Licence extension maintains hope for Saint John LNG export terminal

Hopes to export liquified natural gas out of Saint John remain alive after the Canada Energy Regulator approved a six-year extension for the Saint John LNG licence.

First issued in 2016, conditions stipulated the licence would expire after 10 years unless natural gas exportations had begun.

The extension means the expiration is in 2032 instead of 2026. The terminal is owned by the Spanish energy company Repsol.

In a statement to Global News, Saint John LNG spokesperson Michael Blackier said they are pleased with the decision.

“Our application was simply a request to allow us to shift the period before which imports/exports must take place,” Blackier wrote.

“While this was an important requirement in the decision-making process, we are continuing to examine the entire value chain of the project.”

A push for Canada to be a global energy provider has become significant over the last year following the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

This left European countries to find a new primary provider of gas.

According to Warren Mabee, the director of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy at Queen’s University, overall demand will dictate whether projects like the Saint John LNG export terminal come to fruition.

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“The only way to proceed is to proceed with caution and to remember that the blessing of the regulator is one thing,” Mabee said in an interview Wednesday afternoon.

“But the other pressures that are on these developments, I mean the lack of pipeline capacity, they’re not going to be easy to overcome.”

Mabee noted support and extensions by the CER signifies the regulator sees LNG exports as “something to bet on.”

A hurdle for proponents of the export terminal is the pushback that’s been expressed by environmental advocacy groups.

On Wednesday, the Fundy Baykeeper with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick said the extension was disappointing but not a surprise.

“The solution to the energy crisis in Europe and elsewhere is not more fossil fuels. It’s improved electricity networks, more renewables,” Matthew Abbott said.

It will require years of work to transform the terminal for exports, said Abbott, by which time the demand will not be as high.

Additionally, the change will see more traffic at the terminal, which sits along the Bay of Fundy.

“Tanker traffic, the noise we already know it causes stress on species that are under a great deal of stress. Also, if you increase tanker traffic, you’re increasing risk of collisions with animals,” Abbott added.