Page 10 - NorthAmOil Week 11 2023

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Companies seek $20bn compensation from

Canada for Quebec LNG terminal denial

QUEBEC GNL Québec and Gazoduq are seeking $20bn in Ruby River Capital, which is behind Mon-
compensation from the federal government of tréal-based GNL Québec, has requested arbi-
Canada for rejecting the Énergie Saguenay LNG tration against the Canadian government before
export proposal in Quebec. the International Centre for Settlement of
GNL Québec had hoped to build the LNG Investment Disputes (ICSID).
terminal in Saguenay. The terminal would have The ICSID is part of the World Bank Group.
been fed by natural gas piped in from Western Ruby River, which in turn is backed by Free-
Canada. stone Capital and Breyer Capital, has invoked
Gazoduq had also been due to build an the North American Free Trade Agreement The project was
underground 780-km pipeline from the project (NAFTA) and the Canada-United States-Mexico
to the existing main gas transmission network Agreement (CUSMA). turned down
located in north-eastern Ontario. LNG would The LNG terminal would have been able to
also have been brought to the terminal by boat load 160 tankers per year. The project would by the Quebec
on the Saguenay river. have been powered by hydro, with GNL Québec
State-owned Hydro-Québec would have built touting it as the first large-scale carbon-neutral government
a 345-kV electric transmission line of around LNG project globally. in 2021 after
40 km to transmit hydro power to the LNG But the IAEC said that the project would have
terminal. caused an increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) a critical
The project was turned down by the Quebec emissions and harmed the Innu First Nations’
government in 2021 after a critical environmen- cultural heritage, as well as marine mammals environmental
tal report. In February 2022, the federal Cana- such as St. Lawrence beluga whales.
dian Ministry of Environment and Climate For its part, GNL Québec had argued that the report.
Change also denied the LNG terminal project. hydro-powering of the plant and the replace-
Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate ment of coal-fired plants with natural gas would
Change Steven Guilbeault cited an environmen- have decreased emissions.
tal assessment report compiled by Canada’s GNL Québec was renamed Symbio Infra-
Impact Assessment Agency (IAEC). structure in 2021. Symbio announced in
The Gazoduq project has not been rejected June 2022 that it had agreed with Naftogaz,
but would now be without an export terminal the Ukrainian state oil and gas company, to
to serve. supply the war-torn country with both LNG
Because of the federal denial, US company and hydrogen.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 11 16•March•2023