The future supply of natural gas in our region

The Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline could be reversed bringing in natural gas from the shale basins in the U. S. and western Canada but that would disadvantage the region because of cost of tolls to bring the gas here. [...] The reasons for the decline in exports are twofold: 1) The drop in production – down nearly 40 percent in 2011 versus 2008; and 2) The significant increase in the amount of natural gas being used with the Maritime Provinces. [...] Both provinces now use three times as much natural gas Figure 3: Natural gas for electricity generation (% of national total consumption) for the production of electricity compared to the rest of Canada (adjusted for the size of the economy) as shown in Figure 3. Nova Scotia generates 2.2 percent of national gross domestic product (GDP) but has seven percent of the nation’s natural gas consumption [...] Page | 6 4. The future of natural gas and economic development 4.1 Electricity production in the Maritimes The use of natural gas to produce electricity has led to a significant reduction in the use of more carbon intensive fuels in the production of electricity. [...] The future supply of natural gas throughout the region has emerged as a leading concern for potential investors in our region and existing consumers of natural gas given the onset of the declining production from Nova Scotia's offshore and the inability to attract competitively priced natural gas from LNG imports.