Page 11 - GLNG Week 11 2023

GLNG AMERICAS GLNG

Company seeks $20bn compensation

from Canada for LNG terminal denial

CANADA THE companies behind the $10.1bn GNL Qué- The Gazoduq project has not been denied
The developers want bec and Gazoduq projects in Québec are seek- but would now be without an export terminal.
compensation from the ing $20bn in compensation from the federal Because of the federal denial, US company
government for rejecting government of Canada for turning down an Ruby River Capital, which is behind Mon-
the project. LNG terminal, Énergie Saguenay. tréal-based GNL Québec, has requested arbitra-
GNL Québec hopes to build the LNG termi- tion against the Ottawa government before the
nal in Saguenay, Québec. The terminal would International Centre for Settlement of Invest-
be fed by natural gas piped in from western ment Disputes (ICSID), reported Radio-Can-
Canada. ada citing Investment Arbitration Review.
Gazoduq had also been due to build an The ICSID is part of the World Bank Group.
underground 780-km pipeline from the project Ruby River, backed by Freestone Capital and
to the existing main gas transmission network Breyer Capital, has invoked the North Ameri-
located in north-eastern Ontario. LNG would can Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the
also have been brought to the terminal by boat Canada-United States-México Agreement
on the Saguenay river. (CUSMA).
State-owned Hydro-Québec would have The LNG terminal would have been able to
to build a 345-kV electric transmission line of load 160 tankers per year. The project would
around 40 km to transmit hydro power to the have been powered by hydro, and touted itself
LNG terminal. as the first large-scale carbon-neutral LNG proj-
The project was turned down by the Québec ect globally.
government in 2021 after a critical environ- But the IAEC said that the project would
mental report. In February 2022, the federal have caused an increase in greenhouse gas
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (GHG) emissions and harmed the Innu First
also denied the LNG terminal project. Minis- Nations’ cultural heritage and marine mammals
ter Steven Guilbeault cited an environmental such as the St. Lawrence beluga whales.
assessment report compiled by Canada’s Impact For its part, GNL Québec said that
Assessment Agency (IAEC). the hydro-powering of the plant and the

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