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The $40 billion LNG Canada terminal is currently under construction in Kitimat, B.C., but is not expected to be completed until 2024. The pipeline expected to feed it, a 670 km project called Coastal GasLink has been in the works since 2012, but mainline construction is only set to begin between 2020 and 2021. The Power of Siberia is 10 times the size and was built in just over five years.

Photo by Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

“There’s certainly risk that the longer this drags out, the potential less market there will be (for Canada) to take,” McNiven said.

Still, the demand for natural gas in China is so significant, he said, that there will be plenty of opportunity for other producing nations even once the Power of Siberia ramps up to full production.

China’s imports are tracking to about 63 million tones of LNG for 2019, McNiven said, and at capacity, the Power of Siberia could provide 10 million tones. While it may seem like Russia has carved out a giant chunk of the market for itself, forecasts have China’s demand for LNG hitting about 100 million tonnes by 2025, meaning that Russia will only provide 10 per cent of imports.

There will still be opportunity for Canada to aggressively enter the market if those numbers hold true, he said, but they will have to compete on price.

“The most important thing for Canada is going to be (competing) on price because it is getting to be much more of a competitive market and if you can’t offer a competitive price, it’s going to be tough to find a home for your molecules,” McNiven said.

Bryan Cox, president and CEO of the B.C. LNG Alliance is also confident that there will be an opportunity for Canada to enter the market, but it can’t put off its projects anymore.

“Canada does have this opportunity, but we do need to take advantage of it now,” Cox said. “It’s going to take government, it’s going to take industry, it’s going to take indigenous nations, it’s going to take the community at large to take that opportunity.”

—With files from Reuters