Hon. Jim Prentice, Vice Chairman of CIBC, says without urgency "we could
wake up to discover that our competitive opportunity has vanished"
CALGARY, Sept. 18, 2013 /CNW/ - CIBC (TSX: CM) (NYSE: CM) - Canada must
act with more urgency to license and build facilities to export
liquefied natural gas to Asia or risk squandering the opportunity to
our competitors, says the Honorable Jim Prentice, Senior Executive
Vice-President and Vice Chairman of CIBC.
Mr. Prentice told an audience at the Canada LNG Export Forum in Calgary
that if we don't move quickly to take advantage of our unprecedented
potential to be a global supplier of LNG, we are going to lose out to
competition from the U.S., Australia and elsewhere.
"Given the scope of the opportunity before us, and given the speed with
which other countries around the world are rushing to get into the game
and fill LNG demand, we in Canada need to push ahead with a much
greater sense of urgency," said Mr. Prentice. "There is a window of
opportunity, and it is closing. If Canada is ultimately to win in
liquefied natural gas, we need to pull together and seize that
opportunity before it passes us by."
He noted that momentum in the sector has slowed to a crawl in Canada.
Two years ago, mergers and acquisitions in LNG-related transactions
were valued at close to $2 billion and last year, M&A activity hit $8.7
billion. "However, so far in 2013 there has not been a single
LNG-related shale gas transaction to report - and a number of
opportunities haven't managed to make it over the finish line."
To get these export projects moving the industry will need to be
aggressive and move with a purpose says Mr. Prentice. He laid out six
key hurdles that must be cleared:
-
Establish a royalty regime that both promotes the establishment of an
LNG industry in Canada and helps ensure its long-term survival and
success;
-
Ensure we have sufficient skilled labour to build these facilities and
pipelines under tight timelines;
-
Ensure the federal government adopts a proactive role to develop a
coastal management regime that takes into account the rewards as well
as the environmental risks of increased west coast tanker traffic. This
will require a co-management regime for those waters, together with the
province of British Columbia and the coastal First Nations;
-
Decide how LNG facilities in B.C. will be powered;
-
Resolve the contract standoff that's emerged between project developers
here in Canada and potential customers in Asia. One solution appears to
be the acquisition of equity positions in Canadian LNG facilities by
the very companies that will be buying our gas; and
-
Better understand and move to address the competitive challenge that is
being posed by the United States.
Mr. Prentice believes the benefits Canada offers as a competitor - our
energy infrastructure expertise and our stability of supply foremost
among them - positions the country well to lead and thrive in the
sector going forward. But to get there we need to aggressively tackle
these issues or risk being left behind.
"What's important today from the Canadian perspective is that the
competition - the U.S., East Africa, Australia - is moving quickly to
seize the Asian opportunity, and we need to keep pace," adds Mr.
Prentice. "The Americans are eager to get into LNG in a big and
aggressive way. That could have real implications for our ability to do
the same. If we're hesitant, if we continue to move slowly, we could
wake up to discover that our competitive opportunity has vanished. For
Canada, nothing is more urgent right now than getting in the game.
"Now that we see the full scope of what needs to be done, we can't allow
ourselves to get distracted and take our eyes off what really matters.
We must move forward with pace and commitment on LNG - understanding
that our potential partners overseas have other options to meet their
appetite for energy, and that we are not the only game in town."
A copy of Mr. Prentice's speech is available at:
http://files.newswire.ca/256/CIBC18.pdf.
About CIBC
CIBC is a leading North American financial institution with more than 11
million personal banking and business clients. CIBC offers a full range
of products and services through its comprehensive electronic banking
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United States and around the world. You can find other news releases
and information about CIBC in our Media Centre on our corporate website
at www.cibc.com.
SOURCE CIBC
PDF available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2013/09/18/20130918_C8393_DOC_EN_31024.pdf
