North American Natural Gas Will be Pivotal to World’s Energy Needs

As someone who has spent my career in the diplomatic and national security community, I’m a mission-driven person, which is why I’m excited about my work in the energy sector to improve the lives of people around the world. Today’s energy industry is far-reaching in its scope and is leading the world in meeting its energy needs, providing a cleaner environment, and improving the standard of living for our fellow citizens. ?

Where I work at TC Energy , we are more prepared than ever to meet today’s multidimensional energy landscape. Critically, rising global energy demand – both here at home from new technologies like artificial intelligence and in the developing world from growing populations – combined with geopolitical turmoil are signaling the need for suppliers of clean, affordable, and reliable energy solutions. For North America to respond, new infrastructure is more vital than ever.

Meeting rising energy demand while decarbonizing the global economy is the defining energy challenge we are working to solve. The increase of geopolitical flashpoints only makes the urgency all the clearer. Russia’s two-year assault on Ukraine has upended the flow of natural gas to Europe. Conflict in the Middle East is forcing tankers that usually move through the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, or Suez Canal to circumnavigate Africa – delaying supply and adding costs to already strained energy trade. Asia-bound shipments through the Panama Canal are being curtailed due to historically low water levels. Adding insult to uncertainty, the Biden Administration’s “pause” of new U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) export permits is being viewed as a “freeze” and is already having far-reaching economic, geopolitical, and environmental consequences. The adverse consequences include having Russia and conflict heavy Middle East benefit from this policy (political) position.????

While we must continue to innovate and scale renewables and nuclear, natural gas is the only readily deployable energy source capable of achieving the needed levels of reliability, affordability, sustainability, and scalability - and North America is best positioned to deliver. Natural gas is more than a transition fuel, it is the destination, and North America can be the central hub in realizing our global ambitions.

From TC Energy 's perspective, we are on track to be the first and only energy company delivering natural gas to LNG export facilities in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The completion of TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink Project in Canada and the North Baja Expansion will pave the way for a new era in North American energy. These connections to LNG facilities - on each country’s Pacific Coast - will open new markets to offset coal use around the globe, offering new, faster trade routes that bypass chokepoints and help ensure energy remains affordable and abundant. Coastal GasLink connects to LNG Canada – the country’s first export terminal. LNG produced in Western Canada is projected to be at least 70 percent less emissions-intensive than the global industry average.

But industry can only do so much on its own in addressing our multidimensional energy landscape. Now, more than ever, governments must represent the reliable partners for growth that they once did. It is our unique position across North America, combined with our deep expertise and forward-thinking vision, that will allow us to harness the continent's vast energy resources as we move through this multidimensional transition together.

The question for governments remains - will we scale sufficiently to meet the rising threats and growing demand, or will we cede the market to the legacy of uncertainty and insecurity promoted by our adversaries??