From the WSJ:
Advisers for liquefied natural gas projects on Canada’s west coast recently passed through Tokyo on an Asia tour to drum up interest for the projects in the energy-hungry region.
Joseph Bevash, a partner of Latham & Watkins, acknowledged that less costly LNG projects in other countries could undercut 16 projects proposed in Canada, but added that other advantages should not be overlooked.
…Mr. Bevash said most of the U.S. projects are conversions of existing LNG receiving terminals, so they already have a lot of costly infrastructure in place such as berths, tanks and pipelines…But the Canadian projects have the advantage of being geographically closer to Asia, he noted. It takes three days less to deliver LNG to Japan from British Columbia compared with from the U.S. Gulf Coast, and there is no need to pass the Panama Canal, meaning shipping costs are significantly lower.
If Canada were to develop its top two or three projects it could undercut Australia. Beyond that it would be risking the same input cost inflation that has destroyed Australian energy competitiveness to go further.