Varcoe: On eve of new era for Canadian energy exports, Keyera CEO welcomes Ottawa's push to fast-track major projects
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'Bill C-5 is a necessary condition to jump-start the investment in our country, but it's not going to be sufficient to change the investment climate overall,' Premier Danielle Smith told reporters Wednesday in Lloydminster.
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'If I understand where the prime minister is attempting to go, if he very soon is able to announce a project list that has 20 or more substantial projects on it . . . that would send a pretty big message to the world about the direction that we're going.'
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Alberta wants to double oil and gas production over time, but new energy infrastructure, such as LNG terminals or pipelines to transport oil and gas to tidewater for export, will be required and significant investment will be needed.
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The Trans Mountain expansion (TMX) project, which moves more Alberta oil to the British Columbia Coast, was purchased by the federal government to get it completed, and ran massively over budget.
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Yet, TMX began commercial operations last year, securing new customers for Canadian crude oil in Asia. With the imminent startup of the colossal LNG Canada development, the country is on the precipice of a shift, exporting oil and gas to countries other than the United States.
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'It is really, truly momentum,' Tristan Goodman, president of the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada, said Thursday.
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The LNG Canada development is expected to ramp up in the coming weeks — a Reuters report on Wednesday suggested it could produce LNG as soon as this weekend — although project officials said it remains on track to load first cargoes by the middle of the year.
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TC Energy CEO François Poirier said Bill C-5 isn't perfect, but represents a step forward to 'get back into the business of big nation-building projects,' and it will enhance energy security.
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'If Canada is to become an energy superpower, there must be action now,' he said in a statement earlier this week.
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The bill will give the federal government the ability to proceed quickly on major projects, but Ottawa will determine which ones are of national importance, noted Goodman.
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'It means government will be picking winners and losers on projects, which is never a great place to be,' he said.
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'But out of the options available, we're initially, reasonably positive.'
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