So much for the Energiewende ( Energy Transition ) ... ...


Germany touts possible 'major role' for Canadian LNG in shift away from Russia

August 24, 2022




Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz attend the Canada-Germany Business Forum, in Toronto, Canada, August 23, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio

STEPHENVILLE, Newfoundland, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Germany hopes Canadian liquefied natural gas (LNG) will help ease its shift away from Russian gas imports, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday, a day after Canada played down the economic viability and speed of setting up new export terminals.

"As Germany is moving away from Russian energy at warp speed, Canada is our partner of choice," said Scholz at a German-Canadian economic conference in Toronto. "For now, this means increasing our LNG imports. We hope that Canadian LNG will play a major role in this."

Canada currently has no LNG terminals, though two are being built on the West Coast.

Canada is in the process of increasing its natural gas export capacity by up to 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by the end of the year as Europe tries to decrease its reliance on Russian supplies.

Trudeau on Monday left the door open for new LNG projects from Canada's Atlantic coast, but he emphasized the economic difficulties of such projects, which would take years to complete as the world races to cut its dependence on fossil fuels.

Asked if there had been developments making new Canadian LNG projects more likely since Monday, a government source with knowledge of the talks said there had been "no change" and Scholz was "well aware of sort of the timeline that would be associated" with new Canadian LNG.

Desperate to plug gaps in natural gas supplies from Russia this winter, Germany "is quite keen for gas from just about anywhere," the source said.

In recent months, Canada and Germany had indicated that they were discussing options for LNG terminals on the Atlantic coast, and Canada's Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told Reuters in June that Repsol's facility in New Brunswick was the most feasible project.