B.C. may just have one more shot at developing an LNG industry

Unexpectedly rapid growth in the demand for natural gas in Asia and the Shell-led LNG Canada consortium’s recent statements regarding a final investment decision this year have revived hopes of developing a multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas industry on the West Coast. (With a budget of $40 billion, Kitimat-based LNG Canada would be the largest single capital project built in Canada—ever.) But geopolitical analyst Vincent Lauerman warns that this may be B.C.’s last chance to capitalize on LNG, not because of cost or environmental opposition or competition from other gas-producing areas, but because “rapid declines in the cost of wind and solar power, in conjunction with the rapidly declining cost of battery storage, could make gas uncompetitive in the all-important power sector sooner rather than later.”