VIDEO: Message from Peter Zebedee, CEO, LNG Canada

I want to assure British Columbians and Canadians that LNG Canada is continuing to hit critical construction milestones and is on track to deliver first cargo before the middle of this decade.

We are in our second year of constructing the LNG export facility: we’ve begun pile driving, completed our second season of dredging and our employee accommodation centre – Cedar Valley Lodge – will open the first 1,500 beds by early Spring.

More than 2,000 people are benefitting directly from employment and contracting during this busy construction period. We’ve also spent more than $2 billion on contracts with Indigenous companies, local companies, and companies in BC and across Canada.

Employment will continue to ramp up, and at peak, LNG Canada, through JFJV, will employ about 7,500 workers, with 4,500 on site at any time.

Along the Coastal GasLink pipeline, more than 1,000 people are already working, with many Indigenous people among them. Coastal GasLink has also committed to substantial contracting and employment opportunities to local and First Nations businesses.

We are excited about the project, the opportunity it affords Indigenous and northern communities, and the market for exporting Canadian LNG.

In 2019, the global LNG market continued to evolve according to the latest Shell LNG Outlook, with demand increasing for LNG and natural gas in power and non-power sectors. Record supply investments have been made to meet people’s growing need for the most flexible and cleanest-burning fossil fuel. In China, LNG imports increased by 14% in 2019, as that country continues to value improved urban air quality.

While record new supply is coming in, two successive mild winters and the Coronavirus situation have depressed prices today. However, the LNG market equilibrium is expected to return, driven by a combination of continued demand for cleaner energy and reduction in new supply coming on-stream until the mid-2020s.

The LNG Outlook forecasts that: “Over the longer-term, global LNG demand is expected to double to 700 million tonnes by 2040 according to forecasts, as gas plays a significant role in shaping a lower-carbon energy system. Asia is expected to remain the dominant region in the decades to come, with South and South-east Asia generating more than half of the increased demand.”

At home, LNG Canada continues to lead in greenhouse gas emissions performance and we have purposefully designed our facility to have the lowest GHG emissions of any large-scale LNG export facility operating in the world. With continued leadership in the upstream sector, including effective methane emissions management, we are proud to set the benchmark for the cleanest LNG. It is a benchmark that builds confidence in the role that our LNG will play in displacing and reducing the growth of coal in the fastest, most emissions intensive economies in Asia, while providing a stable source of backup power to renewable power generation.

While there are some who want to #ShutDownCanada, there are many more who want to #BuildCanadaUp. We are a resource rich country and I believe we have a responsibility to share our abundant energy resources with the rest of the world. In the process, we can demonstrate that Canada is a great place to conduct business.

LNG Canada has confidence in Canada and our project’s ability to deliver Opportunity for British Columbia and Energy for the World.