Alberta’s premier working to win federal support for LNG
VANCOUVER, July 13 - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith suggested she might be making some headway in her efforts to get the Canadian government more aligned with west coast LNG developments and Alberta's own emissions reduction and energy development goals in her closing day keynote speech at the LNG2023 conference.
In recent meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Calgary, Smith said she shared Alberta’s economic priorities, “and we both agreed on the necessity of assuring that phase 2 of LNG Canada proceeds.”
Both sides, she said, agreed on the need to optimise the workforce at the LNG Canada worksite near Kitimat, where the first 14mn tonnes/year phase of the Shell-led project is about 85% complete.
“We want to build out the next 2bn ft3/day-plus of LNG sooner,” she said. “We also had a very positive discussion of LNG and ammonia and hydrogen and the need to look at how all three governments can clear the way for investment, job creation and emissions reductions while helping to meet global demand.”
Smith said it was her hope that this newly-formed federal-provincial “working group” would advance efforts to align Ottawa’s emissions reduction goals with Alberta’s energy development aspirations, and that governments, regulators and the private sector can work together to “streamline approvals, improve pipeline access and get infrastructure built to ship natural gas to international markets.”