The World Needs More LNG – That’s Why Canada is Fast-Tracking Projects

Canadian energy development criticized as not viable, again

Canada’s LNG strategy has recently been criticized as a “high-risk gamble.” A Hill Times column: The world has too much LNG–so why is Canada fast-tracking more? authored by Mark Kalegha and Olaf Weber, suggests that, with looming near-term oversupply, a supposed slowing of global demand and rising capital costs, Canadian LNG projects are likely to become “financial albatrosses” rather than engines of prosperity.

We've heard all of this before about other Canadian energy projects (which turned out to be false).

There are several problems with this argument. It includes a narrow, short-sighted view of both global energy markets and the energy transition. It also largely ignores pressing issues such as energy security and long-term demand growth, while turning a blind eye to the economic impact LNG development will have on Canadian and Indigenous communities.

Short-term “glut” vs. long-term demand

It is true that the world is seeing a surge of new LNG capacity from the United States, Qatar and others this decade. The International Energy Agency’s Gas 2025 Report notes that around 300 billion cubic metres (roughly 220 million tonnes per annum, mtpa) of new LNG export capacity is expected to come online globally by 2030 ^[1]. This wave of new projects will transform global gas markets, improve energy security, and help make the fuel more affordable ^[1].

But looking past 2030, a very different picture of LNG supply and demand emerges.

The same IEA report cited by the Hill Times column notes that a prolonged period of lower LNG prices could reduce the incentive for investors to move forward with new projects and infrastructure. That underinvestment could tighten global gas markets after 2030, especially if demand growth accelerates ^[1].

Global electricity demand from artificial intelligence (AI), data centres, and broader electrification of the economy is driving a surge in demand for reliable, around-the-clock power. Natural gas is dispatchable, affordable, and available at scale, and the global electrification boom is likely to strengthen its role as a go-to energy source for decades to come ^[3]. Together with Asia’s increasing fuel use and Europe’s ongoing gas needs, skyrocketing gas demand could turn an expected LNG “glut” into a shortage by around 2030 ^[2]. Globally, LNG demand is projected to soar 60% by 2040 according to the latest industry outlook ^[4]. Asian markets are expected to account for the lion’s share, or 60% of that demand, while supply shortages could emerge by 2030 and beyond ^[4].

LNG Canada Phase 2 and Ksi Lisims LNG would likely begin operations around 2029–2030, with project lifespans lasting decades. Judging their long-term viability on the basis of a potential short-term supply glut and price dip in the mid- to late-2020s makes little sense.

Real Pace of the Energy Transition

When Canadians miss out on LNG opportunities, other countries step up to benefit at our expense. pic.twitter.com/aPoK4DWzWr
— LNG Action (@LNGAction) January 30, 2026

Critics of Canadian oil and natural gas development often frame the energy transition as a rapid, linear shift away from fossil fuels to renewables. In practice, many reports suggest this “transition” looks more like an “addition” so far, and it is slower and more complex than originally thought.

For example, the IEA’s latest World Energy Outlook 2025 included a “Current Policies Scenario” in which both global oil and natural gas demand could grow until 2050 ^[5]. As the name suggests, this scenario is modelled on policies and regulations that are already in place or in advanced stages of the legislative process. The Statistical Review of World Energy 2025 reported that fossil fuels accounted for 87% of the world’s global energy supply in 2024, with all major energy sources reaching record consumption levels ^[6] – a clear sign of surging global demand for all of the above.

Several realities on the ground point to the need for an all-of-the-above solution. Emerging technologies like AI and economic electrification come with massive power requirements. Growing geopolitical uncertainty has prompted several governments to scale back or drop their energy transition goals ^[7]. Developing economies around the world, particularly in South and Southeast Asia, are playing a significant role in driving conventional energy demand, emerging as major high-growth regions.

The pace of the energy transition has always been a debated topic, and so far, no one has correctly predicted the “demise” of fossil fuels that’s supposedly always just around the corner. These “peak” projections keep getting revised upward, further into the future, again and again.

LNG development and economic prosperity

LNG development is about far more than molecules and markets – it is about economic prosperity, energy security, trade diversification, and real opportunities for Indigenous and remote communities.

While critics, like those in the Hill Times column, portray Ksi Lisims LNG as facing near insurmountable hurdles, the reality is that every multi-billion-dollar infrastructure project, in any sector, faces challenges. What matters is how those concerns are managed and addressed.

Despite a select few groups opposing the project, Ksi Lisims LNG has secured benefit agreements that include equity stake options with 15 of 20 First Nations along the supply pipeline route, pointing to a model of Indigenous economic reconciliation that can generate own-source revenues, create long-term jobs, and support careers where they are needed most.

The real strategic question is not whether the world will still use natural gas – it will – but whose natural gas it will use, and under what standards. If this energy doesn’t come from Canada, it will be produced somewhere else, while Canadians lose out on the immense economic benefits associated with such massive-scale development.

With Canada’s strong regulatory performance, Indigenous partnerships, and geographic advantages that include shorter shipping times and cold weather, Canadian LNG projects are exceptionally well-positioned to be a go-to source of the essential fuel – in Asia, Europe, and beyond.

When they say Canadian energy isn’t needed, be wary

The narrative that Canadian energy infrastructure projects aren’t needed isn’t new. For years, opponents of oil and gas development have said, for example, that the Trans Mountain Expansion was a “white elephant” project, questioning its economic viability and the demand for the product it would transport. It was the same for LNG Canada and the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

The argument they bring forward now for Ksi Lisims LNG is identical: it isn’t economically viable, global market demand isn’t there to support it, it will become a stranded asset and financially burden Canadians, among other claims.

As we said, we've heard this all before.

With TMX and LNG Canada Phase 1 now demonstrating the demand for our energy and the associated economic benefits of exporting more to the world, one thing is crystal clear: they were wrong. And we're betting our marbles that they're wrong again.

Turning away from LNG projects based solely on today’s short-term “glut” narrative would leave both Canadians and Indigenous Peoples with fewer jobs, fewer public revenues to pay for healthcare and education, less investment in our communities, and less influence over our economic future. Nobody wants any of those things.

As David Eby has said, "Natural resource development is the key to how we will create the wealth that makes everybody better off in this province," when speaking at the BC Natural Resources Forum in 2026.

"It is how we're going to pay for the better schools for our kids. It's how we're going to pay for the hospitals, for the health care we need, for the homes that middle-class families can afford."

It’s time to build all the LNG plants we can to secure our economic future and fulfill our role as the reliable energy supplier the world needs.

It’s time for action.

It's time for action! We must build pipelines, power plants, ports, railways and roads now to secure our economic future.

Oil, natural gas, and all of our resources make us stronger. It's time to build! pic.twitter.com/O51zSJFgKb
— Canada Action (@CanadaAction) February 9, 2026