BC: Then there were FOUR Wacky Accounting Numbers for LNG...

BC: Then there were FOUR Wacky Accounting Numbers for LNG...

Postby Oscar » Thu Mar 03, 2016 9:48 am

Three Wacky Accounting Numbers for LNG and Shale Gas

[ http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/02/29/Wa ... Shale-Gas/ ]

Close read of BC's budget shows realities of this subsidized industry boondoggle.

By Andrew Nikiforuk, 29 Feb 2016, TheTyee.ca

Three things don't add up in the British Columbia budget when it comes to declining revenues from the battered shale gas industry and its non-existent cousin, the province's liquefied natural gas fantasy.

The first concerns revenue. Premier Christy Clark promised in 2013 that profits from the LNG industry would pour like manna into a $100-billion provincial prosperity fund. [ http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Christ ... story.html ]

In the months before the election that year, the government persuaded citizens that a complex, high-cost and foreign-owned industry, tied to a volatile greenhouse gas, could somehow make the province debt-free and bless it with Alberta-like prosperity.

Twenty LNG proponents all lined up at the government trough, expecting low royalties and taxes. But not one of the 20 proponents has committed to go ahead with a LNG project, because the economic justification has vanished in a sea of volatility. Many are folding, such as the Douglas Channel LNG project, because of what industry calls "unfavourable market conditions."
[ http://douglaschannellng.com/ ]

New LNG terminals in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Angola have created an oversupply while demand is falling in key markets like Japan, South Korea and China due to economic stagnation. Prices for LNG are expected to remain in the tank for years or become as volatile as oil.

No matter. Faced with her pet industry's dire prospects, Premier Clark took $100 million, about what the province will bring in through higher Medical Services Plan premiums, and boldly placed those hard-won tax dollars into B.C.'s newly created LNG prosperity fund. [ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.3449611 ]

Clark is trying to preserve the illusion of a revenue stream that doesn't exist. In so doing, her government has out-Orwelled Orwell with some very creative explanations.

"The fact that we would take a small amount of the chequing account and transfer it into a small savings account to look ahead is a natural thing for us to do," said Finance Minister Mike De Jong, sounding like a character in Alice in Wonderland. It is about as natural as robbing a bank. [ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.3449611 ]

MORE:

[ http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/02/29/Wa ... Shale-Gas/ ]

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Related

Christy Clark's Inequality Budget - Feb. 19/16

[ http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/02/19/Ch ... ty-Budget/ ]
Unfairness grows in BC's tax system, with families paying more and businesses less.


Admitting a Post-Paris Truth: BC's LNG Pipe Dream Is Over - Dec. 28/15
[ http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/12/28/Post-Paris-Truths/ ]
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Christy Clark Fields Tough Questions on LNG Promises - Dec. 14/15
[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/12/14/Chris ... -Promises/ ]
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Read more:

Energy: [ http://thetyee.ca/Topic/Energy/ ]

BC Politics: [ http://thetyee.ca/Topic/BC-Politics/ ]
Oscar
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Posts: 9079
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm

Re: BC: Three Wacky Accounting Numbers for LNG and Shale Ga

Postby Oscar » Wed Mar 16, 2016 10:44 am

Four More Whoppers about LNG in British Columbia

[ http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/03/16/Wh ... ign=160316 ]

The real facts behind Christy Clark's rosy claims.

By Andrew Nikiforuk, TheTyee.ca March; 16, 2016

The B.C. budget claims the province is making money from shale gas. But last month The Tyee showed the province is pouring more cash into the industry than it is getting back. [ http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/02/29/Wa ... Shale-Gas/ ]

In fact the only time the B.C. government made any money from shale gas was during a land lease boom nearly a dozen years ago. Ever since then, revenues have dwindled to next to nothing due to low royalties and taxpayer-funded subsidies to the ailing shale gas industry.

Dig deeper, and four more claims made by the B.C. government turn out to be liquefied natural gas whoppers as well.

New information on employment numbers, shale gas reserves, transmission lines and the LNG promise of economic prosperity show that stretching the truth remains a persistent trend in the Christy Clark administration.

Whopper #1: Vastly less gas to sell than claimed

Let's begin with the government claim that British Columbia "has more than an estimated 2,900 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of marketable shale gas reserves," or more methane in the ground than the entire United States. [ http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Opinio ... story.html ]

Last year David Hughes, a former analyst with Natural Resources Canada who mapped much of the nation's coal and gas supplies, took a hard look at real reserves and found that the government claim had no basis in reality.

Hughes pointed out in a report for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives that the BC Oil and Gas Commission estimated that B.C. only had 376 tcf of marketable shale resources. (Hughes added 40 tcf to this number for good measure, for a total of 416 tcf, to account for possible resources in developing plays.) [ https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publi ... ook-bc-lng ]

MORE:

[ http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/03/16/Wh ... ign=160316 ]

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Related

Three Wacky Accounting Numbers for LNG and Shale Gas - Feb. 29, 2016

[ http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/02/29/Wa ... Shale-Gas/ ]
Close read of BC's budget shows realities of this subsidized industry boondoggle.


Three Fibs Premier Clark Uses to Sell LNG Dream - Dec. 21, 2015
[ http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/12/21/Pr ... -LNG-Fibs/ ]
Sorry, it's not clean. It won't pay off. It's not popular. Here's why.


BC Gov't Gives Green Light to Woodfibre LNG - Oct. 27, 2015
[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/10/27/Woodf ... een-Light/ ]
Howe Sound plant clears another hurdle while linked pipeline faces further scrutiny.

Read more: Energy, Local Economy, Labour + Industry, BC Politics, (LINKS on Original URL)
Oscar
Site Admin
 
Posts: 9079
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm


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