Why plain old natural gas is the hottest thing at the 'Super Bowl' of energy

Paula Duhatschek · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 13, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

At a Texas vigor league that features immoderate of the field's astir innovative exertion (scrubbing c from the skies and the contention to physique the world's archetypal fusion powerfulness plant, for example) — this year, radical can't halt talking astir plain aged earthy gas. 

The world's appetite for liquified earthy state (LNG) is expected to turn 40 per cent successful the adjacent 5 years, according to S&P Global, a fiscal accusation and analytics company. Natural state hasn't historically been a deed with environmentalists, but executives accidental it's seeing greater request and judge it will play a role successful gathering a worldwide request for stable energy and helping countries displacement distant from coal.

"Practicality and pragmatism volition ever triumph out," said Tengku Muhammad Taufik, CEO of Malaysia's multinational lipid and state institution Petronas.

The commodity has a caller lustre these days, acknowledgment successful portion to the emergence of AI. Data centres, which store machine systems and servers, suck up tremendous amounts of energy that needs to beryllium disposable each hours of the day. Tech giants person formed a wide nett to look for antithetic vigor sources to powerfulness information centres — including hydrogen, geothermal and nuclear powerfulness — and energy manufacture observers foretell earthy state volition beryllium a big portion of the mix, astatine slightest successful the abbreviated term.

"Data centres and AI are vigor hogs," Meg O'Neill, CEO of Australian lipid and state institution Woodside Energy, told CBC News. "We inquire ourselves, 'What's the vigor root that's going to beryllium astir flexible to beryllium capable to conscionable that vigor demand?' And we deliberation LNG volition play an adjacent much important role."

Concerns astir vigor security, peculiarly successful the aftermath of Russia's penetration of Ukraine has besides spurred demand. O'Neill said buyers are returning to the array and asking for semipermanent LNG contracts.

"Last year, we signed 10-year deals with starring concern players successful Japan, Korea and Taiwan," she said. "They cognize that they're going to request LNG arsenic portion of their vigor mix, and they privation the terms certainty."

LNG volition beryllium 'core' of vigor transition, exec says 

Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of the French multinational vigor company TotalEnergies, told an assemblage successful Houston that gas-fired powerfulness plants tin besides assistance modulation countries disconnected coal. According to information and analytics firm Wood Mackenzie, burning state produces lone fractional the c dioxide as burning coal. 

"I'm convinced state volition beryllium the halfway of the vigor transition," said Pouyanné. He said it tin besides play a relation successful shoring up the powerfulness generated by intermittent upwind and solar. 

There's information to that, said Dan Grossman of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), but helium noted that companies utilizing earthy state person to marque definite they're dealing with their methane emissions.

"If you truly bash privation this to beryllium the decennary of gas, past from a clime perspective, you amended marque definite that you person your location successful bid erstwhile it comes to methane emissions," said Grossman, who is vice-president of vigor modulation with the U.S.-based biology advocacy group.

A renewable vigor developer besides pushed backmost against the sunny portrayal of earthy gas. 

John Ketchum, the CEO of NextEra Energy, the largest shaper of upwind and star powerfulness successful the U.S., said it takes clip to physique a earthy state works from scratch, and that labour shortages marque the occupation worse. 

"To get your hands connected a state turbine close present and really get it built passim the market, you're truly looking astatine 2030 oregon later," said Ketchum.

Still, politicians and executives from LNG-producing countries were engaged boosting its advantages this week. 

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, whose medication has reversed a erstwhile prohibition connected LNG exports, said there's nary mode renewables tin regenerate the "myriad" benefits of earthy gas, and took a Monday property league arsenic an accidental to motion an LNG export approval. 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is besides successful Houston to beforehand earthy gas. While onstage Wednesday during a CERAWeek panel, she promoted a caller study commissioned by the Alberta Energy Regulator revealing the state has earthy state reserves of 1,360 trillion cubic feet (TCF), of which 130 TCF is proved and recoverable. Previously, it was thought Alberta had 24 TCF.

"We person a really, truly bully state story," said Smith, whose authorities has commissioned an AI information centre program that aims to beforehand the state arsenic a 'prime destination' acknowledgment to its earthy state reserves. 

Canada has six West Coast LNG projects projected and nether construction, including LNG Canada's Phase 1, which is expected to travel online this summer, according to RBC. That project will beryllium intimately watched by countries similar Japan, said Tatsuya Terazawa, CEO of the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan. 

Terazawa said Japan has fewer earthy resources of its ain and is looking to Canadian LNG to boost its vigor information and assistance with "diversifying our root of energy," particularly fixed the abbreviated region betwixt B.C. and Japan.

O'Neill, the Woodside executive, said she, too, is keeping an oculus connected Canada. While the institution antecedently pulled retired of an LNG project successful B.C., O'Neill said they're watching the improvement of LNG on this country's West Coast.

"We've been precise bullish astir the opportunities to monetize North American state for a while," she said.