A worldwide expert on energy and LNG will be visiting Prince George tomorrow.
Geoscientist and Energy Analyst David Hughes will be at UNBC for an annual lecture on the impact of liquefied natural gas development in Northern BC where he will be talking sustainability, impact and the environment.
He says falling energy prices have put a damper on the governments LNG dreams
“I think that at the level that the BC government is talking about is unlikely. Their high case is 5 terminals out of 18 that are proposed. I would say maybe one or two, maybe none.”
He added BC’s planned overseas markets in Asia are not as thirsty as they were 2-3 years ago and that the price of LNG in Asia is falling, down to $8 from $18 back then
“China has other options now.” Hughes said “They’ve just approved a couple of pipeline deals from Russia so they’ll be getting a lot of gas over land. They also have shale(gas) potential…”
As for environmental impacts of gas extraction in northern BC, he says we have an advantage of large water resources. To financially support export terminals drillers would need access to plenty of H2O.
“The water throughput that you would need to do that at peak rates is roughly half of the water consumption of a city like Calgary of Vancouver.” Said Hughes
He says that puts us at advantage over somewhere like Texas, but still voiced concern that the impact on water supply has to be properly mitigated and evaluated.
The UNBC Natural Resources & Environmental Studies Institute 2015 Annual Lecture takes place in the Canfor theatre 730pm Thursday.