How LNG Is Changing The Face Of BC
Based on the recent approvals by the National Energy Board of four new applications for LNG export licenses, in BC we can expect a great deal of activity in the coming years in the export of the product.
In all likelihood, there will be at minimum, four pipe lines passing through this area in order to reach the plants located on the west coast.
At least three of the plants already have support from First Nations and the general public has had little to say in the development of the projects.
Christy Clark was right when she suggested that LNG plants could spell the future for B BC's fossil energy.
As the demand for coal drops off, and it will, natural gas will begin to fill the void around the world.
While many countries have already begun to line up their prospective markets, Canada has been slow in entering the race. But, what Canada has is a stable political climate and a largely untapped resource.
In the USA, great strides have been made in the extraction of fossil fuels to a point that it is being suggested that the US may become energy self sufficient and the demand for gas and oil will drop off substantially. That will have an enormous impact on the Canadian economy which has been relying on the export of this product to the US. It also will have the effect of changing the fortunes of many countries which have been lavishing in the oil profits.
It is about to become a changed game and if Canada hopes to stay ahead of the curve, it will need to move quickly to secure a bigger slice of the fossil fuel market.
I'm Meisner and that's one man's opinion.
Comments
What I am not understanding is that:
1. no one has a patent on natural gas
2. with lots of gas coming on the market it will be a buyer’s market, so no one will benefit unless the suppliers will agree on a common price to charge under an OPEC-like cartel – an OGEC.
So, we will make money as a province and a country if we get a sufficient royalty. If we give the stuff away, we will be selling our “savings” as long as we believe that in the future the price of natural gas will rise due to eventual scarcity and lack of sufficiently developed alternate energy sources.
Sure would transform downtown PG if all these LNG subsidiaries located their head offices in PG as the hub for the northern BC LNG industry. 4-5 new highrise office towers… maybe followed by BMO and CIBC office towers… could change the dynamic of the Victoria Street business district.
BTW that American claim to be on their way to self sufficiency is old news. Turns out the Bakin formation in North Dakota is now on a decline of 60,000 barrels a month from its peak last year. May not be as much recoverable as they had originally anticipated.
eg Petronous with a $35 billion dollar infrastructure investment in BC… whats $200 million for a state of the art office tower to show their commitment. Petronous is huge into real-estate as well, and own the highest office tower in Asia for their head quarters in Malaysia, so not entirely out of the question at the heart of their proposed North American operations.
How does PG work to get as much of the new LNG industry located in PG, ideally with head offices in a cluster so its the place to be for everyone in the industry?
Licence to export no big deal, the question is will they develop even one plant given the market and number of new plants in production and the 12 under construcion…. time will tell.
It is not often that I disagree with you Ben but this is one of those times. As you say, we are late coming to this game but we are quickly catching up. We need to be in the lead. Every other country seems to have natural gas. China has huge reserves. Natural gas will soon be so cheap that we will not be able to find markets. Coal will always be needed to make steel. Again, the world supply is large and we get very little for it.
For every action there is a reaction.
So, as we ramp up the exports of natural gas, and importers reduce the need for coal, will be then be reducing the amount of coal that we export, and have a corresponding reduction in coal producing jobs.??
Furthermore,. Canada is the third largest exporter of natural gas, however we have (at this time) only one customer. The USA. The USA is starting to reduce imports of natural gas from Canada, and will soon become a major exporter of LNG. So while we export less to the USA, we will need to increase our exports to other Countries just to maintain the status quo.
There are presently 10 Major exporters of LNG ie; Qatar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Nigeria, Trinidad, Algeria, Russia, Oman, and Brunei, plus many smaller exporters. These Countries have been exporting gas for years, have huge reserves, and are not likely to lie down, and allow Canada to take their markets.
Major importers are Japan, Korea, United Kingdom, Spain, China, India, Taiwan, France, Italy, and many smaller importers.
Canada is getting into the Natural Gas exporting business a day late, and a dollar short. In fact as recently as 2008, we were gearing up to import natural gas through Kitimat, and some East Coast ports to supply the Natural Gas Market in North America. This all changed with **fracking**. We will now try and become a major exporter of this product.
Failure to secure major customers for Canadian LNG, along with a major decrease in sales of LNG, and Oil to the USA poses some very serious threats to our gas and oil industry.
The Liberals and Christy Clark, can spin this issue as a jobs producing, money making, project for BC, all they want, but the fact of the matter is, it is more like a absolute need, just to keep our industry alive.
If Canfor does not have a visible presence in downtown PG, why would any oil/gas/pipeline based company have such a presence?
Based on the recent experience with TC pipelines locating in the 5th and Ospika area and given approval to have an increased office size from what is typically allowed for offices located outside of downtown. I would say chances are slim to none for any major corporation that happens to be investing in building infrastructure but very little in operating it due to the nature of it, to invest in offices in downtown PG.
They might provide naming rights to a PAC or a resource extraction engineering building at UNBC, but that would be it.
LOL
“In all likelihood, there will be at minimum, four pipe lines passing through this area in order to reach the plants located on the west coast.”
No there won’t. There’s not enough gas to supply them all. At the end of the day, there will probably be only one LNG pipeline.
Offices in downtown? In yer dreams. Downtown was, is and always will be a dead horse to be flogged before and during a civic election. How far back do you remember? Carry on.
I’m not sure I see any strategic advantage for any LNG company to build a head office or tower in PG, unless it is part of a package that would include significant government incentives.
Most of the work being done in a head office would be administrative (i.e. HR, finance, accounting, marketing, legal, etc.) and this could be done anywhere in the country or even continent. More than likely, it would be done at a pre-existing head office located somewhere.
PG may get a satellite office or something like that, but only if they needed it for people who would be doing work in the field. More than likely, I could see those offices setting up shop in the Peace Region if they were built.
People keep thinking that Prince George has something to offer to the business world. Not likely.
They like to be where the action is, ie; Calgary, Vancouver, Hong Kong, London, etc; etc;
99.9% of the worlds population does not know that Prince George exists, and certainly do not know where it is located.
Even our illustrious past Premier Gordon Campbell, coordinated all his meetings so that he wouldn’t have to stay over night in Prince George.
There is nothing wrong with Prince George that a little release of pressure from swollen heads wouldn’t fix.
I think companies potentially investing billions have a better handle on global supply demand dynamics and Canadian supply than all of us.
But dow, I thought all the expertise could be found right here in the comments section of this site! ;-)
I will agree with a few of the other posters, in that PG is only big enough for a satellite outpost, no matter what happens on the LNG front. The real corporate HQ would most likely be in Calgary.
Palopu: “People keep thinking that Prince George has something to offer to the business world. Not likely.”
And you think you have something to offer to PG. Not likely!!
Speaking of Calgary.
The real question is why, when the provincial capital is in Edmonton, the main oil discovery that got Alberta into the industry was at the Leduc fields and the largest oil and gas operations are north of Edmonton ….. why is Calgary the main administrative centre for the industry.
I know …… Calgary did not have enough Palopu types
Gus. I offer PG the same as most who work here, pay their taxes, and try to exert some control on pseudo intellectuals, underworked overpaid Civil Servants, and Politicians who are out of touch with the realities of life.
These politicians just signed a Code of Conduct that has their first priority listed as follows.
1. Act in the Public Interest.
**Council shall act in the public interest by conducting its business with integrity, in a fair, honest, and open manner.**
The question is: Who determines what the public interest is???
Prince George suffers from an acute case of BS, intermingled with a touch of inferiority, and topped off with an inane sense of superiority. This of course is a recipe for failure, and of course if one was to look closely at how this City has been run for the past 30/40 years you would see that failure in all aspects of running the City is quite apparent.
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