Oxford Energy Podcast – Canadian LNG Competitiveness

In this podcast, David Ledesma talks with Peter Findlay, OIES Research Associate, about what makes Canada competitive and uncompetitive for further LNG development.

In the first half of the past decade, Canada was a hotspot for LNG proponents — over 20 liquefaction projects were proposed, primarily off Canada’s West Coast in the province of British Columbia. Supermajors, world-scale North American midstream operators, Asian national oil companies, and Asian consumers had boots on the ground developing integrated projects.

Since that time, investor interest in Canadian projects has waned and only the 13 mtpa LNG Canada plant has been sanctioned, impressively overcoming all the hurdles in Fall 2018; the project includes a yet unsanctioned 13 mtpa expansion option. Other projects faltered and shuttered due to concerns about escalating costs in remote areas, regulatory uncertainty, activist fervor, and tepid government support. Chevron just recently announced their intention to leave their Kitimat LNG project. Meanwhile, despite starting from behind with a generally higher cost of feedgas and much greater shipping distances to Asia, the US Gulf Coast has attracted a deluge of sanctioned (and ready to be sanctioned) LNG investment.

By: OIES