#Canada #LNG #fracking #TrumpRegime
"American so-called 'natural gas' (the mixture of hydrocarbons made up mostly of methane) production began to explode under President Barack Obama and has continued to increase under every president since. Liquified natural gas exports, which involve an energy intensive liquefaction process that enables the gas to be shipped, kicked off around 2016 and have also climbed steadily upwards every year. The main problem that the gas industry faces is not regulation, but markets: the rate of renewable adoption in Asia is exceeding all expectations and LNG markets are expected to be dramatically oversupplied in the coming years.
The industry has two possible approaches to managing this situation: limit supply by halting the construction of new LNG infrastructure or expand the market for LNG to absorb excess production while maintaining sustainable price levels.
President Donald Trump, whose energy secretary came to the administration directly from Liberty Energy, the second largest fracking company in the United States, has seemingly agreed to help the industry pursue the latter strategy, deploying US economic power to entrench and grow demand for LNG around the world. Already by early February, Taiwan, India, and Japan had indicated that they will ramp up imports of US LNG to appease the Trump administration and avoid threats of punitive tariffs. South Korea, Vietnam, and the European Union appear to be in similar situations, which Bill McKibben aptly describes in his newsletter as 'shakedowns.'
Politicians here in Canada have been quick to distance themselves from Trump because of his threats to annex the country as a 51st state. But at the same time as they grandstand about opposing Trump and his plans for the world, they continue along as partners in his effort to grow the market for LNG by any means necessary, deploying Canadian soft power to support pipeline and gas companies with close ties to the Trump administration."
