LNG Canada aims to start shipping to world within two years Liquefied natural gas will play an “absolutely crucial role” in the world’s shift away from fossil fuels, says LNG Canada’s chief executive, as the company looks to put the country on the global map of LNG-exporting nations within the next two years.
Jason Klein said the company’s export facility in Kitimat, B.C., is now 85 per cent complete and 6,500 individuals are employed at the site. The goal is to ship gas from the facility to Asian markets.
“Throughout the world, people are still building new coal fired power plants particularly in Asia,” he said. “We don’t see LNG displacing renewables. We see the market continuing to grow and we see that LNG can really complement renewables as base load power especially in scenarios where intermittencies are a problem in growing economies that are still growing on coal.”
LNG Canada represents one of the largest energy investments in Canadian history, with the project estimated to cost about $40 billion. It is a joint venture with five global energy firms: Shell PLC, Petronas Nasional Berhad, PetroChina Co. Ltd., Mitsubishi Corp. and the Korea Gas Corp.
The Canadian government is spending billions of dollars on creating a battery industry as the world tries to gradually shift away from the use of fossil fuels. Climate activists say Canada should be focused on renewable energy as opposed to LNG, which is a fossil fuel.
But Klein said the demand for natural gas, which produces half the emissions of coal, is expected to “dramatically increase” worldwide alongside renewable energy, especially in China.
He said LNG Canada intends to use the “greenest tug fleet in the world,” which will include a combination of battery electric and LNG-powered tugs, to transport the gas it produces, and that using renewable energy to power the second phase of the project would ensure the company minimizes its carbon emissions.
The first phase of the project, which will convert natural gas to LNG, will be powered by natural gas turbines once completed. Everything else, however, will be powered by British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority. In the second phase, Klein hopes to replace the natural gas turbines with electric motors.
He said the issues around electrification will require significant capital investment across the value chain.
“We continue to work collaboratively with the governments and other stakeholders to look at those capital requirements and the global cost competitiveness,” he said.
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Klein hopes to spread the potential of Canada as an LNG source next week at an LNG conference taking place in Vancouver. The conference was initially supposed to take place in Russia, but was moved after the invasion of Ukraine.
“Vancouver is about to become an entrance in the world of global LNG trade,” he said. “And Canada is poised to become a reliable supplier.”