Rationality can prevail, clean, abundant natural gas can be used for decades, energy ‘transition’ or not
An estimated $55-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project to take natural gas from northeastern British Columbia to its northwest coast at Pearse Island recently received the blessing and financial and political backing of the Nisga’a First Nation. The First Nation is on the proposed pipeline route and is the site of planned liquefaction terminal. This…
G7 countries will further cripple their economies by pursuing their green energy fantasies
At their meeting in June, G7 leaders agreed to a greenhouse gas emissions target of “net zero” by 2050. That would require phasing out fossil fuels that currently supply 84 per cent of global energy. But how? The common reply is “putting a price on carbon,” i.e., carbon taxes. But unless there’s a viable alternative,…
By Mark Milke and Ven Venkatachalam Canadian Energy Centre If you’ve heard that Canada should skip plans to export natural gas to Asia, including from a few anti-oil-and-gas academics, you’ll notice one theme pops up: how Canadian firms really shouldn’t waste their time because there’s no money in it. This reasoning is daft. If there…
The world sped ahead getting LNG online but Canada stalled, meaning lost revenue and missed environmental opportunity
By Mark Milke and Ven Venkatachalam Canadian Energy Centre Over the past several years, a plethora of naysayers have reflexively opposed the extraction and export of natural gas from Canada. Some critics have even argued that the prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) shouldn’t warrant investment by Canadian companies. Much of this anti-LNG sentiment has…
But opposition to resource development means Canada is being left out in the cold
Extreme cold weather and mismatched supply and demand have pushed spot prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Asia through the roof. Bloomberg reports that LNG spot prices went from “almost to zero” in April 2020 to above US$30 per one million British thermal unit (MMBtu), rising “18-fold in less than nine months.” Prices in…
By Mark Milke and Ven Venkatachalam Canadian Energy Centre There’s a dearth of sensible analysis when it comes to reasonable ways to decrease carbon emissions. Some point fingers at Canada’s oil sands, or oil and gas more generally. They imagine if that industry disappeared, somehow carbon emissions would magically evaporate as well. The reality is…
Road to Reconciliation begins when Indigenous people can stand on their own two feet financially and when their quality of life increases
Editor’s note: Indigenous communities across Canada are learning how to prosper in a new era of co-operation in oil and gas development. Setting aside old grievances, industry, government and First Nations communities are working together to ensure that, as equal partners, Canada’s Indigenous peoples enjoy employment and that sustainable growth trickles down to them. In…
The opposition to fossil fuels such as natural gas is driven by magical thinking and is against all empirical evidence
By Mark Milke and Lennie Kaplan Canadian Energy Centre As the lockdown from the COVID-19 pandemic ends, provincial and federal governments will still face the reality that arrived in its wake: a recession, and one made worse by a domestic energy sector that never really recovered from multiple injuries already in play. Those injuries included:…
Climate warriors spend a great deal of time condemning current practices without offering realistic solutions
In the past several months, we’ve heard dire and angry imprecations and accusations from the new climate crusaders. They demand total obeisance to their escalating demands. Any critics to their approach to catastrophic global warming are denounced as deniers or heretics. A new religious-political-social movement has sprung out of this trend: Extinction Rebellion, with the…
Resolving these Indigenous governance issues as well as cleaning up duty to consult policies is good for the First Nations involved as well as Canada
In January 2019, a group of breakaway hereditary chiefs from Wet'suwet'en First Nation in the interior of British Columbia erected a blockade on a remote forestry road in protest of the proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline to Kitimat, B.C. Eventually, the issues were addressed, the barricade came down and work on the site resumed. Observers worried…
An estimated $55-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project to take natural gas from northeastern British Columbia to its northwest coast at Pearse Island recently received the blessing and financial and political backing of the Nisga’a First Nation. The First Nation is on the proposed pipeline route and is the site of planned liquefaction terminal. This…
