Canada's West Coast Has a Job to Sell Gas

The challenge facing the gas industry today is one of image, according to the deputy minister of energy for British Columbia, Dave Nikolejsin. He told a panel session at the Gastech conference in Barcelona September 18 that the Canadian province's citizens are demanding companies clean up their environmental bona fides and use more renewable energy, despite the vast gas reserves. Electrifying gas compressors using hydroelectricity was a start, he said, but more must be done.

The challenge is now to shift the debate, from gas being slightly less evil than coal, to gas being the logical partner for renewables that will "save us from over-building," he said. 

"Gas is the best partner but there is so much more we need to do to clean up the profile, such as carbon intensity," he said. "The problems include the use of water for hydraulic fracturing; methane leaks and flaring." Canada is pushing hard and has declared flaring illegal except in emergencies, but there is no premium for cleaner, greener LNG, he said, expressing hope that BC, with the lowest GHG intensity of any LNG in the world, would soon join the global community of LNG exporters.

In the panel session that covered the geopolitics of gas, US federal energy regulatory commissioner Neil Chatterjee rejected the moderator's assertion that gas was a source of tensions: Chatterjee said that US gas was secure, and made the lights come on in Canada and Mexico. "Gas is a driver of opportunities," he said. "Developing countries can learn. Yes, exporting LNG is new to us, but we have garnered a lot of experience from our energy."

Nikolejsin, meanwhile, said that energy had so far escaped being used as a blunt instrument in discussions surrounding the North American Free Trade Agreement, which US president Donald Trump wants to either abandon or dramatically rewrite in his favour: "We have far more to gain from co-operation."

This is very different from US-China trade talks, as Nikolejsin pointed out: "Who would have thought that Asian customers would have to hedge against the uncertainty of supplies from the US? Using LNG as an instrument in a trade war is a dramatic development for the US."

Chatterjee, however, said that the US had outstanding features, with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission representing regulatory certainty above all. "It may not be as cheap as some would like, but it is certain. Geopolitical considerations extend beyond the bottom line; the US is a needed partner," he said.