Repsol has informed the Canadian government that an east coast liquefied natural gas project (LNG) is not economically viable because the cost of transporting gas to the terminal would be too high, a Canadian government spokesperson said on Thursday.
Spanish company Repsol had been looking into developing an LNG export terminal in St. John, New Brunswick, to supply European markets, part of a global push to secure alternative supplies to Russian gas following the invasion of Ukraine.
“In the case of St. John LNG, the project proponent has informed us that their evaluation concludes there is no business case, as the cost of transporting gas across the significant distances are too high to support project economics,” said Ian Cameron, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Natural Resources.
To reach the terminal, gas would have to be transported from thousands of kilometres (miles) away in western Canada, requiring new pipeline capacity.
Repsol did not immediately respond to a request for comment.