LNG touted, and doubted, as green transition fuel

Canada's first liquefied natural gas cargoes will soon arrive on Asian shores, a milestone touted — and doubted — as a boon for global emissions-cutting efforts. 

Canada’s first liquefied natural gas cargoes will soon arrive on Asian shores, a milestone touted — and doubted — as a boon for global emissions-cutting efforts.

“Cleaner energy around the world is what I think about when I think about LNG,” Shell Canada country chair Stastia West said in an onstage interview at the Global Energy Show in Calgary earlier this month.

Shell and four Asian companies are partners in LNG Canada in Kitimat, B.C., the first facility to export Canadian gas across the Pacific in an ultra-chilled liquid state using specialized tankers. A handful of other projects are either under construction or in development on the B.C. coast.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told the energy show that Canadian oil and gas exports can be an “antidote” to the current geopolitical chaos.

“And it comes with an added benefit: lower global emissions. By moving more natural gas, we can also help countries transition away from higher emitting fuels, such as coal.”

Smith cited a recent Fraser Institute study that suggested if Canada were to double its natural gas production, export the additional supply to Asia and displace coal there, it would lead to an annual emissions cut of up to 630 million tonnes annually.

“That’s almost 90 per cent of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions each year,” Smith said.

The authors of the Fraser Institute study, released in May, argued that Canada’s ability to reduce emissions elsewhere should be factored into its climate policy.