Let's ship natural gas to Asia

With these incredibly low natural gas prices, Canada’s natural gas business is declining, but work is underway on a project that could bring it back to life. In Kitimat, BC, there is a plan for a project valued at over $5 billion that would make it possible for Canada to ship liquefied natural gas to China. A decision is expected to be made by next year, and exports could begin by 2015. New technology has made it possible to extract natural gas from shale gas deposits, which has drastically decreased the United States’ demand for Canadian natural gas by 50% due to the possession of their own shale deposits. Canada also has an abundance of these shale deposits, so a new consumer of Canadian natural gas is necessary.

As an employee in the oil and gas industry, I see this as an amazing opportunity for Canada. Canadian natural gas lacks demand, so having China as an importer could really help Canada. The Kitimat Project would export 700 million cubic-feet of gas per day. As long as Canada can get this project underway soon (Australia is a competitor in this case), this could really help the economy in Canada, especially in British Columbia in Alberta. More jobs certainly wouldn’t hurt, and more work at Flexbar sounds perfect.

For an original article on Kitimat, click here!

For more information on the world's natural gas export network, click here!