LNG consortium pays $12M for B.C. site
VANCOUVER — Deputy premier Rich Coleman said it best Tuesday at a government press conference:
“Good afternoon, welcome to another LNG announcement — this is a pretty significant one.”
Coleman and his boss, B.C. Premier Christy Clark, were on hand once again on the LNG file, this time to congratulate a Chinese firm and two Japanese firms for their interest in the Grassy Point site near Prince Rupert, where an LNG facility may one day be built.
“There are no guarantees in LNG,” said Clark, who in the next minute stated the fledgling industry could bring “a trillion dollars and 100,000 jobs — that’s five times more people than work at the oilsands.
“That’s why we can’t wait a day.”
B.C. is in a fast-paced race to feed the giant Asian demand for LNG, with Australia, Russia, Qatar, Mozambique and Trinidad and Tobago among the leading contenders for an expected LNG-fuelled windfall.
Tuesday’s down payment on Clark’s much-anticipated trillion dollars was a $12-million non-refundable deposit from the Aurora LNG consortium, which “will be examining the viability of constructing a liquefied natural gas plant and export terminal at this location.”
Nexen CEO Kevin Reinhart, on hand for the announcement, conceded it’s far from a done deal.
“It’s important to remember that this is just the first step in a journey,” said Reinhart, who mentioned environmental, regulatory, and First Nations considerations need to be dealt with before any construction might begin. The joint venture includes a 60-per-cent stake from the Chinese firm CNOOC, with the remainder coming from the Japanese firms INPEX and JGC. Clark, Coleman and company hope to eventually lure investors to build five LNG plants in B.C., and the sense of urgency is real.
Australia has $200 billion in LNG construction underway, and Mozambique has a planned $20-billion venture to extract huge reserves from under the Indian Ocean. Powerful Russia and oil-rich Qatar have the wealth to extract their LNG reserves, while Trinidad and Tobago is a more unlikely player.
Clark had an unusual answer to criticism that the LNG development will undo B.C.’s commitment to controlling greenhouse gas emissions. The premier said helping China convert to clean-burning natural gas will result in a decline in greenhouse gas worldwide.