Friday, August 06, 2021

Has The Death Of The Sparkle Ponies Been Greatly Exaggerated?

TrillionDollar
NotWindfallVille


Perhaps not.

After all, when the Globe(AndNoLongerEmpireMail)'s Editorial Board starts writing gentle eulogies, well...
The history of liquefied natural gas in Canada is littered with multibillion-dollar schemes that churn through years of development but eventually founder when backers realize a project’s economics don’t add up.

Recent examples are big and small.

In March, Chevron abandoned plans for Kitimat LNG in northwestern British Columbia. In July, Pieridae, a Calgary startup, said cost pressures forced it to shelve an LNG proposal in Nova Scotia.

Failing to attract billions of dollars from investors to build an LNG plant is typical, in Canada and elsewhere. The projects are complicated, the global market is intensely competitive and the outlook for future demand is modest.

In some ways, the story of Énergie Saguenay, a proposed $9-billion export plant north of Quebec City that would have shipped Alberta gas overseas, is the same. Backed by GNL Québec, another startup, it was struggling to drum up capital.

What’s different is, on July 21, the Quebec government rejected the plan...

{snip}

...LNG has been touted by industry and some governments as another windfall to come, one that could even help reduce global emissions. But the veracity of that promise, and the ever-increasing risks brought by climate heating, are rapidly changing the calculus.

If the slide rules in the breast pockets of the Globe's men, and, especially, those of the men that they see fit to please, tell them to stop with the codswallop I reckon that is a good thing.

However, I also worry that some of the fine folks with the most to gain by backing such megaprojects to the hilt, including some local Lotuslandian ones, may perceive/promote an opportunity for the last pony standing.

If you get my drift.



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Need a little Lotuslandian context regarding the herd of the formerly shimmering equine mirage?....This.




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