“Mr. Trudeau: The Business Case for Quebec gas is Crystal clear.” Utica Resources CEO responds to Prime Minister Following German Chancellor’s Visit

MONTREAL – In response to remarks by Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, made during German Chancellor Scholz’s recent visit to Canada, that there needed to be a business case for Canada to export natural gas to Europe, Mario Levesque, CEO of Utica Resources said:

“The business case for Quebec gas is crystal clear. Quebec has enormous quantities of natural gas (about 20% of Canada’s total recoverable gas), enough to replace all Russian imports into Germany for 20 to 40 years.  As Mr. Trudeau well knows, several buyers in Germany and elsewhere in Europe are looking at options to secure natural gas. The gas reserves in Quebec are located near deep water port installations, requiring little in the way of infrastructure investment. Additionally, these ports are much closer to Europe than the other potential major sources of gas for Germany such as Qatar or the US. There is no need for government subsidies for this opportunity. On the contrary, governments in Canada would make tens of billions in royalties and taxes.”

“The fact is that Quebec gas is the key for Canada to be able to step up to its responsibility of helping Europe in this difficult time. Other sources of Canadian gas are far from Atlantic ports and it is a long, complex and expensive process to build the required infrastructure to transport these products to Europe.

“We agree with Prime Minister Trudeau’s idea of helping by ramping-up gas production as a way to help and is the first step of our three-stage plan:

• Rapidly ramp up production in Quebec, thereby replacing Quebec imports from the US and other parts of Canada.
• Given the short distance from Quebec to Germany start to ship gas in the form of compressed natural gas (CNG) within 18 months.  Each CNG ship should be able to transport about 20bcf of gas per year (more than one percent of German imports from Russia per ship per year)
• Build an LNG plant in Becancour industrial park (located at the heart of Quebec gas fields) capable of liquefying 1 to 2 tcf of gas per year – equivalent to 100 percent of Germany’s imports of gas from Russia or more than one third of all European gas imports from Russia

“This would require the lifting of the Quebec Government’s new law banning the production of hydrocarbons – a law which makes no sense, particularly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mr. Trudeau – you have promised to help Europe and here is a plan which is supported by the large majority of Quebecers.  We look forward to your leadership in working with us to help Europe in this time of need, bring significant economic benefits to Canada and to help the environment by ensuring that Europe won’t have to turn back the clock and return to coal and the severe increase in GHG emissions that will cause.”

About Utica Resources

Utica Resources is a Quebec company whose mission is to participate in the energy transition currently underway by developing a diversified portfolio that includes, in addition to light oil and natural gas, renewable energy projects such as hydrogen and CO2 storage. All our projects are carried out with a view to sustainable development, optimal use of available resources, respect for host communities and maximization of local economic benefits.