VANCOUVER – British Columbia’s minister of natural gas development says a commitment by a Malaysian national company to build a liquefied natural gas plant in B.C. and investment by other countries suggests the province isn’t chasing an LNG pipe dream.
Rich Coleman will leave Friday for Malaysia, South Korea and China to promote what he calls B.C.’s competitive advantage when it comes to the LNG industry.
Coleman says B.C.’s abundant natural gas supply could provide Asia’s needs for 84 years through several proposed plants in a province where the temperate climate means making LNG takes less energy.
He says the province has signed pipeline agreements with many First Nations to create a stable environment for the proposed industry, which Premier Christy Clark has said will be the cleanest in the world despite criticism about pollution from LNG operations.
Coleman says that while the government is pushing the development of three LNG plants in northern B.C. by 2020 as a massive economic opportunity, the province is also opening eight new mines and expanding nine mines by 2015.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper received news in Malayasia that the country’s state-owned oil and gas company Petronas will invest $36 million in B.C. on an LNG plant and the pipeline to transport the gas.