LNG status will be hot topic at forum
The B.C. Natural Resources Forum is a festival of economic speculation, with so many of the primary players in government and private industry all together in one room.
Finding out the New Year’s resolutions of LNG Canada is something a lot of the ears in the room will be tuned to during the 2018 edition. That company’s external affairs director Susannah Pierce will be one of the attendees, and will be one of the most anticipated guest speakers.
The event always offers a series of panel discussions that bring forth the latest thoughts and impressions of the main industries of the province – tourism, agriculture, petroleum, mining, forestry, etc. – and also an accompanying trade show that demonstrates the goods and services involved in those industries. This year’s panels start on Wednesday with the Ministers’ Breakfast featuring the provincial leads in the jobs, forests, energy, mines, environment and indigenous relations portfolios.
The next two days bring on group discussions on balancing environmental values with economic ones, forestry, inter- national trade, employment and technology, finance, mining, and finally the closing discussion will be on energy sector. That big finish is where Pierce will get to hint at what’s ahead for LNG Canada.
Pierce told The Citizen on Friday that she would not be dropping any bombshell announcements while in Prince George. However, the consortium of companies that comprise the LNG Canada enterprise – Shell, PetroChina, Mitsubishi and Korea Gas Corp. – were aware that their proposal has advanced to the point they might well be the first LNG project in B.C. to finally break ground.
Their final investment decision was still pending, said Pierce, but sometime in the second half of this year LNG Canada should tentatively be able to announce their absolute intentions.
Should they give the green light, the natural gas would be sourced from the B.C. northeast, sent by pipeline a distance of just over 600 kilometres, and the processing and shipping facility would be in Kitimat.
Helping them speed their proposal were some efficient preconditions. Instead of proposing a facility from scratch, their shipping location in Kitimat would be from the long defunct Eurocan Pulp & Paper wharf and former Methanex Jetty, turning unused industrial land back into productive facilities. The roads, rails and power amenities needed for the LNG facilities are already largely in place.
The ships would utilize the deep sea Douglas Channel route past Kitimaat Village where the Haisla First Nation is headquartered. The Haisla are strong proponents and partners in the venture.
Pierce is looking forward to catching the public up on the plans for the full project, east to west, and also touching base with old friends and potential partners of the future.
“Every year (I attend the B.C. Natural Resource Forum),” she said. “And this year, wow, it has to be the highest profile one yet, with all the royalty coming from the premier to (federal) minister James Carr, to the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (Perry Bellegarde), and it keeps going. It shows people’s interest in British Columbia and in natural resources.”
Although she is a veteran of the petroleum industry, and multigenerationally through her family ties to oil and gas, she is also interested on a personal level in how the other natural resource industries of the province are faring. The forum is one of the best conversations for that broad knowledge.
“I think the thing that’s sort of been the undercurrent of this province, and continues to be, is natural resources,” she said. “What’s important to the economy is ensuring that these commodities have access to market, and so whether that’s natural gas which is our business, or whether that’s softwood lumber which is another key component of the economy in British Columbia, that is key. There is a view to how we do that in such a way that all British Columbians can be happy and proud of our natural resources and know they’ve got markets to go where we get value for them.”
The BC Natural Resources Forum happens Tuesday through Thursday at the Prince George Civic Centre.