Providing clean hydrogen to Germany and the rest of Europe is a better opportunity for Canada than trying to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals as the world moves away from fossil fuels, said Canada’s natural resources minister late on Thursday.
Canada and Germany are discussing building LNG terminals on the Canadian Atlantic coast within the next five years ahead of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Canadian visit next week. Germany has been trying to wean itself from its dependence on Russian gas since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
But the costs of transporting gas from Alberta in the Canadian west to the East Coast would be high. A new pipeline would be needed, and the global shift away from fossil fuels means the terminal’s lifetime would be too short to be profitable unless converted into a hydrogen terminal when gas demand declines.
“We’re working through those issues. But what I would say is… on the East Coast, the big opportunity is hydrogen,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told Reuters.
