Canada is getting a second shot at becoming a major LNG player

A decade after a promised boom in the liquified natural gas industry failed to materialize, Canada has arrived at the starting line, rekindling some aspirations of becoming a major LNG player.

The long-awaited LNG Canada project is now up and running — and there are six more projects in various stages of development. If all of them come through, together they would represent $109 billion in capital investment, according to Natural Resources Canada. 

This comes amid renewed political appetite to build major infrastructure, bolster the Canadian economy and diversify exports away from the U.S. 

But the U.S. still leads Canada by a wide margin as an LNG exporter, and even if all projects currently under development end up being built, some warn Canada may have already missed the chance of being a major player.

"I don't think Canada's ever going to be an LNG-exporting superpower," said Ed Crooks, vice-chair of the Americas for global consultancy Wood Mackenzie. But he said the country has plenty of room to ramp up its export capacity.

One proposed facility is in a small fishing community about 800 kilometres north of Vancouver. 

The Nisga'a community of Gingolx, population roughly 500, is known as the seafood capital of the Nass River. 

In the next few years, it could have a conspicuous new neighbour: Ksi Lisims LNG, a floating terminal that will export LNG to Asia. 

The project is proposed by the Nisga'a Nation of B.C. in partnership with Rockies LNG, a group of Western Canadian natural gas producers, and Western LNG, a Houston-based company that develops LNG export facilities.

"It means, in one word, prosperity," said Eva Clayton, elected president of the Nisga'a Nation.

Clayton said the nation has gone "through the trenches" over the last 10 years to get the project off the ground, and hopes to make a final investment decision later this year. 

Ksi Lisims is among seven proposed LNG projects at various stages of development. Most have Indigenous ownership or partnerships — a major shift from the projects proposed a decade ago.

At the time, a few dozen LNG projects were proposed in B.C. as part of an initial wave of interest in the nascent industry. The majority of those projects were cancelled for a variety of reasons, such as regulatory hurdles and a crash in commodity prices. 

The U.S. only began ramping up its LNG exports in 2016, but has continued to build to become the world's largest exporter of LNG.