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Canada’s LNG, The Cleanest in the World – Resource Works

Published

1 year ago

8 minute read

Karen Ogen is the CEO of the First Nations LNG Alliance

From Resource Works – See More Stories from Resources Works Here

President Biden’s halt on new U.S. LNG projects offers Canada a chance to showcase its commitment to producing exceptionally clean LNG, highlighting innovative approaches to environmental sustainability and economic growth in the industry.

President Joe Biden’s freeze on approvals of new U.S. LNG-for-export projects has generated new hope for expansion of Canada’s LNG capacity and exports to follow.

From 2015 to 2022, the U.S. experienced an astronomical rise in LNG exports, soaring by an unprecedented 14,000%. Not a single Canadian LNG export project crossed the finish line to completion during this period, a stagnation that speaks volumes about the challenges faced by the industry north of the border. The explosive American growth showcased the country’s aggressive expansion into global energy markets, capitalizing on its abundant shale gas reserves and streamlined regulatory processes.

The Canadian sector’s slower progress, stymied by stringent environmental regulations and the complexities of developing export infrastructure in landlocked regions, starkly diverged from the American approach, which for years proceeded with minimal environmental considerations. If the U.S. LNG industry feels like it has handed lemons with Biden’s new climate test, for Canada it’s a chance to make lemonade.

Thanks to its careful approach, the Canadian LNG sector can now rightly show it is going to be exporting the cleanest LNG in the world when it finally does get the first shipment to market very soon.

Look at some numbers:

  • LNG Canada is projected to operate with an emissions intensity of 0.15 percent of carbon dioxide emissions per tonne of LNG produced, less than half the global industry average of 0.35 per cent per tonne.
  • The Cedar LNG project proposed by the Haisla Nation will have an emissions intensity of just 0.08 percent of CO2 per tonne of LNG. That’s less than a third of the global average.
  • And Woodfibre LNG will have an emissions intensity of just 0.04 percent of CO2 per tonne of LNG produced — and that’s less than one sixth of the global industry average.

Woodfibre LNG will also be a net-zero facility by 2027 – 23 years ahead of government net-zero regulation. Woodfibre will also be net zero during construction – a unique commitment for construction projects in Canada.

Ksi Lisims LNG, proposed by the Nisga’a Nation in B.C., promises to be operating with net-zero emissions within three years of the project’s first shipment. And Cedar LNG’s plans call for emissions to be near zero by 2030.

Woodfibre LNG points out: “We are the first e-drive LNG facility in Canada. This means our liquefaction process will be powered by renewable hydroelectricity, which is 14 times less emitting than a conventional liquefaction process powered by gas.”

Cedar LNG and Ksi Lisims LNG also plan to be all-electric, but that means B.C. Hydro will have to step up to provide the power and to transmit it to the two floating LNG production plants.

LNG Canada’s Phase One plant (which expects to go into production in 2025, but perhaps even late this year) will have to generate a portion of its cooling power by burning LNG. It would be happy to use 100% electricity, but there simply isn’t enough available. LNG Canada would certainly hope for all-electric drives for a Phase Two expansion, which is under consideration.

(Although the Site C dam will add to B.C. Hydro’s power supply in 2025, the province will still be short of electricity by 2030. So B.C. Hydro will soon put out a call for more “clean or renewable energy” from new resources. Hydro will also have to build new transmission lines or upgrade current ones, to get the power to where it is needed; and that includes LNG plants and mines.)

One reason why our emissions will be lower is our cooler climate. That means we use less energy in the process to chill natural gas to the required -161.5°C than do LNG plants on the warmer U.S. Gulf Coast or Mexican coast.

Canadian LNG companies and their natural-gas suppliers have also been working steadily to reduce emissions from wells, pipelines, and processing facilities.

Meanwhile, various studies have found that using LNG from B.C. to replace coal at Asian power-generating stations would reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by anywhere from 35 per cent to 55 percent.

And on top of all this, B.C. LNG has another advantage over U.S. LNG: The shipping distance from B.C. to prime Asian buyers is about 10 days compared to 20 days for shipments from U.S. Gulf Coast LNG plants. That can mean a reduction of 50-60% in emissions from the ships carrying the LNG.

“The distance between Canada and the key market is a huge advantage, where we are the same distance to Asia as Australia,” says Racim Gribaa of Global LNG Consulting Inc.

There is, too, another key reason why Canadian governments should look favourably on LNG exports: the benefits to Indigenous peoples who partner in, are involved in, or work for the projects.

As CEO Karen Ogen of the First Nations LNG Alliance puts it: “It’ll help boost our Canadian economy, it’ll help B.C.’s economy, and most specifically it will help the Indigenous people and our economy.

“If we’re the most disadvantaged population living in poverty, then this should help our people get out of poverty.”

And so, she adds: “Everyone wins if Canada can get into the game.”

Meanwhile, the forced pause south of the border might offer a moment of reflection for the industry, potentially providing Canada with an opportunity to reassess its own approach and perhaps find a middle ground that promotes both environmental sustainability and the economic viability of LNG exports.

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Natural gas pipeline ownership spreads across 36 First Nations in B.C.

Published on June 14, 2025

By

Chief David Jimmie is president of Stonlasec8 and Chief of Squiala First Nation in B.C. He also chairs the Western Indigenous Pipeline Group. Photo courtesy Western Indigenous Pipeline Group

From the Canadian Energy Centre

Stonlasec8 agreement is Canada’s first federal Indigenous loan guarantee

The first federally backed Indigenous loan guarantee paves the way for increased prosperity for 36 First Nations communities in British Columbia.

In May, Canada Development Investment Corporation (CDEV) announced a $400 million backstop for the consortium to jointly purchase 12.5 per cent ownership of Enbridge’s Westcoast natural gas pipeline system for $712 million.

In the works for two years, the deal redefines long-standing relationships around a pipeline that has been in operation for generations.

“For 65 years, there’s never been an opportunity or a conversation about participating in an asset that’s come through the territory,” said Chief David Jimmie of the Squiala First Nation near Vancouver, B.C.

“We now have an opportunity to have our Nation’s voices heard directly when we have concerns and our partners are willing to listen.”

Jimmie chairs the Stonlasec8 Indigenous Alliance, which represents the communities buying into the Enbridge system.

The name Stonlasec8 reflects the different regions represented in the agreement, he said.

The Westcoast pipeline stretches more than 2,900 kilometres from northeast B.C. near the Alberta border to the Canada-U.S. border near Bellingham, Wash., running through the middle of the province.

Map courtesy Enbridge

It delivers up to 3.6 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas throughout B.C. and the Lower Mainland, Alberta and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

“While we see the benefits back to communities, we are still reminded of our responsibility to the land, air and water so it is important to think of reinvestment opportunities in alternative energy sources and how we can offset the carbon footprint,” Jimmie said.

He also chairs the Western Indigenous Pipeline Group (WIPG), a coalition of First Nations communities working in partnership with Pembina Pipeline to secure an ownership stake in the newly expanded Trans Mountain pipeline system.

There is overlap between the communities in the two groups, he said.

CDEV vice-president Sébastien Labelle said provincial models such as the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation (AIOC) and Ontario’s Indigenous Opportunities Financing Program helped bring the federal government’s version of the loan guarantee to life.

“It’s not a new idea. Alberta started it before us, and Ontario,” Labelle said.

“We hired some of the same advisors AIOC hired because we want to make sure we are aligned with the market. We didn’t want to start something completely new.”

Broadly, Jimmie said the Stonlasec8 agreement will provide sustained funding for investments like housing, infrastructure, environmental stewardship and cultural preservation. But it’s up to the individual communities how to spend the ongoing proceeds.

The long-term cash injections from owning equity stakes of major projects can provide benefits that traditional funding agreements with the federal government do not, he said.

Labelle said the goal is to ensure Indigenous communities benefit from projects on their traditional territories.

“There’s a lot of intangible, indirect things that I think are hugely important from an economic perspective,” he said.

“You are improving the relationship with pipeline companies, you are improving social license to do projects like this.”

Jimmie stressed the impact the collaborative atmosphere of the negotiations had on the success of the Stonlasec8 agreement.

“It takes true collaboration to reach a successful partnership, which doesn’t always happen. And from the Nation representation, the sophistication of the group was one of the best I’ve ever worked with.”

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Alberta

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith Discusses Moving Energy Forward at the Global Energy Show in Calgary

Published on June 13, 2025

By

From Energy Now

At the energy conference in Calgary, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pressed the case for building infrastructure to move provincial products to international markets, via a transportation and energy corridor to British Columbia.

“The anchor tenant for this corridor must be a 42-inch pipeline, moving one million incremental barrels of oil to those global markets. And we can’t stop there,” she told the audience.

The premier reiterated her support for new pipelines north to Grays Bay in Nunavut, east to Churchill, Man., and potentially a new version of Energy East.

The discussion comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney and his government are assembling a list of major projects of national interest to fast-track for approval.

Carney has also pledged to establish a major project review office that would issue decisions within two years, instead of five.

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