B.C. government goes full steam ahead with LNG

Consulting engineers in British Columbia will do well to focus their sights on liquefied natural gas (LNG) development projects.

In her speech from the throne on October 6, B.C. Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon made it clear the government is putting its weight behind the LNG industry, which could result in millions in construction and development.

Guichon cited the enormous demand in China for natural gas, which increased its consumption of LNG by a fifth in the first half of 2014. She noted that 20 years ago China generated its energy almost exclusively from coal, but said the expansion of the middle class and economic transformation in the country has created an environmental challenge which is causing it to turn to natural gas.

She sees B.C. as the ideal supplier filling this need: “B.C.’s 150-year supply of natural gas is an opportunity to change the world,” she said, “an opportunity to dramatically reduce air pollution in the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.”

B.C. is turning to China because the shale gas “revolution” in the U.S. has dried up the province’s traditional export market to the south. That market “is never coming back” said Guichon.