Is liquefied natural gas a good bet?

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – While the BC Liberals are betting a lot of BC’s economic future on liquefied natural gas, the New Democrats have continued to raise questions.

In recent years, Australia’s economy has had major booms from LNG exports. Business Editor Peter Ryan with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation says although the benefits didn’t come overnight, they have been relevant in the past four years.

He suggests the government has done a good job of balancing the big environmental and social issues with selling resources.

“It’s not just big resource companies digging holes in the ground, it means big things for the service industry, those companies that provide housing, catering, education.”

He says taxpayers have also benefited, “government rolled out a lot of money to middle-class taxpayers in forms of tax cuts, incentives and bonuses and so Australians have done quite well out of this.”

Ryan says there is worry though that the Chinese economy is starting to slow from very high growth rates. “The problem is right now, that there is a lot of concern about potentially declining demand from China which is one of our biggest customers.”

He believes this is potentially just a small blip however, and China and India will likely continue to want Australia’s gas.

Ryan acknowledges there have been battles from both sides, with many people following the ‘Not in my backyard’ approach.

“People want to have gas and lower energy prices but they don’t particularly want gas exploration near their own home.”

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