The only way is LNG for BC shales

Asia critical for Horn River and Montney; players call for eastern gas-export route

INVESTMENT in British Columbia’s (BC) Horn River and Montney shale-gas basins faces a critical delay unless an export route is opened to Asian markets, producers, pipeline companies and analysts claim. The basins’ development has already been hampered by high drilling costs, well fracturing and transport, and now faces twin threats from the boom in US shale-gas production, which could erode some of Canada’s long-time export outlets, and fierce competition for Asian buyers from Australian coal-bed methane to liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects. Speaking to a Calgary conference, Basim Faraj, Questerre Energy’s international vice-president, said Horn River and Montney are economically doomed.