In all the world’s other major producers of natural gas, this moment came years if not decades ago. The United States exported its first LNG in 2016, Qatar dispatched its first LNG vessels in 1997 and
Australia was pioneering LNG export technology as early as 1989.
All three are now raking in hundreds of billions in annual LNG money that could have been Canada’s if it been able to reach the starting line earlier than Sunday morning.
In Australia, the LNG export sector is now bringing in the Canadian equivalent of $220 million per day. According to the most recent figures from Australian Energy Producers,
annual LNG export earnings were now worth $81.5 billion CDN.
This kind of money
added to the Canadian economy would represent a three per cent rise in overall GDP. Put another way, it would be akin to adding a Manitoba’s worth of extra GDP to the economy (Manitoba’s GDP
was $91.9 billion in 2023).
