📈 Detour through the Panama canal?

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Reuters sources say European buyers, including Germany’s UNIPER, are working to diversify supply with Canadian LNG from the Pacific coast, and considering shipping it through the Panama Canal despite the higher costs and sail times. Sources say Europeans are in commercial talks with KSI LISIMS LNG.
Prime Minister MARK CARNEY announced a Canada Investment Summit in Toronto in September, with invitations going out to CEOs, leaders and business folks.

Eva Clayton, back left, President of the Nisga’a Lisims Government (joint venture owner of the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG project), Crystal Smith, back right, Haisla Nation Chief Councillor (joint venture owner of the Cedar LNG project, now under construction), and Karen Ogen, front right, CEO of the First Nations Natural Gas Alliance pose for a photograph on the HaiSea Wamis zero-emission tugboat outside the LNG2023 conference, in Vancouver, B.C., Monday, July 10, 2023. CP Images photo

Across the Atlantic via the Pacific

Some European buyers are prepared to brave the Panama Canal’s bottlenecks to tap into LNG, according to Reuters.

The scope: Buyers from Germany and other European countries are exploring supply deals with B.C. LNG proponent KSI LISIMS.
Looking for a deal: The Canadian company is looking to secure long term contracts ahead of a final investment decision to be made next year.
The shift: Traditionally, B.C. LNG was destined for Asian markets, but the war on IRAN is making Europe want to increase its efforts to diversify supply.
Bottleneck alert: There is a risk of shipping delays through the Panama Canal, with oil and gas tanker traffic exploding there because of conflict in the Strait of Hormuz.

*Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, March 4, 2026 in Sydney. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld*

Carney courts the C-Suite

CARNEY announced a Canada Investment Summit is set to take place from September 14 to 15 in Toronto.

Who’s coming? CPP and PSP INVESTMENTS are hosting, in partnership with the feds, and attendees are set to include “top CEOs, entrepreneurs, and prominent business leaders,” according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
The first ever? CARNEY is pitching this as the first-ever such summit, although former Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU organized a similar one in 2016 that did not yield tangible results.
What’s different about this one? Finance Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE told reporters there’s more interest and foreign investment in CANADA now than there was then.
Carney factor: He also thinks having MARK CARNEY chair the summit will lead to “that momentum that we see around CANADA these days.”

By the numbers

$705 billion: The investment opportunity in oil and gas in a scenario where two new export pipelines and carbon capture projects come online, projects RBC’s Growth Project.

$670 billion: The investment opportunity in the electricity sector, including grid, transmission, nuclear, hydro and renewables, according to that same report.

150: The number of days to CARNEY’S Canada Investment Summit.

Major projects watch

— Quebec Premier CHRISTINE FRÉCHETTE met with Prime Minister MARK CARNEY to try to, among other things, find agreement on the province’s share of the $25 billion envelope to fund public transit projects.

— The Logic is reporting that Industry Minister MELANIE JOLY believes CANADA will need to work with international partners in AI to counter U.S. protectionism and the rising power of hyperscalers. This, while merger talks between COHERE and ALEPH ALPHA are underway.

— The IMPACT ASSESSMENT AGENCY conducted a review of TRANSALTA’s proposed new gas power-generation facility, FLIPI GAS-FIRED GENERATION project, within 64 days.

— BRUCE POWER and ENERGY ALBERTA have entered into a Collaboration Agreement on nuclear energy in Alberta.

— Public consultations for the proposed deep geological repository project have begun. The project would store CANADA’s used nuclear fuel underground in northwestern Ontario.

Headlines

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