Ukraine war proves value of LNG Canada, CEO tells global gas conference in Vancouver

The head of the LNG Canada export facility in British Columbia says price and supply volatility worldwide since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shows the value of his company’s project as a source of “affordable, reliable” and “responsibly produced” liquefied natural gas.

Project CEO Jason Klein has told the LNG 2023 conference in Vancouver that the project is close to 85-per-cent complete and will aim to compete globally, not only on price but also its environmental and social track record.

He says the best example of the value of Canadian energy can be seen in the conference itself, which was originally planned to place in St. Petersburg in Russia, but was moved to B.C. because of the war in Ukraine.

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Klein says the event offers an “amazing opportunity to reflect” on the upheaval in global natural gas markets since the invasion, which caused Russia, the world’s largest exporter of the commodity, to vanish from global supply lines and key markets including Europe.

The LNG 2023 conference runs until Thursday, drawing multinational energy corporations such as energy giants Petronas, BP and ConocoPhillips — as well as government representatives from key producing countries such as Qatar.

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Canadian organizers say First Nations economic reconciliation is a major part of what it wants to present to the global natural gas industry.

First Nations LNG Alliance chair Crystal Smith has told the conference that more extensive Indigenous community involvement is on the way in projects such as the planned Cedar LNG facility in Kitimat, B.C.