Fortis BC LNG Operations manager Brian Neary inside the heater building where two massive boilers use water and ethylene glycol to heat up liquid natural gas to be stored the Mt. Hayes Natural Gas Storage Facility in Mt. Hayes, B.C. April 2, 2013.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Globe and Mail
Premier Christy Clark says a federal energy report concludes British Columbia's natural gas reserves are double the size of previous estimates.
Clark says the findings of the National Energy Board report mean the reserves amount to 150 years of natural gas supplies as opposed to 75 years.
She says the additional reserves add more clout to B.C.'s plans to build natural-gas pipelines in the province's northern region and export liquefied natural gas to Asian markets.
The Liberal government has already pegged the development of LNG export markets as a trillion-dollar economic opportunity that could create up to 100,000 jobs.
Clark says the federal report examines the natural gas potential of the Montney shale area that spreads across much of northeastern B.C. and into northern Alberta.
She says the report concludes the total natural gas potential of the area is 2,933 trillion cubic feet.