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Ottawa offers support to LNG Canada
invEstMEnt
THE Canadian government has said it will pro- vide CAd275mn ($209mn) in federal funding towards the Royal dutch Shell-led LNG Can- ada project, which is being built on the British Columbia coast. e contribution will include CAd220mn ($167mn) that will be used to buy energy-efficient gas turbines to power the project’s liquefaction plant. Additionally, CAd55mn ($42mn) will go towards replacing an ageing highway bridge in Kitimat, where the terminal will be located, as an increase in tra c is anticipated.
e nancial support is being touted as an investment in “cleaner technology” as Canada attempts to monetise its abundant natural gas resources and send them to new markets.
A federal government news release noted that the CAd40bn ($30bn) LNG Canada scheme represents the “largest private sector investment in Canadian history”.
Announcing the government’s contribu- tion in Kitimat on June 24, Canadian Minister of Finance Bill Morneau said the project would diversify the country’s trade, grow its economy and create jobs.
However, not everyone is as supportive of the development, which comes as environmental issues are increasingly being treated as a pri- ority in Canada. Earlier in June, the House of
Commons – the lower house of Canada’s Parlia- ment – declared a national climate emergency in the country. And BC Green Party leader Andrew Weaver was among those quick to crit- icise ottawa for supporting oil and gas projects including LNG Canada against the backdrop of the House of Commons motion – which is non-binding.
“You wonder why Canadians are cynical about the way this government is dealing with the climate crisis,” Weaver said.
However, the LNG industry and ottawa con- tend that natural gas is more environmentally friendly and less carbon-intensive than other fossil fuels, and that its development and export should therefore be supported.
“LNG Canada’s facility will help bring a cleaner Canadian energy source to replace coal in some of the world’s fastest-growing economies,” said Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic development Navdeep Bains.
And LNG Canada’s CEo, Andy Calitz, has said the government funding would help the company to develop “the lowest carbon content LNG for export in the world today”. Nonetheless, the project is still anticipated to become BC’s sin- gle largest source of carbon dioxide (Co2) emis- sions, as well as one of the biggest in the country as a whole.
asia
Tokyo Gas clinches two LNG deals
PERfoRManCE
ToKYo Gas has reached two separate deals on lique ed natural gas (LNG) supply with Sumi- tomo Joint Electric Power and Royal dutch Shell.
e Japanese utility said on June 19 that it had signed a heads of agreement (HoA) to sell 170,000 tonnes per year (t/y) of LNG to Sum- itomo Joint Electric for ve years. e supply deal, which uses an ex-ship delivery framework, will start in nancial year 2021, which will begin on April 1.
Tokyo Gas said it would source the LNG from those projects it has already agreed on supply contracts.
The deal, which is Tokyo Gas’ third LNG wholesale agreement using ex-ship terms, came hot on the heels of Shell’s announcement on June 18 that it had agreed to deliver a single cargo of carbon-neutral LNG to Tokyo Gas. e cargo will be delivered by July 2019.
The Anglo-dutch super-major said it had reached a similar deal with GS Energy, while declining to reveal the size or price of either
cargo.
Shell said nature-based carbon credits would
be used to o set all of the carbon dioxide (Co2) emissions generated during the exploration, pro- duction, delivery and consumption of the gas.
Commenting on the agreement, Tokyo Gas managing executive officer Kentaro Kimoto said: “In addition to the widespread expansion of natural gas, with its character of having the least Co2 emission among fossil fuels, we will continue our effort to realise the low carbon society as well as providing a new value to our customers by introducing carbon-neutral LNG as a new e ort.”
e carbon-neutral LNG supply agreement is the rst in its kind and comes a couple of months a er Tokyo Gas and Shell announced a er sup- ply rst. Two said in April that they had signed a 10-year supply deal that partly uses a coal-linked pricing formula. Under the terms of the deal Shell will supply the utility with 500,000 t/y from its global LNG.
Week 25 27•June•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P7
