable aboriginal consulting requirements and then does this all over again to build a connecting pipeline, it still needs to factor in a forecasted 45 per cent leap in global liquefaction supply over the next five years, leaving demand growth far behind.
In December 2015, Canada joined 176 other countries to sign the Paris Agreement. By doing so, Canada has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 (a minimum reduction that must be revisited according to the terms of the agreement). Environment Canada’s latest projections show that under existing energy and climate policies, emissions will be 55 per cent above the Paris Agreement target in 2030, which means that Canada has some serious work to do to fulfill its commitment.
