Canada Open to LNG Partnership With France, Says Foreign Minister Anand
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand says an LNG partnership with France is conceivable, citing Canada's new Pacific coast export capacity and global demand for energy deals.
Canada could enter an energy partnership with France involving liquefied natural gas shipped from its Pacific coast, Foreign Minister Anita Anand said, a day after the leaders of the two countries met and discussed energy cooperation.
Speaking on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, Anand said it was "quite conceivable" for Canada to carry out an energy partnership with a European country using LNG exported from the country's west coast. "That goes for France," she said.
French President Emmanuel Macron has called repeatedly in recent days for closer energy cooperation with Canada, as Europe looks to diversify its supplies amid disruptions linked to the conflict in the Middle East and rising energy prices.
Canada is the world's fifth-largest natural gas producer. It shipped its first-ever LNG export cargo in June from the newly built LNG Canada facility in British Columbia, a project led by Shell that is the first North American LNG export site with direct access to the Pacific Ocean.
Anand said discussions on energy partnerships were under way with countries around the world and covered a range of sectors, including LNG, clean energy, wind, solar and nuclear power. "Every country I speak with asks about potential partnerships in energy," she said.
She pointed to talks earlier this year between Canada and Germany on LNG supplies destined for Asia through a swap arrangement, under which Germany benefits from third-party sales rather than direct shipments. "There is a host of potential deals and relationships that we can execute on energy," she said, adding that Canada aimed to match its energy expertise with the needs of partner countries.
German state-controlled energy group Uniper also finalised a 20-year LNG purchase deal with Canada at the end of July. Asked about prospects for cooperation with France, Anand said the same logic applied.
Energy is expected to be among the topics discussed when Anand hosts Germany's foreign minister in Canada later this week, along with critical minerals and artificial intelligence. She said Ottawa was seeking to deepen ties not only with the European Union as a bloc but also with individual member states.
"What Canada is doing is deepening its relationship not simply with the EU as a whole, but with individual countries within the EU to ensure that our domestic population benefits," she said.