Chile wants Canada’s natural gas – by Richard Blackwell (Globe and Mail – June 1, 2013)

Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Chile wants to buy Canadian liquefied natural gas to feed its energy-hungry mining industry as it bolsters its efforts to transform into a developed industrial nation and drag its citizens out of poverty.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, speaking to The Globe and Mail editorial board on Friday, said his government’s mission is to make Chile the first Latin American nation to become a truly developed country. “[We want to] transform Chile from an underdeveloped country to a developed country before the end of this decade,” he said.

To help Chile reach its development goals, Mr. Pinera is looking to Canada as a potential source of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and has discussed with Prime Minister Stephen Harper the possibility of importing the fuel by ship.

“We will need to import a lot of energy, because we don’t have coal, we don’t have oil,” Mr. Pinera said. While Chile is rich in potential hydroelectric resources, he added, there is opposition to development from environmental groups – both inside and outside the country – and that will delay its hydro-power expansion.

Even if Chile develops its plentiful renewable power resources – solar, wave and geothermal – “we will still need natural gas,” Mr. Pinera said.

There are several pipeline projects planned to take natural gas to ports in British Columbia, and the Liberal provincial government has been enthusiastic about the prospects for the industry. By contrast, the B.C. government has rejected the Northern Gateway pipeline, which would carry heavy oil through the province.

If Canada can get LNG to ports in Vancouver, Chile would be a natural buyer, Mr. Pinera said, “because we share the same ocean.”

Chile is particularly short of power in its northern regions, where much of the mining sector is centred, and it also needs vast amounts of energy to use in the desalination of water, which is also in short supply in the north.

Mr. Pinera acknowledged that Chile has been sending mixed signals to mining companies around the world – including those based in Canada – because its courts have stopped some mining projects that had been approved by environmental regulators.

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