The Globe and Mail reports, “Fierce global competition will be among the topics to be discussed when a three-day international LNG conference kicks off Wednesday in Vancouver. A high-profile speaker on the first day will be Shamsul Azhar Abbas, chief executive officer of Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas. …As the competition to secure long-term buyers heats up, B.C. Premier Christy Clark faces pressure to reassure the global LNG industry gathering in Vancouver this week that her Liberal government can provide a framework that will support construction of several projects that are already facing challenging economics.”
The Council of Canadians is working to counter this conference by organizing a public forum in Vancouver this evening called LNG Pipedreams: Fracked Futures and Community Resistance. To read more about our forum, please see Counter-summit to expose impact of B.C.’s LNG pipe dreams and Vancouver forum to challenge corporate-government LNG agenda. On Friday at noon hour, we’ll also be joining a Rising Tide Frack Off protest to challenge the ‘International LNG in B.C.’ conference.
The newspaper report also highlights that a new B.C. LNG Developers Alliance has been formed with the purpose to:
-
promote the liquefied natural gas industry in the province -
engage in public consultations on pipelines and export terminals -
co-ordinate community relations and labour strategies -
forge bonds to stay on the same page -
avoid duplication as they seek to win public support -
build “an LNG literacy program,” designed to inform B.C. residents about the industry.
“The alliance’s four members are: Petronas-led Pacific NorthWest LNG; Shell Canada Energy-led LNG Canada; BG Group PLC’s Prince Rupert LNG; and the Kitimat LNG project, which is co-owned by the Canadian units of Chevron Corp. and Apache Corp.”
The newspaper notes, “There are 14 B.C. LNG proposals in the works, but industry experts predict that eventually there will only be four that come to fruition.”
Speculation has suggested that it will be these four projects that move forward:
Pacific Northwest LNG
Company: Petronas, Progress Energy, Japan Petroleum Exploration Company
Location: Lelu Island, Prince Rupert
Pipeline: Prince Rupert Gas Transmission
Capacity: 22 million tonnes per year/ 1.5-2.7 billion cubic feet per day
Expected in-service date: 2018
LNG Canada
Company: Shell Canada Ltd., PetroChina Company, Korea Gas Corp, Mitsubishi Corp
Location: Kitimat
Capacity: 12 million tonnes per year/ 1.5-3.1 billion cubic feet per day
Pipeline: TransCanada Coastal GasLink
Expected in-service date: 2018
Kitimat LNG
Company: Chevron Corp., Apache Corp.
Capacity: 5 million tonnes per year/ .6-1.3 billion cubic feet per day
Location: Kitimat
Pipeline: Pacific Trails
Expected in-service date: 2016
Woodfibre LNG
Company: Pacific Oil & Gas (owned by Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto)
Capacity: 2 million tonnes per year/ 290 million cubic feet per day
Location: Squamish, 75 kilometres north of Vancouver
Pipeline: Eagle Mountain-Woodfibre
Expected in-service date: 2017
The Council of Canadians is opposed to LNG/ fracking projects because they: contribute to climate change; consume massive amounts of water; cause ecosystem destruction and disrupt communities; often violate the rights of Indigenous peoples; mean a high number of LNG tanker ships impacting marine safety, fishing areas and local wildlife; impact air quality, notably the plants emit sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide; require huge amounts of electricity and/or burn natural gas to generate power; could result in a disastrous LNG spill in an ocean passage; and may power destructive projects in other countries.
