Canadian Energy Centre
These three Indigenous women are leading the future of Canadian LNG
Crystal Smith, chief councillor of the Haisla Nation, Karen Ogen, CEO of the First Nations LNG Alliance, and Eva Clayton, president of the Nisga’a Nation.
From the Canadian Energy Centre
‘By being owners in these projects, we can meaningfully contribute to a cleaner and more just world’
Three female Indigenous leaders in British Columbia are leading the future of Canadian LNG.
Eva Clayton is president of the Nisga’a Nation, a joint venture partner in the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG project. Karen Ogen, former elected chief of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation, is CEO of the First Nations LNG Alliance. And Crystal Smith is elected chief of the Haisla Nation, majority owner of the proposed Cedar LNG project, which is in the final stages of preparing for the green light to proceed.
“By being owners in these projects, we can meaningfully contribute to a cleaner and more just world,” said Smith, who was first elected chief of the coastal nation in 2017, during the B.C. Natural Resources Forum earlier this year.
“From an Indigenous perspective, we’re continuously taught to take care of our environment, to take care of our land, and to take only what is required. To think in a global context, I truly believe that in supporting the LNG industry, we are in fact doing that.”
Eva Clayton, back left, President of the Nisga’a Lisims Government (joint venture owner of the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG project), Crystal Smith, back right, Haisla Nation Chief Councillor (joint venture owner of proposed Cedar LNG project), and Karen Ogen, front right, CEO of the First Nations LNG Alliance pose for a photograph on the HaiSea Wamis zero-emission tugboat outside the LNG2023 conference, in Vancouver, B.C., Monday, July 10, 2023. CP Images photo
The global liquefied natural gas industry is rising in importance as emerging economies in Asia look to move away from coal-fired power and European nations reduce reliance on Russia
In 2023, LNG demand reached a record 404 million tonnes, according to Shell’s latest industry outlook. Over the next two decades it is expected to rise by nearly 70 per cent, reaching 685 million tonnes by 2040.
Canada’s first LNG export terminal – located on Haisla territory – is nearing completion and preparing for startup next year.
Smith said the nation has seen great benefits from its support of the LNG Canada project, but owning Cedar LNG with partner Pembina Pipeline Corporation takes the opportunity to a new level.
“We have a bigger vision that provides better education, better health care, better justice, and a better future for our people,” she said.
“We can train our people with the skills needed to secure well-paying, family supporting jobs on Cedar LNG and other projects. We can build critical community infrastructure like our new health center and our youth center in Haisla territory.”
Smith said LNG is helping fund programs that reconnect Haisla people with their culture and language, “a language that virtually disappeared with my generation.”
“We are reigniting our potential through culture and language. And that is perhaps the most powerful thing of all. When I think of my daughter speaking Haisla with my grandchildren, that is what drives me each and every day.”
To the north in the Nass Valley, near B.C.’s border with Alaska, Clayton said the Nisga’a Nation is also using its partnerships in LNG to reconnect with language and culture.
The community owns Ksi Lisims along with Rockies LNG (a coalition of Canadian natural gas producers) and Texas-based developer Western LNG.
Construction of the LNG Canada export terminal is now more than 90 per cent complete. Photo courtesy LNG Canada
“The cultural benefits for the Nisga’a Nation will only be more enhanced as we move forward with the project,” said Clayton, who was first elected president of the community in 2016.
“There are ongoing programs that are in place so that our people and our young people will continue to speak the language. What I’ve noticed is that many of our elders that have been teaching this language are aging out. And so now we see a new generation of young people coming up to speak the language and teach language.”
In B.C.’s central interior, the Wet’suwet’en Nation is facing a loss of culture and language, Ogen said. It’s a situation that can be helped with the economic opportunities of LNG.
“We’re at a place in our community since the pandemic where we have maybe one or two fluent speakers left. That’s really not good news,” said Ogen, who served as chief from 2010 to 2016.
“We want to be able to promote our language in our community and continue promoting our culture in our community because we have very few people in my generation that have traditional names.”
Partnering in development projects like the recently completed Coastal GasLink pipeline (which will supply natural gas to the LNG Canada terminal as well as Cedar LNG) helps communities with access to clean drinking water, housing, health, wellness and education, Ogen said.
She helped found the First Nations LNG Alliance in 2015 with the goal to educate communities about the potential benefits of development.
As construction on Coastal GasLink winds down, crews are working to cleanup and reclaim the land. Clay and topsoil removed during construction has been stored on site and will now be used to contour the land to its previous shape to re-establish original drainage patterns. Photo courtesy Coastal GasLink
“I’ve learned a lot in this job. Being a girl from the rez, being a social worker, and then getting into this field, it’s something I didn’t aspire to. But for me, I’m passionate about it because of what it means to our people on the ground,” she said.
Ogen has shared that message internationally, including during a trade mission to China last fall. The smog from burning coal in Beijing heightened her conviction about the benefits of Canadian LNG in Asia, she said.
“We were given a presentation on how China still wants B.C.’s natural resources; they still want our LNG,” Ogen said.
“B.C. and Canada need to hear those loud messages because we’re at an economic opportunity that’ll help us address the greenhouse gas emissions globally.”
Clayton said she has heard the same thing.
“The messaging that I get from the international world is that they need our LNG. The Germans, Japanese, all of them are wondering why they’re not getting gas from their allies. We have a responsibility as Canadians to help the world get off of coal,” she said.
“We are working together for the benefit of our children. These major projects, every decision that we make is for the future of our children, the future of Canada, the world really when you think about the kind of industry we’re getting into, LNG.”
Rendering courtesy Cedar LNG
Smith’s Cedar LNG could be the first Indigenous-led project in the world. Pembina Pipeline plans to spend up to $300 million advancing it to a final investment decision by mid-year.
“Every time I hear about it, I literally start shaking and getting goosebumps. I’ll have many sleepless nights from now until that decision is made,” Smith said.
“Our nation has had the ability to benefit from LNG development in our territory, but let’s not let it be the last.
“There are so many other LNG projects with indigenous leadership in B.C. that have the potential to make a significant impact on the future of Indigenous people and also help fight climate change.”
From the Canadian Energy Centre
By Will Gibson
Alberta oil sands projects poised to grow on lower costs, strong reserves
As geopolitical uncertainty ripples through global energy markets, a new report says Alberta’s oil sands sector is positioned to grow thanks to its lower costs.
Enverus Intelligence Research’s annual Oil Sands Play Fundamentals forecasts producers will boost output by 400,000 barrels per day (bbls/d) by the end of this decade through expansions of current operations.
“Existing oil sands projects deliver some of the lowest-breakeven oil in North America at WTI prices lower than $50 U.S. dollars,” said Trevor Rix, a director with the Calgary-based research firm, a subsidiary of Enverus which is headquartered in Texas with operations in Europe and Asia.
Alberta’s oil sands currently produce about 3.4 million bbls/d. Individual companies have disclosed combined proven reserves of about 30 billion barrels, or more than 20 years of current production.
A recent sector-wide reserves analysis by McDaniel & Associates found the oil sands holds about 167 billion barrels of reserves, compared to about 20 billion barrels in Texas.
While trade tensions and sustained oil price declines may marginally slow oil sands growth in the short term, most projects have already had significant capital invested and can withstand some volatility.
Cenovus Energy’s Christina Lake oil sands project. Photo courtesy Cenovus Energy
“While it takes a large amount of out-of-pocket capital to start an oil sands operation, they are very cost effective after that initial investment,” said veteran S&P Global analyst Kevin Birn.
“Optimization,” where companies tweak existing operations for more efficient output, has dominated oil sands growth for the past eight years, he said. These efforts have also resulted in lower cost structures.
“That’s largely shielded the oil sands from some of the inflationary costs we’ve seen in other upstream production,” Birn said.
Added pipeline capacity through expansion of the Trans Mountain system and Enbridge’s Mainline have added an incentive to expand production, Rix said.
The increased production will also spur growth in regions of western Canada, including the Montney and Duvernay, which Enverus analysts previously highlighted as increasingly crucial to meet rising worldwide energy demand.
“Increased oil sands production will see demand increase for condensate, which is used as diluent to ship bitumen by pipeline, which has positive implications for growth in drilling in liquids-rich regions such as the Montney and Duvernay,” Rix said.
From the Canadian Energy Centre
“We’re focusing on the opportunity that Canada has, perhaps even the obligation”
It was not a call he wanted to make.
In October 2017, Kevin O’Donnell, then chief financial officer of Nisku, Alta.-based Banister Pipelines, got final word that the $16-billion Energy East pipeline was cancelled.
It was his job to pass the news down the line to reach workers who were already in the field.
“We had a crew that was working along the current TC Energy line that was ready for conversion up in Thunder Bay,” said O’Donnell, who is now executive director of the Mississauga, Ont.-based Pipe Line Contractors Association of Canada (PLCAC).
“I took the call, and they said abandon right now. Button up and abandon right now.
“It was truly surreal. It’s tough to tell your foreman, who then tells their lead hands and then you inform the unions that those three or four or five million man-hours that you expected are not going to come to fruition,” he said.
Workers guide a piece of pipe along the Trans Mountain expansion route. Photograph courtesy Trans Mountain Corporation
“They’ve got to find lesser-paying jobs where they’re not honing their craft in the pipeline sector. You’re not making the money; you’re not getting the health and dental coverage that you were getting before.”
O’Donnell estimates that PLCAC represents about 500,000 workers across Canada through the unions it works with.
With the recent completion of the Trans Mountain expansion and Coastal GasLink pipelines – and no big projects like them coming on the books – many are once again out of a job, he said.
It’s frustrating given that this could be what he called a “golden age” for building major energy infrastructure in Canada.
Together, more than 62,000 people were hired to build the Trans Mountain expansion and Coastal GasLink projects, according to company reports.
O’Donnell is particularly interested in a project like Energy East, which would link oil produced in Alberta to consumers in Eastern and Atlantic Canada, then international markets in the offshore beyond.
“I think Energy East or something similar has to happen for millions of reasons,” he said.
“The world’s demanding it. We’ve got the craft [workers], we’ve got the iron ore and we’ve got the steel. We’re talking about a nation where the workers in every province could benefit. They’re ready to build it.”
The “Golden Weld” marked mechanical completion of construction of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project on April 11, 2024. Photo courtesy Trans Mountain Corporation
That eagerness is shared by the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada (PCA), which represents about 170 construction and maintenance employers across the country.
The PCA’s newly launched “Let’s Get Building” advocacy campaign urges all parties in the Canadian federal election run to focus on getting major projects built.
“We’re focusing on the opportunity that Canada has, perhaps even the obligation,” said PCA chief executive Paul de Jong.
“Most of the companies are quite busy irrespective of the pipeline issue right now. But looking at the long term, there’s predictability and long-term strategy that they see missing.”
Top of mind is Ottawa’s Impact Assessment Act (IAA), he said, the federal law that assesses major national projects like pipelines and highways.
In 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada found that the IAA broke the rules of the Canadian constitution.
Construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. Photograph courtesy Coastal GasLink
The court found unconstitutional components including federal overreach into the decision of whether a project requires an impact assessment and whether a project gets final approval to proceed.
Ottawa amended the act in the spring of 2024, but Alberta’s government found the changes didn’t fix the issues and in November launched a new legal challenge against it.
“We’d like to see the next federal administration substantially revisit the Impact Assessment Act,” de Jong said.
“The sooner these nation-building projects get underway, the sooner Canadians reap the rewards through new trading partnerships, good jobs and a more stable economy.”
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