Alberta and B.C. in talks to expand Canadian LNG reach globally, Danielle Smith says

Smith expressed frustration about the lack of federal infrastructure that would allow Alberta producers to fulfil global market needs.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her province has begun talks with British Columbia as part of a push to greatly expand the reach of Canadian natural gas to more foreign markets.

Speaking on the final day of the international LNG 2023 conference in Vancouver, Smith said delegates told her that many countries in Asia cannot meet emission reduction goals without natural gas, and the goal should be for Canada to fill — and benefit from — that gap.

She expressed frustration about the lack of federal infrastructure that would allow Alberta producers to fulfil global market needs.

“With the right infrastructure in place, Western Canada would become a sought after supplier for both Asia and Europe,” Smith told conference attendees.

“Shipping LNG from Canada’s West Coast to Asia takes 11 days, compared to 20 days from the U.S. Gulf Coast.”

“With the completion of proposed projects in Atlantic Canada, shipping Western Canada’s gas to Europe would take seven to eight days, and that would be less than any other North American LNG project.”

In an attempt to spur more LNG export projects on the West Coast, Smith said she and B.C. Premier David Eby began a discussion two weeks ago to explore leveraging Article 6 of the United Nations Paris Accord, which allows Canada to gain carbon credits for reducing emissions abroad.

Smith said she wants to see Alberta and B.C. “pioneer” a way to use Article 6 to create more interest in export infrastructure that would supply Asia with LNG, while Canadian jurisdictions gain the credits that are generated from displacing more polluting fuels such as coal in those markets.