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OTTAWA — Canada On the east coast, there is only enough natural gas supply to accommodate one new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility, and the project to increase shipments to Europe fastest is that of Repsol, Canada's Minister of the Environment. Told Reuters.
In May, Canada announced that it would increase exports to Europe with the LNG facility of Spanish company Repsol in New Brunswick and Pieridae Energy, which is proposing to build an LNG facility in Nova Scotia. He said he was discussing.
"The amount of gas available is currently only available at one facility," Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said in an interview late Wednesday with the idea of building a new gas pipeline in Canada. Added that it wasn't. "Very realistic."
"Repsol is probably the fastest project to deploy because it requires minimal permits. It has existing facilities and a gas line. Is right there, "said Gilbo.
Most of Canada's natural gas is produced in the western states of Alberta and British Columbia.
Europe aims to diversify its energy supply as it moves away from Russia's oil and gas after the invasion of Ukraine. Canada's foreign minister said Wednesday that he had talked with European allies, including Spain and Germany, to increase exports on the east coast.
According to 2020 figures, Canada, the world's sixth largest producer of natural gas, is under construction on the west coast, but there are no currently functioning LNG facilities.
Canada aims to increase daily oil and gas exports by 300,000 barrels a day by the end of this year to help improve global energy security But in the short term we can't do much more, Guilbeault said.
In the medium term, as long as we respect Canada's requirement to steadily reduce carbon and methane emissions by turning the current Repsol LNG import facility in St. John, New Brunswick into an export facility. You can increase the supply. He said.
So, before exporting LNG to Europe, "it's a project that can be deployed fairly quickly, but we're still talking about it for a few years," Gilbeault said of the Repsol project. When asked about the Minister's comments, Repsol said in a statement, "Anything / everything that adds value or creates value at St. John LNG, including the possibility of adding liquefaction capabilities to existing facilities. Consider a project. ”
Canada says it is keen to support its European allies, but the government says it will have net zero carbon emissions by 2050. We are trying to reduce it to the past.
Approving a new fossil fuel project at this stage seems to violate its climate goals.
Guilbeault said he had talked with German authorities about increasing gas flow, adding that he hopes to convert the new LNG facility to hydrogen exports instead of gas long before 2050. ..
The German "is keen to find a way to convert these LNG facilities to hydrogen as soon as the technology becomes very available," he said. (Report by Steve Scherer Additional report by Isla Binnie in Madrid Edited by Barbara Lewis and Mark Potter)
