Alberta and BC are in talks to expand Canada’s LNG reach globally, says Danielle Smith

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her province has begun talks with British Columbia as part of an effort to significantly expand the reach of Canadian natural gas to more foreign markets.

Speaking on the last day of the international LNG At the 2023 conference in Vancouver, Smith said delegates told her that many countries in Asia cannot meet emissions reduction targets without natural gas, and that the goal should be for Canada to fill that gap and benefit from it.

She expressed frustration with the lack of federal infrastructure that would allow Alberta producers to meet the needs of the global market.

“With the right infrastructure, Western Canada would become a preferred supplier to both Asia and Europe,” Smith told conference attendees.

“Send LNG from the west coast of Canada to Asia takes 11 days, compared to 20 days from the US Gulf Coast.”

“With the completion of proposed projects in Atlantic Canada, shipping Western Canada’s gas to Europe would take seven to eight days, less than any other North American LNGprojects.”

In an effort to spur more LNG export projects on the West Coast, Smith said she and BC Prime Minister David Eby started a discussion two weeks ago to explore whether Article 6 of the United Nations Paris Agreement could be used, allowing Canada to receive carbon credits for reducing emissions in Abroad.

Smith said she wants Alberta and BC to “pioneer” a way to use Article 6 to spark more interest in export infrastructure that would provide Asia with LNGwhile Canadian jurisdictions get the credits generated by displacing more polluting fuels like coal in those markets.

“I feel this is an integral part of a global emissions reduction strategy, and I think Alberta has a duty as the resource owner in our province to lead the way and make sure we build that consensus,” Smith said.

The massive LNG Canada Project in Kitimat, BC, a $40 billion dollar project that is about 85 percent complete, is Canada’s only such export facility under construction and is expected to be completed by mid-decade.

Earlier this week, Eby confirmed he was speaking to other prime ministers about the LNG opportunities and the realization that there is a global demand for Canadian natural gas internationally.

However, Eby said he has “no confidence at all” that BC is on track to provide the necessary electricity to move the natural gas industry locally away from fossil fuel use, something that companies such as Malaysian energy giant Petronas cited as an important part of the Canadian LNG brand.

“It takes eight to nine years to meet an industry request for the kind of electricity they are looking for,” said Eby. “It takes about the same time to go through the call for power through revival and handover.”

“We need to speed that up.”

Eby said a task force was set up to do just that, to make sure BC doesn’t miss out on LNG’s economic opportunity.

Smith said Alberta won’t stop talking to BC, identifying the Yukon-Alaska corridor through Skagway, a Saskatchewan-Manitoba corridor to Churchill and possible links to Ontario’s James Bay as ideas to explore.

“I’m looking for all those options,” she said. “I think of the best option, since we already see so many LNG ongoing projects with a partnership of indigenous communities ensures that we can connect our gas to those project lines.