Latest news with #IanArcher
Calgary Herald
03-07-2025
- Business
- Calgary Herald
How does Canada's burgeoning LNG industry measure up to its ambitions?
Article content 'But up until now, the bulk of LNG development has actually been more by large international players like Shell,' said Ian Archer, associate director, North America Natural Gas at S&P Global Inc. Article content The LNG Canada venture is jointly owned by five international oil and gas companies: British multinational Shell PLC (40 per cent), Malaysia's state-owned Petronas (25 per cent), state-owned PetroChina Company Ltd. (15 per cent), Japan's publicly traded Mitsubishi Corp. (15 per cent) and South Korea's state-owned Korea Gas Corp., or Kogas (five per cent). Article content Located about 650 kilometers northwest of Vancouver, the LNG Canada Kitimat terminal represents the 'largest single private sector investment in the history of the country,' according to the federal government. Article content The project's $40 billion price tag includes $18 billion for the Kitimat facility and the $14.5 billion for the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which is operated by Calgary-based TC Energy Corp. and transports natural gas from Dawson Creek in the B.C. interior to Kitimat. Article content Article content Canada is currently the world's fifth-largest producer of natural gas, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and the fourth-largest exporter, according to Reuters. Article content Canada has some of the 'largest and most productive' natural gas deposits in the world, according to Natural Resources Canada, with about 44 trillion cubic metres (1,566 trillion cubic feet) in marketable natural gas resources. At the current rate of production, that's about 300 years' worth of natural gas. Article content Archer said the biggest growing markets for natural gas are China, India and a range of smaller countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam. Europe is another big market as several countries look to transition away from importing gas from Russia due to the war in Ukraine. Article content 'But most of the growth is expected to be in Asia and that's why West Coast LNG looks particularly appealing, because the market is literally just across the Pacific,' said Archer. Article content Article content Archer said LNG is a niche but growing market, and a globally competitive one. But when it comes to geography, Canada has a big advantage over the United States. It takes about 10 shipping days to reach Asia from Canada's west coast, compared to 20 days for LNG shipments coming from the U.S. Gulf Coast. Article content B.C. Premier David Eby said the LNG Canada project will increase Canada's gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.4 per cent, while TC Energy chief executive Francois Poirier told the Financial Post earlier this year that LNG shipments could boost Canada's GDP by up to $75 billion annually. Article content LNG Canada is currently considering expanding the Kitimat facility, which would double its export capacity from 14 million to 28 million tonnes per year. Article content Cedar LNG, a floating liquefaction and export facility toted as the world's first Indigenous majority-owned LNG project, is currently under construction in Kitimat and expected be in service in late 2028. The project is co-owned by the Haisla Nation and Pembina Pipeline Corp.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alaska could rival Canada's LNG industry but the hurdles are high
Alaska LNG will compete head-to-head with Canada's liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry for buyers in Asian markets if it is ever built, but the proposed US$44-billion project faces major hurdles despite a recent revival in fortunes, experts say. The long-languishing megaproject has been reinvigorated by United States President Donald Trump and his global tariff policy, which has prompted a rush of interest from Asian governments offering to buy more American LNG in exchange for relief from U.S. duties. 'There does seem to be some momentum behind Alaska LNG that cannot be ignored,' Ian Archer, natural gas expert and associate director at S&P Global Commodity Insights, said in an email. 'It would compete directly with Canadian LNG for the Asian market and could be a potential threat.' However, he said the sheer scope of the project — including the requirement for a new pipeline that would be nearly twice the length of Coastal GasLink, the 670-kilometre pipeline feeding LNG Canada on British Columbia's north coast — could push the price tag for Alaska LNG closer to US$50 billion. 'That's an enormous amount for nearly any private company, so it would have to be built with a combination of federal money and a corporate consortium,' Archer said, noting the project would also face significant environmental and local opposition. The ambition of the project's current backers is to build a 1,300-kilometre pipeline connecting Alaska's stranded North Slope natural gas to a new 20-million-tonne-per-annum (MPTA) liquefaction plant and export terminal in the Nikiski area of south-central Alaska. Alaska LNG's export capacity would be smaller than the full build-out of the Shell PLC-led LNG Canada project in Kitimat, B.C., which is set to begin shipments this year at 14 MPTA, but which could be expanded to 28 MPTA, pending a green light from joint-venture partners Petronas Energy Canada Ltd., PetroChina Co. Ltd., Mitsubishi Corp. and Korean Gas Corp. Both projects would cut LNG shipping times from North America to Asia in half, avoiding the delays and disruptions that sometimes frustrate Gulf Coast exporters that must use the Panama Canal. But despite Trump's bluster about developing and exporting Alaska's resources, experts and investors, including Mitsubishi, which is reportedly considering investing in the project, believe Alaska LNG could take a decade or more to build. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have all said they are considering investing in the project, though some critics have characterized those announcements as politically motivated rather than based on the project's inherent economic strengths or advantages. Asian countries, which are already among the largest global importers of LNG, may see signing agreements to purchase more U.S. supply as a potential way to gain relief from tariffs. 'There is talk of a big energy deal in Alaska, where the Japanese, and perhaps the Koreans, perhaps the Taiwanese, would take a lot of the offtake and provide financing for the deals,' U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on CNBC Tuesday. 'Not only would that provide a lot of American jobs, but it would narrow the trade deficit.' Former project owners ExxonMobil Corp., BP PLC and ConocoPhillips Co. backed out in 2016 over concerns the project wasn't competitive. Alaska LNG remained stalled and in the state's hands for years until last month, when the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. reached an agreement with private developer Glenfarne Group LLC to lead and finance the project's development. 'I have yet to meet a single potential Asian buyer who is not genuinely concerned about the economics of that project,' Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a natural gas markets expert and research scholar for the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, said in an email. China halts U.S. LNG imports for longest since last trade war Quebec open to LNG, oil projects after Trump threats 'If (Trump) was not trying actively to make them sign a deal, I am not sure anybody would actually look at that project.' — With files from Bloomberg News • Email: jgowling@ Sign in to access your portfolio
