Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in an interview on CTV aired Sunday that Canada's federal government has no interest in investing in or subsidizing any LNG projects.
The Canadian government has no plans to subsidize the electrification of ongoing LNG projects, the federal energy minister added.
“The government opposes spending government money on inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, and we are the first country in the world to actually do that,” Wilkinson told CTV.
The minister said investing in LNG plants is the job of private companies, not the federal government.
“We are not interested in investing in LNG facilities. That is the role of the private sector. They need to assess the business case and make the investment,” Wilkinson pointed out.
Germany, Greece and Japan have expressed interest in buying LNG from Canada and could benefit from the Biden administration's suspension of approvals for new permits for LNG export facilities in the United States announced earlier this year.
But Canada's federal government has said that under its climate change plan, all LNG export projects, of which there are currently no projects in Canada, must be run on clean electricity.
“Much needs to be done to reduce upstream methane emissions, but we have regulations in place that require a 75 percent reduction. We have to make electricity cleaner by actually using it. We have to,” Wilkinson told CTV.
“We can't just burn natural gas to liquefy it, otherwise the carbon footprint would be too large,” the minister added.
The federal government has been lukewarm about Canada's LNG export prospects, but the industry and Alberta Premier Daniel Smith see an opportunity for Canada to step in as the U.S. suspends new project approvals. .
“I hope it doesn't explode,” Smith said in February.
“If the Americans pause, I hope they use this as an opportunity to accelerate some (Canadian) projects.”
Written by Charles Kennedy, Oilprice.com
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