On October 14, Chrystia Freeland, federal finance minister, said that Canada is open to supporting more LNG export terminals within its borders, as long as they are economically feasible and can be proven to be displacing coal-fired power generation.
Freeland, speaking to reporters in Washington at the end of IMF and World Bank meetings, said that Ottawa “will always be looking at economically-viable LNG projects.”
Olaf Scholz, German chancellor, visited Canada in August hoping to come away with new LNG supply commitments from prime minister Justin Trudeau.
But Trudeau was non-committal, questioning the business case for LNG on Canada’s Atlantic coast and instead steering the German leader towards Canada’s future green hydrogen capabilities – which likely won’t be realised for several years.
Two east coast LNG projects remain on the table – Pieridae Energy’s 10mn mt/yr Goldboro LNG project in Nova Scotia, and a possible conversion by Repsol of its little-used LNG import and regasification terminal in New Brunswick.
Both projects, however, are hampered by a lack of pipeline capacity to move feed gas from western Canada.
For more information visit www.nrcan.gc.ca
