Canada would back 'economically viable' new LNG terminals -finmin (updated)
14/10/2022 19:03
(Adds comments, background)
By Steve Scherer
OTTAWA, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Canada will look at
supporting more liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals as long as
they are economically feasible because they are needed to keep
the world from burning coal again amid the current energy
crunch, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Friday.
LNG "is an important transition fuel," Freeland told
reporters in Washington at the end of annual IMF and World Bank
meetings. "We will always be looking at economically viable LNG
projects."
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited in August, looking for
Canada - the world's fifth largest producer of natural gas - to
play a "major role" in filling the shortfall brought on by
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but went home with no promises.
When Scholz was in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
said "there has never been a strong business case" for LNG on
the country's east coast.
On Friday, Freeland appeared to leave the door open to
the possibility, as has Natural Resources Minister
Jonathan Wilkinson, saying that she had heard finance
ministers in Washington this week say they were having to burn
more coal because of the soaring cost of LNG.
"'I want to burn less coal,' one minister said quite
movingly," Freeland said, but cannot because "LNG is too
expensive right now."
Two east coast projects being discussed are Repsol's
REP.MC intake facility in New Brunswick, which could be
retooled for exports, and Pieridae Energy's PEA.TO proposed
Goldboro LNG facility in Nova Scotia.
Separately, Freeland indicated that Canada would need to
spend far more to compete to become the "best and fastest" at
creating green-transition industries after the U.S. passage of
the Inflation Reduction Act.
When asked if Canada was increasing its incentives to
scale up green technologies in order to match the United States,
she responded: "It is something we are very, very focused on."
"We need to act even more energetically and aggressively
than we have hitherto," she said. "We need to find ways to
attract even more private capital."
(Reporting by Steve Scherer, with additional reporting by Julie
Gordon
Editing by Chris Reese and Marguerita Choy)
((steve.scherer@thomsonreuters.com; +1-647-480-7889;))