Christy Clark has a lot riding on British Columbia's natural gas. The premier has been promising enormous riches for the province from the sale of liquefied natural gas to Asia.
Perhaps Christy's foreign gas partners sense her vulnerability. That could explain why Malaysia's Petronas is threatening to pull out of Pacific Northwest LNG in which it holds a 62% interest.
Petronas CEO, Shamsul Abbas, is threatening to scuttle the $10-billion venture.
"Rather than ensuring the development of the LNG industry through appropriate incentives and assurance of legal and fiscal stability, the Canadian landscape of LNG development is now one of uncertainty, delay and short vision," Abbas told the Financial Times.
To: Christy
From: Shamsul
Cough up the subsidies, grants, deferrals and other "appropriate incentives" or Pacific Northwest LNG and your credibility are toast.
Exporting LNG is really stupid. If we're lucky PETRONAS will go away permanently.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe Clark and her gang ever believed what they said about riches flowing into the public treasury from development of natural gas. It was a cynical ploy, by a government that has been increasing subsidies to gas producers while the actual net revenue accruing to government from gas has been declining. Under Clark, the average annual revenue from gas exploration and production has reached historic lows.
ReplyDeleteThey've had no inclination to view natural gas as a provincial revenue source so why would anyone believe that was going to change.
@ Hugh. I agree that it makes less sense with each passing day. That the energy companies are of the same view is manifest in this blatant cash grab.
ReplyDelete@ Norm. I can't argue with your conclusions but just what was Crusty playing at? She did make it sound as though BC was sitting on a unique resource when we actually have a very modest natural gas reserve compared with other producer jurisdictions.
Although many of us are aware of the corporate puppet masters orchestrating our movements, Mound, it is rare, I think, for them to be as blatant about it as Petronas is here.
ReplyDeleteCanadians need to rediscover some self-respect and tell these entities to go elsewhere if they insist on having everything on their terms.