LNG2023 showcases Canada’s clean LNG [LNG2023]
Canada will join the global LNG market in 2025 when the world’s cleanest LNG will hit Asian markets, the CEO of LNG Canada, the Shell-led consortium developing a 14mn tonnes/year project on BC’s northern coast, told an opening session at the LNG2023 Conference in Vancouver on July 10.
In a leadership dialogue with Tim Egan, CEO of the Canadian Gas Association and host of the conference, LNG Canada CEO Jason Klein said cargoes from the project will be 50% less emissions intense than the global average, and 35% less than the best plants operating now.
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That’s due to a number of factors in Canada’s favour, including access to an abundant, low cost and low carbon intensity gas supply in the Montney and access to abundant hydroelectricity, to power not only the upstream production operations but much of the liquefaction opportunities now under discussion on Canada’s west coast.
“We are really able to lean on the resources of BC Hydro to provide clean electricity for all of our facilities,” Klein said. “We also benefit from the pinnacle of LNG design, and from a much cooler climate.”
Shipping distances to Asian markets from Kitimat are half what they are from the US Gulf Coast, without the volatility of moving cargoes through the Panama Canal, and with shorter shipping distances, the environmental impacts of LNG trade from Canada are reduced.
The LNG Canada consortium – Shell, Malaysia’s Petronas, PetroChina, Korea Gas and Japan’s Mitsubishi – brings a wealth of global LNG expertise to Canada. In return, Klein said, LNG Canada is paving the way for the next wave of Canadian LNG – one that will be led by First Nations as full partners in two projects under development, Haisla Nation’s Cedar LNG, and Nisga’a Nation’s Ksi Lisims project north of Prince Rupert.
“We are watching very closely our good friends at Haisla who are leading the Cedar project and I’m very excited about the prospect of LNG carriers leaving Cedar, around the corner from LNG Canada, and travelling the Douglas Channel,” Klein said. The world needs more reliable and responsible energy and we have the opportunity, here on the doorsteps of Asia, to deliver LNG that can displace coal, that can improve global emissions, and that can help hundreds of millions of people out of energy poverty.”
While the first 14mn tonnes/year of phase of LNG Canada will enter service in 2025, its partners are already evaluating phase 2, which would double the output of the facility. All the permits are in place for that second phase, but Klein said LNG Canada must still manage stakeholder expectations around cost competitiveness, affordability, timelines, emissions and other factors.
“In that vein, we are evaluating alternatives to potentially further improve on our world leading design through additional electrification, as and when sufficient reliable power can be provided,” he said. “We are having really good discussions with the government and BC Hydro about the infrastructure required to make that happen.”
LNG Canada is now about 85% complete, and in the nearly five years since its partners made a final investment decision on the project, in October 2018, much has changed for the host Haisla Nation, its chief councillor told Egan in a second leadership dialogue opening LNG2023.
“That project has immensely changed my community in the last five years,” she said. “We are talking about being at the table right from the beginning, actively participating in the project, and benefiting from revenue sharing that we are able to invest in revitalising our culture and our language.”
Ten years ago, before LNG Canada set the bar high for indigenous participating in Canadian industrial projects, First Nations throughout the country “sat on the sidelines” and watched as others prospered from projects on First Nations lands and impacted not only the environment but also indigenous cultures.
“Now we are in a true partnership with LNG Canada and majority owners in our own project, Cedar LNG,” Smith said. “We truly feel that these projects are a part of the solution.”
This feature was originally published in the LNG2023 Daily, produced by NGW during the LNG2023 conference in Vancouver July 10-13.