Diversifying Natural Gas Markets Critical
Wednesday, January 9, 2013 @ 11:50 AM
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Prince George, B.C. – Diversifying the market for natural gas is critical for that sector in Canada “Our current only customer, may soon be our biggest competitor” says Doug Bloom, the President of Canadian LNG Energy for Spectra Energy, who says the United States has more natural gas than Canada and that is driving the need to diversify our markets. The United States already has LNG import facilities, which, with some investment, can be turned into export terminals.(at right Doug Bloom addresses B.C. Natural Resource Forum photo-250NEWS)
Bloom says although there is a growing demand in Asia for natural gas, there are some challenges that need to be addressed before the critical investment can be attracted to Canada. He says the Idle No More movement has raised concerns that there is uncertainty in Canada "`Idle No More’ is fairly recent, but it really is indicative of our unsettled relationships with First Nations. The issues we are addressing as a country and a province with First Nations communities are certainly well known internationally. I think where you have issues that you’re not sure about just creates uncertainty and uncertainty is a negative thing for investors and people who are contemplating massive new capital intensive growth opportunities so I think it’s an area we obviously have to pay a great deal of attention to. We need to find solutions and solutions are out there, we know that. We’ve worked with|First Nations communities for 60 years in this province and we’ve got some very good relations, we’ve got very good business relationships as well and I think we are just going to have to do our work on the ground in projects and business to find those benefits, those opportunities for First Nations communities.”
Bloom told the B.C. Northern Resource Forum “ B.C. First Nations are very entrepreneurial” . He says he is often asked “Can you get a project done in Canada?” and says “certainly the move to a single approval system is going to simplify the process, but that message has not reached the international investors yet.”
There is a lot of competition to deliver natural gas to Asia. In addition to the potential of our American neighbours, he says Australia already has facilities operating, but like Canada, it is facing challenges about the labour force as it is a nation which has vast resources, but a population concentrated in urban areas. There are also projects underway in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.
The opportunity ahead of us is vast, He says the long term predictions for the natural gas industry are for 10 million person years of employment, 1.5 trillion dollars in revenue, $173 Billion in federal taxes, $132 billion in provincial taxes, and $161 million dollars in royalties. Bloom says much of those benefits can be captured by British Columbia. He says the predictions for employment say there will be 40 thousand people directly employed in the natural gas sector by 2035, that’s more than three times the current 12,000 employed in the sector. Those numbers do not reflect the jobs that would be created in the support industry.
Comments
“I think we are just going to have to do our work on the ground in projects and business to find those benefits, those opportunities for First Nations communities.â
The USA gave the “Indians” Casinos. They have their income and are doing relatively well compared to here.
We did not learn to play “share” in our Kindergarten sandbox. Instead we gave them a corner of the sandbox and told them to play there …. the corner that the neighbourhod cats were using for their litter box.
Just say it as it is… we want to sell more of Canadas natural resources so us at home have to pay higher prices… and the lies and gouging continue
I wonder with the amount of natural gas which may be going on the world market in a few years, whether the price will actually level off to be the same for the local market as for the international market.
No P Val, we sell natural resources for the jobs,taxes, royalties and a functioning economy. Maybe you should join it.
Shouldn’t we just treaty up, take our lumps and create some certainty for investors? Or we could drag this out for a couple hundred years.
Seems to me the real growth industry locally will be geothermal heat.
My gas bill for a three bedroom two level home was $360 for November and $260 for December… at this rate hydro would be cheaper, or maybe a one time investment in geothermal. I can’t imagine what my gas bill would be when gas is four times what it is today at Asian market prices. Wood heat or geothermal will be the only way to go.
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