Source WELT:
Saint John on Canada's rough east coast offers many photo opportunities: a lighthouse, a former fort, a marketplace with a fountain. It is the oldest city in the country, with almost two million tourists visiting each year, many on cruise ships.
What is hardly known, however, is that Saint John is also the only Canadian port with a terminal for liquid gas - and therefore probably a new hope for Germany recently.
On the fringes of the G-7 summit in Elmau, Bavaria, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and advocated an expansion of energy trading, according to the Bloomberg news agency. Specifically, Scholz wants to import more liquid gas from Canada to replace Russian gas. It is apparently another attempt to free Germany from Vladimir Putin's grip.
The industry speaks of “Liquified Natural Gas”, or LNG for short. These three letters have been at the center of world politics since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis. It's about the question of where millions of Europeans should get the raw material with which they heat and operate many of their power plants.
Because Russia, the most important gas supplier up to now, became an outlaw after attacking its neighbor. An unpredictable aggressor who cannot be trusted.
"The war in Ukraine," says Michelle Robichaud, head of the Canadian interest group Atlantica Center for Energy, "puts the spotlight on the LNG industry on our country's east coast." This is an enormous economic opportunity for the region. "We would be happy," says Robichaud, "if the projects here got going."
Before Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Russian gas accounted for about half of Germany's imports, now it's a third. And Moscow could continue to curb the volumes.
Because Russia, the most important gas supplier up to now, became an outlaw after attacking its neighbor. An unpredictable aggressor who cannot be trusted.
"The war in Ukraine," says Michelle Robichaud, head of the Canadian interest group Atlantica Center for Energy, "puts the spotlight on the LNG industry on our country's east coast." This is an enormous economic opportunity for the region. "We would be happy," says Robichaud, "if the projects here got going."
Before Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Russian gas accounted for about half of Germany's imports, now it's a third. And Moscow could continue to curb the volumes.
Germany does not yet have an LNG terminal, the gas is obtained from Belgium, France and the Netherlands. But by the end of the year, two stations in Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein should go into operation.
Canada is currently building the first LNG terminals for export, but only in the west. The country's largest gas deposits are located in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. In addition, the Pacific Coast is closer to the world's major LNG customers: China, Japan, South Korea, India and Taiwan. So there could be a race for gas from Canada. Because what Germany buys will be missing in Asia.
The hopes of the federal government rest not only on Canada, but also on the USA. In the Ukraine crisis, the country has become the world's most important LNG supplier, ahead of Qatar and Australia. The United States only started selling its gas in 2016 and already covers a fifth of global demand.
American LNG exports to the EU now outstrip Russia's pipeline supplies. And the trend is likely to continue, after all, Germany stopped the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline, which was supposed to bring gas from Russia to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
During Donald Trump's tenure, the American gas industry was booming. The industry was important to the Republican because the gas companies and their workers were among his most important supporters. Trump relaxed environmental regulations and accelerated approval processes. This made it possible to build drilling rigs and LNG terminals more quickly.
New liquefaction plants were built in rows on the Gulf of Mexico. Now they are being used to ship gas around the world from Texas, Pennsylvania and Louisiana. It's a win-win situation for the US. For one thing, exporting is lucrative.
On the other hand, the country can reduce the dependency of its European allies on Russia. “Freedom Gas” – that was the keyword that Trump often used. It is quite possible that the molecules of freedom will soon also come to Germany from Canada.
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