As Germany continues to explore alternative options to Russian gas, its Chancellor Olaf Scholz hopes that Canadian liquified natural gas will help it meet its gas demands while easing its overreliance on Russian Gas. Meanwhile, Canada has downplayed the economic viability of establishing a new export terminal, adding that it may take a while before everything comes together.
On the final day of his official visit to Canada, Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Canadian counterpart Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new hydrogen alliance that would see Canada increase the export of clean fuel to Germany by 2025.
During the German-Canadian economic conference, Scholz stated that Canada has emerged as its partner of choice as his country shifts focus away from Russian energy. With that, Germany is looking to double its LNG imports, hoping that Canadian LNG will help the country meet its local demand.
While Canada currently doesn’t have working LNG terminals, the country is working on constructing two on the West Coasts.
Canada’s LNG and increasing demand from Europe
As the energy crisis in Europe worsens, many countries in the region are looking for alternative options, following Russia’s dwindling gas supply to Europe.
On the back of this, Canada is working to increase its gas export capacity to at least 100,000 barrels per day. The country aims to achieve this feat by the end of the year.
According to Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, Canada is doing everything it can to add to the global energy supply, adding that his country aims to become a key destination for clean energy like hydrogen. While the Prime Minister talked briefly about the country’s new LNG projects from Canada’s Atlantic coast, he further highlighted the economic difficulty of such tasks as they would take longer to complete.
When asked to comment on any new development in the Canadian LNG projects, a government source stated that there hasn’t been any significant change since Monday and that the German Chancellor, Scholz, is well informed about the timeline of such p[rojects.