Despite having federal and provincial approvals in place, Petronas announced last week it was scrubbing plans to build an $11-billion liquefied natural gas plant.
No doubt, this comes as a big blow to anyone looking forward to the trillions of dollars the previous BC Liberal government promised us would flow through our economy in the LNG bonanza.
But that was in 2014 when the price of LNG was over four times the price it is today.
Supporters of LNG have been gleefully suggesting the newly minted NDP government must wear this, saying its pre-election rhetoric scared off the big time investment.
We missed the part where the new minority government passed legislation forcing other countries to beat us to the punch, establish a glut on the market and lower the commodity price.
Last week’s announcement was just the latest in a string of similar announcements from LNG companies that they will hold off on big projects.
The decision didn’t happen overnight and the market remains the biggest factor in these investment decisions — not politics.
