Adding LNG export capacity could supply energy to Europe

Canada could replace all of the natural gas that Europe buys from Russia, says New Brunswick Southwest Conservative MP John Williamson. This would provide a new market for Canadian hydrocarbons, ease world energy prices and allow European consumers to keep warm this winter without financing Russian President Vladmir Putin's war against Ukraine, the MP argues. The problem, he says, is getting Canadian gas to tidewater to liquefy it and load it into ocean tankers.
  He made these comments during an interview concerning reports that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will push for liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals on Canada's east coast during a visit to the country in August. These reports come on the heels of the Canadian government's decision this month to allow turbines sent to Canada for repairs to return to Germany to operate a pipeline bringing gas from Russia.
  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has publicly defended this breach of Canada's sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine, stating that not granting this waiver could hurt support for Ukraine among German consumers. Scholz, who urged the Canadian government to grant the waiver, issued a statement that the decision allows Germany to continue supporting Ukraine -- despite complaints from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that revenue from oil and gas exports helps Russia kill people in his country.
  Saint John LNG, owned by the global energy company Repsol based in Spain, already operates a terminal in East Saint John to import LNG, regasify it and move it via the 145-kilometre Brunswick Pipeline, owned by Emera, connecting with the 1,100-kilometre Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline (M&NP) near Baileyville. M&NP was first built to deliver offshore Nova Scotia gas to Atlantic Canada and the northeast United States.
  Saint John LNG does not rule out adding export capabilities. "Repsol is continuously exploring options to maximize the value of the terminal, with a particular focus on new lower-carbon opportunities to help meet market demand and to support the energy transition. The company will look at any/all business that enhances or creates value at Saint John LNG, including the potential to add liquefaction capabilities to the existing facility," spokesman Mike Blackier says in an email.
  To Williamson, the situation in which Trudeau and Scholz find themselves resulted from poor policy choices in North America and Europe long before Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
  On this side of the Atlantic, Canada imposed a carbon tax aimed at increasing prices to encourage people to switch to other forms of energy to combat climate change, Williamson argues. He contends, too, that federal Liberal roadblocks to new pipelines limit the ability to deliver oil and gas to Canadian ocean ports for shipment overseas, forcing Canada to sell oil and gas at a discount to buyers in the United States.
  On the other side of the Atlantic, Germany and other European nations have tied themselves to Russian energy, making them prey to political and economic pressure from Moscow, Williamson argues.
  "The Germans have made a huge strategic error in the last decade by relying on Russian oil and gas to fuel their economy, and they continue to act rashly in the move to shut down their nuclear reactors," the MP states.
  "This is where I don't understand environmentalists," he says, arguing, "Germany is basically going to get off nuclear, but it is going to start burning coal again in order to meet its energy needs in the short and medium term. This is why Canada's natural gas is so important. It is affordable, it is reliable and it produces much less CO2 than coal."
  He rejects the proposition that energy prices must rise with Russian oil and gas removed from the world's supply. "No. The solution actually is for Canada to start drilling and exporting more product. That will bring down prices. The idea that price increases are the only way out of this is flat wrong," he argues, adding, "This supply constraint is a result of ruinous public policy, particularly out of Canada and the United States, which could be supplying not only other countries but, in the case of the United States, meeting its own energy needs."
  "Canada's production is flatlined, and our real challenge is we have no pipeline capacity because Justin Trudeau killed every pipeline, and if he didn't Joe Biden did," he contends.
  "It's an opportunity for us. The Germans have woken up from probably the worst foreign policy decision of the last 20 years, which was Germany's decision to go all in on Russian resources, to overlook Vladmir Putin's war machine, and now they are literally paying for it," he says.
  Selling Canadian oil and gas to Germany offers a "win win" for both countries, Williamson believes, but cautions that building export terminals with liquefaction capacity could take a couple of years -- let alone the political and financial battles to lay new pipelines in Canada or the United States. He expects the phrase "energy poverty" to pop up more often in the news. "In Europe it's going to be a real problem this winter," he says.
  "Right now, pipeline capacity is near its limit, so this is where both federal Canadian government and the U.S. government are going to have to make some decisions on the need to support our allies in Europe to get off Russian oil and gas, because every time a European country buys from Russia, those clients, those consumers are funding Vladmir Putin's war in Ukraine," he argues.