Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged yesterday that exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Germany is not easy, although the European country wants to diversify its supply sources in order to reduce its dependence on Russia.
At a press conference in Montreal with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Trudeau downplayed the possibility of LNG exports from his country, citing the long distance between the deposits (west) and the ports on the Atlantic coast (east).
«We are looking at the options to see if it makes sense to export LNG and if it is profitable to export directly to Europe,» Justin Trudeau said.
For his part, Olaf Scholz said Germany is accelerating the construction of port infrastructure and gas pipelines to boost LNG imports and is turning to countries such as Canada. Germany wants to «wean itself off Russian gas supplies,» Chancellor Schultz recalled.
Canada does not have LNG terminals on its Atlantic coast and would therefore have to build them in order to export to Europe. In addition, a new pipeline would be needed to transport the LNG from Alberta (west) to the east coast of Canada, which would involve high costs.
The issue of energy security in Germany, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas, has become a major concern since Russia started to reduce gas flows to Europe.
The two leaders hinted that an agreement on hydrogen projects could be announced today. «We are moving forward on a number of investments involving hydrogen and we look forward to discussing more tomorrow (Tuesday),» Trindo said.
Chancellor Scholz explained that Germany is betting on hydrogen to reduce pollution and pointed out the important role that Canada can play in this area.
Olaf Solts and Justin Trudeau will also discuss business opportunities in the automotive and mining sectors, as well as support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian invaders.
